Yorkshire crush Durham to go top

Yorkshire 557 for 6 dec (Bairstow 219*, Bresnan 169*) beat Durham 208 (Pringle 69*, Borthwick 54, Bresnan 3-40) and 302 (Stoneman 131, Brooks 4-66) by an innings and 47 runs
Scorecard

There was something very ominous and deeply appropriate about the manner in which Yorkshire completed their innings victory over Durham on the fourth morning of their match at Chester-le-Street.

For three months or more, Jason Gillespie has been stressing the quality of the players in his squad who are barely if ever mentioned in connection with international selection. No one thought it false optimism or misplaced confidence.

When England had six Yorkshire cricketers in the West Indies, Yorkshire prospered. During the Test and one-day series against New Zealand, in which many of their players were involved, Yorkshire prospered, even if they were not at the top of Division One table.

When Yorkshire began their game against Durham last Sunday, four of their players were in Spain getting to know the new England coach Trevor Bayliss during a pre-Ashes training camp. And on the day when Adil Rashid was included in the 13-man squad for next week's first Test in Cardiff, Andrew Gale's side clinched the win that took them 11 points clear of vanquished Durham with a game in hand.

Some still believe that Middlesex or Warwickshire might mount a challenge for the title. Well, the season is only half over and there is, indeed, a lot of cricket to be played. But it's very difficult to argue against the view that Yorkshire have not only the most talented squad of players in the country but also the deepest pool of players. England calls may cause changes to be made but, at the moment, excellence comes as standard.

"This was a fantastic win against a quality side," Gillespie said. "You always want to be play good, hard consistent cricket but to be able to do it against Durham on their own ground is very satisfying.

"I'd like to think that people would see that we are playing some very good cricket but we are halfway through the season and there is a lot of work to do yet.

"We are 11 points clear with a game in hand and that's a great position to be in but there are a lot of good sides in this division, so we need to make sure that we maintain our standards and then the points table will take care of itself."

Yorkshire's cricket on this last day was as ruthless as the team's followers have come to expect. Steve Patterson, made the first breakthrough in the fifth over of the morning when Gordon Muchall played fatally late at an inswinger which went on to brush his off stump.

Having taken a wicket with the old ball, Yorkshire's new-ball pairing of Jack Brooks and Ryan Sidebottom brushed Durham aside with the new one.

Encouraged by the arrival of Ryan Pringle, the first of five men not selected solely for their batting, Brooks and Sidebottom took the last five wickets in 32 balls. Brooks took three in seven to finish the innings with 4 for 66 and Sidebottom removed Durham's opening batsman, Mark Stoneman, who was leg before after making a determined 131 in 329 minutes.

By the time Chris Rushworth edged Brooks to Jonny Bairstow just before 12.30pm, only the fact of Yorkshire's victory needed to be confirmed; the superiority of Gale's cricketers had been clear for some time. Durham will no doubt regroup and Warwickshire will also offer Yorkshire a proper challenge at Edgbaston, starting on Sunday. But at the moment it is very difficult to see the title going anywhere but back to Headingley in September. Indeed, we may be seeing the early stages in the establishment of a new Yorkshire dynasty.