Yorkshire bully woeful Notts into bottom spot

This was as satisfying a result for Yorkshire as it was a source of dismay for Nottinghamshire, who began the season with expectations of challenging Yorkshire's grip on the title but instead find themselves bottom of the table at almost the halfway stage, having lost four of their last five matches.

They would acknowledge that Yorkshire are a better side, with strength in all departments, but it is the manner of the defeat that will give cause for concern. More than 200 behind on first innings, they batted as if knowing from the start that saving the match might well prove beyond them and Yorkshire ruthlessly finished them off to win by an innings.

It left Mick Newell, their director of cricket, obliged to concede that his side are in a relegation fight. "Looking at the table now, there are three sides who are clearly in trouble and another, Sussex, who are not that far in front," he said. "You would say that the two who go down are likely to be from those four and it is up to us to make sure we are not one of the two."

They have some work to do to achieve that goal, which is a modest one for a side blessed with so much talent. Their bowling resources lack a depth of experience and they were bolstered considerably here by the availability of Stuart Broad, who might have enjoyed his 29th birthday a little more had his 7 for 84 not been overshadowed by such an abject defeat.

Broad's record with Nottinghamshire has by circumstance been limited. He has played only 16 Championship matches in eight seasons at Trent Bridge yet has taken 81 wickets in those appearances, including five or more in an innings five times and a career-best 8 for 52 against Warwickshire in 2010.

Although in recent years he has turned out as preparation for England duty, he rarely delivers less than a high-quality performance. It was a shame he was not prepared to discuss the merits of this one afterwards with journalists who provide the lifeblood of coverage for county cricket, despite requests for him to appear.

The gist of the message relayed from the dressing room afterwards was that he did not consider county matches to be appropriate occasions in which to make himself available.

In the event, his performance in either respect was not the story. Yorkshire, even having decided not to select an overseas player, simply steamrollered their opponents, outplaying them with bat and ball. They climb to second in the table, nine points behind Durham and with a game in hand, with perfect timing for their meeting at Chester-le-Street next week, beginning on Sunday.

At the start of the day Broad, who had dismissed both of the title holders' openers cheaply on Tuesday, make similarly short work of their two centurions, dismissing Andrew Gale with the last ball of his first over and Jack Leaning with the third delivery of his third, which was a testament to his skill and his willingness to apply himself to a vigorous pre-Ashes workout.

For a while, after Jonny Bairstow, joining this match at the halfway point after Tuesday's Twenty20 duty with England, had breezed in and out for a rapid and carefree 15 it seemed Nottinghamshire might fight back, even from 101 behind.

But there was a half-century from Tim Bresnan still to come, with support from James Middlebrook and then Steve Patterson, and although Broad came back to dispense with the lower orders and complete his second best analysis in Championship cricket, the lead by then was a more daunting 206.

Somewhat ironically, given his recent troubles, Broad also top scored with the bat, which tended only to highlight how poor were those around him. Yorkshire bowled well, but not as impressively as he had, and yet Nottinghamshire subsided meekly. There were too many poor shots and not enough application.

Ryan Sidebottom, 37 but with the energy of a man half his age, led the way in taking advantage, marking his comeback from injury with 4 for 39, six in the match, and the coup de grace when Jake Ball skied one from Middlebrook and the veteran, with one eye on the ball and the other, figuratively speaking, on his first cool beer, make sure he was under it at long off.

It was a good catch, one of several, with Gale too showing that the younger players cannot accuse him of lacking agility with a superb effort at midwicket to snare a full-blooded hit from Broad.

"I can't defend our batting," Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire's director of cricket said. "We were behind the game and we did not appear to have the fight and the technique to get out of that situation, which is a worry."

Newell conceded that Nottinghamshire are in a relegation battle. "If you look at the table there are three teams obviously in trouble and Sussex not far away from us," he said.

"You would have thought that relegation will come from two of those four teams and we have to make sure we are one of the teams that gets out of it."

Nottinghamshire meet one of the other three, Worcestershire, at Trent Bridge next week.

Yorkshire's head coach, Jason Gillespie, felt the result justified the decision not to pick either overseas player and believes the best is still to come from his side.

"There have been a couple of games in which we have not been at our best so to be in this position at this stage is incredibly satisfying," he said.

"But the performance in this game was fantastic. The way we've gone about it first and second innings with the ball, I think the lines and lengths we bowled were outstanding. Then, with the bat, that partnership between Galey and Jack Leaning was sensational."