IT was a case of so near, yet so far, for Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 2021.

They were the only side to qualify for the County Championship’s top group, the quarter-finals of the T20 Blast and the knockout stages of the Royal London One-Day Cup.

But sadly, for all that promise, it was another season without silverware for the White Rose.

Now the dust has settled on the 2021 campaign, let’s take a look back at some of the highs and lows in our end of year review.

BEST PERFORMANCE

It is hard to look beyond the destruction of Somerset in Division One of the County Championship.

Wins were the golden ticket in the end of season top group, and Yorkshire completely destroyed their West Country opponents inside two days at Scarborough.

A rampant Matthew Fisher took 5-41 as Somerset were bowled out for just 134, after choosing to bat first.

A fine 118 from Harry Brook saw Yorkshire rack up 308 in reply, before Fisher completed a stunning match by taking 4-23, as Somerset were routed for 141 to lose by an innings.

WORST PERFORMANCE

Two games stand out here, but the worst has to be the dreadful innings defeat to Lancashire at Old Trafford in the Championship in May.

Batting first, Yorkshire slumped to a pathetic 21-6, and were only rescued by 52 from teenage keeper Harry Duke and a quickfire 32 from Ben Coad batting at No.10.

But their eventual total of 159 all out proved embarrassingly inadequate when the Red Rose piled on 509-9 declared.

Yorkshire batted with a bit more poise in the second innings, but were eventually bowled out for 271 late on the final day.

A special shout out to the horrendous loss to Warwickshire in the Blast group stages too, which saw Yorkshire bowled out for 81 and their opponents race to a 10-wicket win inside nine overs.

MOST EXCITING GAME

The Championship clash at home to Northamptonshire edges this one.

The first three innings of the match all saw scores of between 200 and 250, meaning Northants were left chasing 220 to win, and 219 to tie.

With David Willey taking 3-39, the visitors looked dead and buried at 178-8, but when Simon Kerrigan was the next man out, Northants were only 14 off victory.

Wayne Parnell and Ben Sanderson edged the away side towards their target, but at the last Steve Patterson forced the former to nick one behind, with Yorkshire winning by one run.

BIGGEST LETDOWN

The Roses Championship game at Headingley in July was a disaster.

The hosts saw their bowling attack torn apart, as Lancashire racked up 411-2.

But the game went no further, with poor Dom Leech suffering a nasty knee injury on day three after slipping on the wet outfield and colliding with a concrete wall.

Despite the good weather overhead, the umpires controversially abandoned play for the day, and eventually called off the fourth and final day too.

BEST PLAYER

Several Yorkshire individuals had good seasons.

Adam Lyth started the season batting like a prince, before tailing off somewhat later on, Jordan Thompson had another strong campaign with bat and ball, while Ben Coad continues to lead the attack with aplomb.

But it became impossible to ignore the rise of Harry Brook in 2021.

He averaged nearly 38 in the County Championship, a more than decent effort given some of the low scores Yorkshire put up in their four-day games this season.

But it was in the limited overs formats that he really stood out.

Brook was sensational in the T20 Blast, and ended up as the fourth highest run scorer of the tournament with 486 runs, at a phenomenal average of 69.40.

And those innings stood him in good stead for franchise cricket.

He was among the top-10 run scorers in the Hundred, playing for Northern Superchargers, despite only having five innings.

And he has now been handed a potentially life-changing contract to play for Hobart Hurricanes this winter in Australia’s Big Bash League.

BIGGEST CONCERN

Legally, it is best to be careful here, but there are still major question marks hanging over Yorkshire due to their handling of Azeem Rafiq’s “institutional racism” claims.

The club have finally released a report into their findings, but there are concerns that the full story is still not being told.

Rafiq insists one or more of the accused still work at Yorkshire, and the longer this saga goes on, the uglier it could get for the county.