JACK Brooks could only stand and watch on helplessly as Yorkshire’s bid for a third successive County Championship was shattered by Middlesex in a dramatic finish at Lord’s.

The former Oxfordshire seamer, who took seven wickets in the match, was the non-striker as pacemanToby Roland-Jones clinched Middlesex’s title with a stunning hat-trick.

Yorkshire, chasing a target of 240 in the winner-take-all contest, lost their last four wickets in nine balls to be all out for 178 with 4.4 overs to spare.

Brooks, coming in at No 10, did not face a ball before the amazing climax.

Yorkshire, who took a first-innings lead of 120, held the whip hand at the start of the day with Middlesex on 80-2.

However, the home side’s batsmen resisted strongly and it soon became clear that collusion was needed if either team were to win and deny Somerset their first title.

Middlesex were fed runs, with 94 coming off the last seven overs of their second innings before the declaration at 359-6, Brooks taking 1-48 from 15 overs.

Yorkshire’s first-innings century-maker Tim Bresnan made a rapid fifty, but the rest of the batsman had no answer to Roland-Jones, who finished with 6-54.