Ryan Sidebottom closed in on the fourth title of his remarkable career by helping Yorkshire move within five wickets of the victory they require over Nottinghamshire to become county champions again.

The former England left-arm seamer, now 36, is the only surviving member of Yorkshire’s last title-winning line-up in 2001, but won championships in 2005 and 2010 during a spell with Nottinghamshire before returning to Yorkshire again three years ago.

His vast experience, which includes being a member of England’s World

Twenty20 winning line-up in 2010, has been required to provide a cautious voice to an excited dressing room after reducing Nottinghamshire to 149 for five, still trailing by 180 runs, after being forced to follow on.

“It’s close and it’s been a great day,” said Sidebottom. “It was a great team effort with the way we plugged away. It’s a flattish wicket but the scoreboard pressure with the way we batted has obviously told at this moment in time.

“The final day will be a big day, we are close but you don’t want to take anything for granted in cricket so we’ve just got to keep doing the things we’ve done and hopefully that will be that.”

Victory will crown his reasons for returning to Yorkshire after Martyn Moxon, Yorkshire’s Director of Cricket, persuaded him to come home and help with the development of their young squad.

“I’ve had a special career and achieved a lot more than I ever expected to myself,” he conceded. “To win three championships is really special. Martyn sold me a dream when I came back to Yorkshire, saying we had some young, talented players at the club that are improving year by year and are going to go from strength to strength.”

Resuming the third morning on 58 for four, still 325 runs away from avoiding the follow on, it was one of the few members of the Yorkshire side still to get international recognition – Jack Brooks - who sparked a collapse to 140 for nine.

Brooks struck in the fifth over of the day to win an lbw appeal against Michael Lumb, who had shouldered arms, while new ball partner Sidebottom gained extra bounce from the Pavilion End to induce an edge behind from Riki Wessels.

The momentum for Nottinghamshire’s collapse continued with Adil Rashid, Yorkshire’s leg spinner, claiming two wickets in an over, having Luke Fletcher caught at cover while Jake Ball fell lbw to his googly.

Rashid also dismissed Gary Keedy only two overs into the afternoon session, an attempted slog sweep caught in the gully, but Yorkshire were frustrated for a further 17 overs with Chris Read forging a 63-run stand with last man Harry Gurney.

Brooks claimed his fourth victim with Gurney falling lbw andNottinghamshire also lost a wicket to the first ball of their second innings when Steven Mullaney was hit on the pads by Sidebottom.

Lumb followed in the next over when he drove at Brooks and was caught low by Gary Ballance at third slip, but with Nottinghamshire reeling on nine for two, Yorkshire’s high standards of fielding briefly deserted them.

Alex Hales was the first to be given a reprieve on four, dropped by Adam Lyth at second slip and then James Taylor, then on one, was missed in the next over from Brooks by Ballance at third slip when he had scored only one.

Hales’ escape allowed him to forge a 62-run stand with Taylor until he drilled the ball back down the pitch on 43, allowing Brooks to claim a superb reflex return catch to put Yorkshire back on course.

Samit Patel helped Taylor forge a 53-run stand but a loss of concentration – coupled with some sharp wicketkeeping from Jonny Bairstow – ended his innings when he lifted his foot briefly and allowed himself to be stumped after allowing Steve Patterson’s delivery through.

It was a dismissal that sparked brief controversy with Read, Nottinghamshire’s captain and wicketkeeper, questioning how long Bairstow held the ball before claiming the stumping. “It’s not something I’ve ever done in 16 years of first-class cricket,” he said.

“I wouldn’t necessarily be too comfortable with it, but each to their own, it’s certainly within the Laws of the game.”

Patel’s dozy dismissal was compounded by Sidebottom removing Wessels’ off-stump seven overs later, but Taylor made the most of his reprieve to finish unbeaten on 56 and delay Yorkshire’s title celebrations, at least for another day.

SCORECARD

Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire
At Trent Bridge.
Overnight: Yorkshire 532-9 dec (A Lyth
122, G S Ballance 99, T TBresnan
95, A Z Lees 86; G Keedy 5-163).
Nottinghamshire 58-4.

Nottinghamshire First Innings
M J Lumb lbw b Brooks ........................ 41
M H Wessels c Bairstow b Sidebottom..21
C M Read not out................................... 81
L J Fletcher c Brooks b A U Rashid ...23
J T Ball lbw b A U Rashid ....................... 2
G Keedy c Bresnan b A U Rashid ........ 4
H F Gurney lbw b Brooks..................... 15
Extras (lb5 nb2 pens 0)........ 7
Total (66.2 overs).............. 203
Fall: 1-8 2-12 3-12 4-25 5-68 6-82 7-123
8-126 9-140
Bowling: Sidebottom 12-2-35-3. Brooks
13.2-1-58-4. A U Rashid 22-4-52-3.
Patterson 7-2-29-0. Bresnan 11-4-24-0.
Root 1-1-0-0

Nottinghamshire Second Innings Close
S J Mullaney lbw b Sidebottom ............. 0
A D Hales c & b Brooks........................43
M J Lumb c Ballance b Brooks ............. 9
J W Taylor not out...................................56
S R Patel st Bairstow b Patterson ......25
M H Wessels b Sidebottom................. 10
G Keedy not out........................................ 0
Extras (b4 lb1 w1 pens 0) ... 6
Total 5 wkts (42 overs) .....149
Fall: 1-0 2-9 3-71 4-124 5-144
To Bat: C M W Read, L J Fletcher, J T
Ball, H F Gurney.
Bowling: Sidebottom 11-4-24-2. Brooks
6-0-45-2. A U Rashid 8-2-32-0. Bresnan
4-0-12-0. Patterson 10-5-28-1. Root 3-0-3-0