Through gritted teeth: Well done Lancashire

Once again, the county championship provided a thrilling denouement. Whether by accident, the schedule seem to throw up these conclusions in recent seasons and Lancashire have played their part in them, most notably in a noble run chase that ended just short of denying Sussex their first ever title in 2003.

The Sussex coach on that occasion was Peter Moores and now, fittingly, he's gone and broken another hoodoo, namely the 77-year wait between outright championship wins for the red rose county. Like with Sussex, he's taken a team without genuine stars and made them better than the sum of their parts and now, at last, they've made the breakthrough.

They did it tough. A month ago, they were strolling to victory, but after getting bundled out for 80 at Worcester it threw the race back into Warwickshire's favour and the Midlanders went into the final round of games ahead. Once there, however, Warkwickshire ran into the obduracy of Neil McKenzie while Lancashire - with the doughty (Yorkshire-born; I must get these digs in) Glenn Chapple bowling off a four-pace run as he pushed through the pain barrier - ground Somerset down thanks to a great late-order effort that gave them a 100-run first innings lead. Chasing 211 to win off 28 overs proved easy despite a minor wobble where two wickets went in the space of four balls. The party began and will presumably keep going for some time yet. And why not?

Meanwhile, at the other side of the hills, it's double misery as Yorkshire were relegated for reasons best explained by this excoriation by David Hopps in the Guardian. Inevitably, the rise of Lancashire and demise of Yorkshire were inextricably intertwined. Two very close Roses matches determined the fate of both sides. At Liverpool in May, Yorkshire set Lancashire 121 to win with time running out. Farveez Maharoof strode to the wicket at fourth drop and smashed a quick 30 which secured victory with four balls of the match remaining. In the return at Headingley in July, a terrific second innings bowling performance restricted Lancashire to 194 which left 284 needed for Yorkshire to win. Progress was steady, but wickets fell at regular intervals. Adil Rashid, batting at nine, was left with Ajmal Shahzad and Richie Pyrah - centurion in the first innings, batting last in the second - to try to guide them home, but Gary Keedy - a Yorkshireman, inevitably - prised out Pyrah with Yorkshire still 24 short of victory. Yorkshire fail to lose one of those games, they stay up and Lancashire fall short of the title. On such fine margins are things decided, even if it would have papered over some serious cracks at Headingley.

Those two moments were key, but two others loom large, both involving points deductions for poor pitches. Warwickshire were docked eight points in May for a pitch that showed "excessive unevenness of bounce". Hampshire suffered the same fate in July after 26 wickets went down in two days on a pitch that demonstrated "excessive turn". Spinners took 25 of the 36 wickets in the match. Since then, the Rose Bowl pitch may as well have been relocated to the middle of the M2 and that was the pitch Warwickshire had to prise 20 wickets on in their final match to win the title. They managed 17 before stumps were drawn.

Sometimes, you get the feeling your name is on a trophy. This year, it's felt like Lancashire's was destined to be on it. Does it rain less in Liverpool than in Manchester? The move to Aigburth while Old Trafford's renovation has been going on seems to have done them good and it's hard not to share in Lancashire's success.

The one consolation for this Yorkshireman is - at least it wasn't bloody Surrey.

Lancashire

County.

Finally won the County Championship outright in 2011 after 77 years between drinks.

The Leeds pigeon murderer

Jacques Rudolph is already a legend down Yorkshire way, but Friday May 30 2009 cemented his place in the pantheon. The Western Terrace had already taken the view that, on the occasion of getting a right old beating off the old enemy, that you may as well drink until falling down and act the goat. Rudolph, obviously trying to lighten the mood, decided that if he couldn't affect the outcome he may as well cheer up the mass ranks of Yorkshiremen behind him.
And he chose to do this through the medium of pigeon killing.



At least he had the good grace to clear the carcass off the field afterwards

Marvellous

England win test inside three days by 10 wickets and Lancashire beat Warwickshire by 6 wickets.

Can't ask for much more than that.