IT is a tag Notts hate, but one with which they will be indelibly linked so long as they continue to produce days of cricket like this.

The theory goes that they are 'chokers'; that they crumble under pressure in important matches.

It was levelled at them when they needed just seven points from two matches to claim County Championship Division One safety in 2006, but claimed only six and went down.

The word re-emerged in 2008 when they went into the final round of matches needing a victory against Hampshire to finish as champion county, only to be emphatically beaten.

And it was the description on plenty of lips once again yesterday as they handed opponents Yorkshire and second-placed Somerset a title lifeline with their batting ineptitude.

Going into this encounter, Notts had a 22-point lead at the summit and were in pole position to win a first title since 2005.

Victory would have seen them virtually assured of the honour, a draw ensured they went into their final match of the campaign against Lancashire at Old Trafford next week in the box seat.

Instead, with Somerset already on top against Lancashire at Taunton, that advantage is set to be all but, if not completely, wiped out.

Dreadful, appalling, abysmal, terrible, call it what you will, this was a batting capitulation not befitting a team which has aspirations of finishing top dogs.

After being put in by Yorkshire , Notts were shot out in only 33.2 overs – their worst score for some 22 years when they made just 44 against Warwickshire in 1988. It was also the lowest score in Division One this season.

No less than five batsmen, including usually reliable skipper Chris Read, were sent packing for ducks with the tale of woe beginning in the very first over and never abating.

There were mitigating circumstances to some degree. As has been par for the course all season, the ball was swinging under the early-morning Trent Bridge cloud cover, conditions exploited superbly by bowling of near-immaculate length and line.

Yet, as the Yorkshire batsmen, led by Andrew Gale's brilliant unbeaten 147 went on to prove in the afternoon and evening sessions, survival and then run accumulation was not the impossibility Notts made it look.

The batting line-up has shown signs of fragility and brittleness at other points in the season.

They were twice dismissed for under 200 against Essex at Chelmsford in July, the latter of those two innings their previous lowest score of the season of 159.

And they were undone by a last-day collapse that heralded an unlikely defeat at Durham only last week.

But this shambles was in a different league altogether and underlined what a big miss Aussie David Hussey is now he has left for the summer, having scored 251 not out on his own when these sides met at Headingley in early August.

Notts' demise started before some spectators had even taken their seats as Paul Franks wafted at the wide, final delivery of Ajmal Shahzad's first over and diverted the ball into Jonathan Bairstow's hands at third slip.

Alex Hales also gifted his wicket by following a wide one from the same bowler, with Adil Rashid taking a smart catch.

When Adam Voges and Samit Patel were both removed by County Championship debutant Moin Ashraf's impressive away swingers with the score on 18, it was already looking like a case of damage limitation.

Mark Wagh (22) and Ali Brown (16) briefly stemmed the flurry of wickets on the lead-up to lunch as they put on 23 for the fifth wicket.

But Brown was trapped lbw by Oliver Hannon-Dalby and almost immediately Read fell to the seamer's final ball prior to lunch.

Just 23 more deliveries followed after the resumption before Notts were dismissed as Shahzad finished with 4-21 and Hannon-Dalby 4-18.

To compound their misery, Notts failed to hit their straps with the ball either as Yorkshire scored at almost four-and-a-half runs per over.

Adams was once again Notts' outstanding bowler as he picked up 4-82 to take his seasonal tally to 62, comfortably the most in the top flight.

But the others struggled – and Gale took full advantage.

The left-hander was painfully struck three times by Adams but, undaunted, put on 111 in 17 overs with Jonathan Bairstow (36).

The visiting skipper chose to attack and was rewarded by reaching three figures in only 85 balls with 17 fours.

Gale was still there at the close by which point, Yorkshire were a massive 201 runs in front.

Notts' first target will be to avoid the ignominy of a two-day defeat and to do that they will have to show a heck of a lot more backbone.

Beyond that, their chances of salvaging anything look pretty slim.