MARTYN MOXON described Yorkshire’s second successive LV= County Championship title as a better achievement than the first.

The county’s director of professional says having to deal with so many players unavailable due to international calls-ups has “made it tough at times”.

Moxon watched his players secure Yorkshire’s 33rd title in all during the afternoon session of yesterday’s remarkable opening day of their clash against Middlesex at Lord’s.

Ryan Sidebottom starred with five wickets and Andrew Gale with 96 as Middlesex were bowled out for 106 before the champions gained a lead of 132 with one wicket remaining.

Not only did Yorkshire have six players unavailable for the first three matches due to England’s tour of the Caribbean, they also had captain Gale suspended for the opening week win at Worcestershire.

During that Worcester clash, Sidebottom tore a hamstring and missed more than two months of cricket.

“To have provided so many players to England and still won the Championship with two and a half games left I think is a remarkable achievement,” said Moxon.

“The disruptions we've had through England squad selections, it really has been a squad effort. All credit to the players for coping with that so admirably. It's been tough at times.

“It’s great for the lads who are picked, but at times it can be frustrating for us, particularly when things are last-minute.

“But we knew going into the season that it was likely to happen given six lads were picked for the Caribbean tour. So we prepared for that - credit to all the support staff and the players for getting the squad strong enough to repeat last year’s win.

“We played brilliantly last year, don’t get me wrong, it was a brilliant achievement, and the first win is really special. But given the circumstances, I think this is probably a greater achievement.”

Yorkshire now within touching distance of Sussex’s record points haul for a Division One season of 257 points in 2003.

They are currently on 244 with matches to come against Hampshire and Sussex after this.

“It's already been spoken about that we want to get the record wins and the record points,” added Gale.

“We don't just want to go past that, we want to blast it so that it's there for a number of years as well. While we're playing good cricket, why not cash in? We're setting our stall out to get 300 points.”