County Championship: Yorkshire need favour to avoid drop after Gloucestershire loss

David Payne took 4-51 as Gloucestershire bowled out Yorkshire on day three

Yorkshire were left needing a favour from Hampshire after defeat by relegated Gloucestershire took their County Championship Division One survival out of their hands.

Gloucestershire completed a thrilling three-day victory at Headingley, defending 241, to heighten Yorkshire's relegation fears.

England fringe ODI seamer David Payne and Pakistan spinner Zafar Gohar, who took in the match, claimed four wickets each to consign the hosts to a sixth defeat in their last eight Division One games, bowling them out for 222 to win by 18 runs.

It means that if second-bottom Warwickshire beat Hampshire at Edgbaston, they will overtake Yorkshire and relegate them.

The hosts were going well at 69-1 before succumbing to the pressure of needing to win, despite a late and defiant unbeaten 79 off 103 balls from England's Dom Bess.

Yorkshire coach Ottis Gibson also confirmed that new overseas signing Shan Masood will captain the Tykes in 2023 across all formats.

Gloucestershire, 204-6 overnight, only added 29 more to be bowled out for 233 in their second innings as Yorkshire enjoyed as good a morning as they could realistically have hoped for, including George Hil getting both Price brothers.

Hill's second ball, in the day's 13th over, bowled Ollie Price for a well-made 68, before trapping Tom Price lbw in his next over.

Former Tykes skipper Steve Patterson had earlier made the initial breakthrough by trapping Gohar lbw - his 489th and final first-class wicket.

The Gloucestershire innings was wrapped up when Ajeet Singh Dale was run out by a Matthew Fisher with a direct hit from mid-off, preceding the first of three standing ovations for Patterson, in his final game after 18 seasons with the county.

Yorkshire lost James Wharton to the fourth ball of their chase having dragged, but Adam Lyth and Hill united to share 64 for the second wicket either side of lunch.

Lyth drove nicely, while Hill used his feet with effect against the dangerous left-arm spin of Gohar, who was always likely to be the chief threat.

Things were going nicely for the batting side at 69-1 but they fell to 95-4 to, undermining their chances of a first win since beating Gloucestershire in their opening game of the season.

Hill was trapped lbw by Singh Dale for 36 before Tom Kohler-Cadmore lofted Gohar to long-off, falling cheaply on his final Yorkshire appearance before moving to Somerset.

As he departed, having also fallen to a loose top-edged pull at Gohar in the first innings, there was stony silence until he reached the boundary rope, where he was provoked into reacting to a comment from the crowd, which he did not appreciate.

Current captain Jonny Tattersall then lost his off stump to Payne, who bagged another when Harry Duke under-edged on to his middle stump as he tried to leave alone before Lyth gloved a vicious turner from Gohar to slip for 49, leaving Yorkshire at 119-6 in the 38th over.

Bess led his side through to tea with no further damage, but Jordan Thompson flicked Gohar to leg slip not long afterwards for 11, his first double-figure score in 12 Championship innings dating back to mid-June, and then Fisher edged Payne to first slip.

At 172-8 with 69 needed, Bess opted to counterattack. He hoisted Gohar for six over long-on on the way to a 68-ball fifty. But Ben Coad was trapped lbw by Gohar, leaving him and last man Patterson needing 50.

Bess ramped, carved, cut and turned down singles to maintain strike in a last-ditch bid for guaranteed survival, while Patterson blocked determinedly.

But off the 27th ball he faced, he cut Payne to Chris Dent at backward point with almost his first attacking stroke to leave Gloucestershire with a second win of 2022 and all Yorkshire eyes on Edgbaston.

Yorkshire coach Ottis Gibson:

"Very disappointing. With one day to go, we hope things go our way in Birmingham. But you ask yourself the question, 'Do we deserve that bit of luck from Birmingham?'

"The way we've played in the last three weeks, and I've just said it the players in the changing room, we've not played anywhere near our potential. Therefore, if we end up in the second division, it's our own fault. We can't blame any other factors.

"Our destiny was in our own hands. We had a really good morning session to knock them over. Then, to chase 240 to make sure we control our own destiny and end up 19 runs short is very disappointing.

"The conversations we've had with Shan Masood is that he is going to be club captain going forwards. The players know that. He will bring his own style of leadership."

Gloucestershire seamer David Payne:

"Naturally, we're very positive after back-to-back wins. That was the goal for September, to finish on a high.

"We knew the writing was on the wall for relegation, so we wanted to put some pride in our performances and show we're better than we were for the first three quarters of the season.

"All game, it felt like there were runs in the pitch if a batter got in. Then the fourth innings it started to go up and down and misbehave. When it did that, it felt like we were favourites. But Dom Bess showed you could get runs if you applied yourself."

Report supplied by the ECB Reporters' Network.