Yorkshire relegated from elite

English county cricket giants Yorkshire suffered the humiliation of relegation from the top division of the county championship on Monday.

The 30-time county champions - they also shared the title once - had their fate sealed when Worcestershire took a bonus point in their match against Durham which preserves their elite status as even were they to finish level on points they have won more games than Yorkshire.

The Tykes, who won the last of their county titles in 2001 but finished a promising third last term, had given themselves some hope with victory over Somerset on Saturday which also dashed the losers' hopes of the title.

Yorkshire are one of England's most historical clubs.

For years they held out against playing players born outside the county until reality bit in 1992 to the allow players educated in Yorkshire to play for them which permitted Ashes-winning captain Michael Vaughan to join them - they eventually relaxed the rule entirely.

They number among other former great players Geoff Boycott, Brian Close, Ray Illingworth and their first overseas player was the Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar.