THERE was no more fitting venue for Yorkshire to retain their County Championship crown than Lord's.

For Andrew Gale, it was the ultimate vindication to celebrate at headquarters.

After all, it had been those "stuffed shirts" who had robbed him of the chance to hoist the silverware this time last year over the flimsiest of allegations that were quickly disproved.

Vindication and victory has proved sweet.

That decision to ban Gale over the suggestion of racial abuse in a Roses match bit deep into the Yorkshire dressing room.

The sense of injustice – almost betrayal – by the authorities to rob them of the skipper just when glory beckoned proved a powerful tool in the quest to retain the title.

"Do it for Galey," may not have been chalked on the changing-room wall at Headingley but it was a driving force.

Jason Gillespie admitted as much in a TV interview earlier this week. There's nothing like an "us against the world" mentality to sharpen team spirit – and Yorkshire have shown that in abundance.

For Gillespie too, the stage where the title was sealed seemed just as appropriate.

It was within those corridors-of-power in May that the ECB decided that it would be Trevor Bayliss rather than Gillespie taking up the poisoned chalice as England's latest coach.

Whether England picked the right Aussie, only time will tell. But it was a huge call in Yorkshire's favour.

Gillespie, who looked the odds-on favourite at first, shook off any disappointment and refocused on the job in hand. Yorkshire's smooth progress continued without a single blip in the road.

This year's triumph will feel all the more sweet, not just for Gale and Gillespie, but for the real sense of teamwork. Everyone chipped in.

It's amazing to think that Joe Root, who accepted the trophy in Gale's enforced absence 12 months ago, has played precisely once.

With Root away so often with England – one of seven Yorkshire players to be called up for international duty this summer – the onus has fallen on the group to pick up any slack.

An unbeaten campaign is clear proof that few have been found wanting. The line-up has been cleverly rotated, players rested when needed, and you have not seen the join.

Unsung heroes like James Middlebrook have emerged. Yorkshire bucked the trend of most counties focusing on the younger end of the market by bringing him back from Northamptonshire at 37 – the veteran spinner now sits second in the county bowling averages.

Ahead of him is the ageless Ryan Sidebottom, who applied the coup de grace on Middlesex on Wednesday morning with a devastating first over.

Those three wickets on the way to another 'five-for' took him to the 700 career mark and there is no sign of slowing.

Continuing to roll back the years, he has epitomised the enthusiasm that courses through this team, both the young and not-so-young.

Jonny Bairstow – another with a point to prove after being discarded by England early on – plundered the mountain of runs which so often built the platform for Sidebottom and his cohorts to exploit.

Yorkshire's march has been relentlessly inevitable. The best of the rest were scattered by the wayside.

The league table doesn't lie. Nobody has come close.

But just as an aside – with the trophy back safely in place, any chance of taking it easy against Hampshire this week?

Some counties do still need the points...