County Championship: Yorkshire beat Somerset to close on title

Tim Bresnan is congratulated by his team-mates after taking the last wicket in Yorkshire's victory over Somerset

Yorkshire took a major step towards retaining the title by securing an innings-and-126-run win over Somerset on the third morning at Headingley.

The eight wickets needed after the visitors resumed on 44-2 were shared between their four pacemen.

James Hildreth made 57, but Somerset were all out for 155 in the 48th over.

Ryan Sidebottom (3-32) and Steven Patterson (3-43) starred for Yorkshire who can seal the title by avoiding defeat at Middlesex next week.

Tim Bresnan (2-28) ended the match by having Tim Groenewald caught at point by Gary Ballance.

If Middlesex fail to beat Warwickshire in their current game, Yorkshire will only need a maximum of six points from their final three fixtures to win a second successive County Championship and their 33rd overall, one of them shared.

And the strength of their attack, backed up by some excellent catching, again proved too much for Somerset, who are not yet safe from relegation.

It took Yorkshire 10 overs to make a breakthrough when Patterson had Tom Cooper caught behind (28) and he soon followed that with the wicket of Jim Allenby.

Hildreth's 77-ball innings, which included 10 fours, came to an end in the next over, when he edged Jack Brooks to Adam Lyth in the slips.

New Zealander Luke Ronchi made 22, but then became one of two Sidebottom victims in the same over as the visitors lost their last five wickets for just 18 runs.

And such was the potency of Yorkshire's four pacemen, off-spinner James Middlebrook did not bowl a single over in the match.

Yorkshire coach Jason Gillespie told BBC Look North:

"I thought our bowling attack was unbelievable and it's as complete a performance we've had these last few years.

"I thought our bowling was fantastic on a challenging pitch. Full credit to our batsmen.

"We haven't spoken about the championship. Today is about celebrating the success of this game and we won't look further ahead than that."