THE Championship Trophy was back in Yorkshire for the first time in 33 years yesterday on a day when an almost impossible dream came true for captain David Byas.

The tough-as-nails farmer, who will be 38 tomorrow, just managed to fight back the tears as he acknowledged the applause after Yorkshire had taken only 73 minutes on the final morning to polish off Glamorgan by an innings and 112 runs.

Byas, who lives at Kilham, on the outskirts of Scarborough, learned his cricket at North Marine Road where he has played in many great matches but none so special as this one.

The victory, Yorkshire's ninth of the season, will net them £105,000 for becoming CricInfo County Champions, but it is the pride and joy at restoring the club's fortunes that means most to Byas.

"To win the Championship on my home ground in front of thousands of fans and to score a century and take the final catch is the stuff that dreams are made of," he said.

"I must admit to feeling a bit emotional about it all but I am pleased for the whole team and the backroom staff who have helped to make this great day possible.

"The lads have done brilliantly all season. They have accepted criticism when it has been necessary and they have bounced back after bad days. They deserve everything they have got.

"It would be unfair to single out too many players because all have performed splendidly but we have had a magnificent overseas batsman in Darren Lehmann.

"What a wonderful player he is and with his brilliance it is just like having Don Bradman in the side.

"It was also a key moment when we signed Steven Kirby during the Kent match and he has gone on to take 43 wickets in just eight matches and should finish up with 50 or more."

Byas has earned a reputation for defying the weather this season and refusing to hurry things on even when the forecasts have been gloomy.

On Thursday, he batted into the afternoon to grind down Glamorgan despite a forecast of rain yesterday.

Amazingly, it began to pour down as Yorkshire were leaving the North Marine Road field in triumph.

"I said I thought it would rain on Saturday but it has just come a shade earlier," he said with a grin.

At 38, Byas is approaching the end of his career but he said he thought he had another year left in him yet.

"In an ideal world I would say the Championship title had taken me a year too long to achieve, but I am not complaining," he said.

"It has been a privilege to be in charge of a team of international players and I am glad to have been given the opportunity to do it."

Nobody in the Yorkshire team was a prouder man yesterday than Bradford-born Anthony McGrath who has been forced to miss much of this season with a groin injury but recovered in time to part of the recent action.

"It is just an unbelievable feeling to have won the Championship and in the six or so years that I have been in the Yorkshire team it has been my aim to be part of this moment," he said.

"It is fitting that we should win it on a home ground in front of fans who have been fantastic all summer.

"We have been close to success over the past few years and I can honestly say that winning the Championship is the greatest prize of all."

Added the batsman: "I have often talked to Brian Close and cricket chairman Bob Platt about the days when Yorkshire last won the Championship and now I know what a great feeling it is.

"But I am confident this is just the beginning of a successful period for Yorkshire in which we shall go on winning trophies because we have got such a strong side."

Richard Blakey, the veteran of Yorkshire's side, said: "I first played in 1985 and when we won the NatWest Trophy a couple of years later I was still a bit blas about it and it didn't really mean all that much.

"But the longer I have played the more I have waited for this moment and I told the lads to enjoy it when it finally comes.

"Now it has arrived and it is a marvellous feeling and one which I will remember for all my life."