By Niall Hickman
Yorkshire won the Royal London One-Day Cup Group A match by 32 runs via the D/L method following a rain-affected all-Northern clash at the Emirates Durham ICG.
Glenn Maxwell’s free-hitting 65 not out from only 51 balls steered the Yorkshiremen to victory after Durham posted a total of 224-7 off their 43 overs, with Graham Clark top scoring with 42. Yorkshire were confidently moving towards a win inside the required overs when the rain came crashing down in late-afternoon and with no further play allowable, the visitors duly took the two points.
After starting their group games with two wins and a draw, coach Jon Lewis’ side followed up their defeat to Surrey on Friday with another loss.
Durham face a tough trip to Gloucestershire on Tuesday and will be determined to get back in the winning habit in the defence of their Royal London One-Day Cup crown.
Yorkshire won the toss and elected to bowl as the umpires started play at 11.45am, an hour and a quarter late due to early rain. The match was restricted to a 43-over per side contest in front of leaden Durham skies.
Mark Stoneman and Phil Mustard got off to a cautious start, but in Tim Bresnan’s third over it all changed rapidly as the Durham skipper hit the Yorkshire and England paceman for a huge six over long on. Stoneman followed that up with a blistering four through the covers, before falling next ball, as he attempted a scything cut, only to be caught by Glenn Maxwell at point at full stretch. A clearly frustrated Stoneman swished his bat over his stumps having fallen for 16.
Mustard and Scott Borthwick took the score on at a decent lick to 80, with the former really getting into his stride, only for both players to fall for identical scores (32) in the space of just a few balls by ex-Durham paceman Liam Plunkett. Keeper Hodd snaffled up Mustard, before Borthwick was caught at deep mid wicket by Jack Leaning.
Paul Collingwood joined Clark and again, just as the Durham pair seemed to be finding the middle of the bat, their partnership was ended. Collingwood hit a huge six only to go for a similar shot to Adil Rashid and Hodd completed a simple stumping to make it 128-4.
Thirty more runs were added before Clark went for 42 off only 44 balls, caught by Maxwell off Plunkett.
Ryan Pringle and Gordon Muchall both looked dangerous before the former fell to Tim Bresnan’s bowling for 30. John Hastings then chased a wide one to give Steven Patterson his only wicket in a typically accurate spell, making it 198-7. Muchall fought back and guided Durham over the 200-mark, hitting some lusty blows to take the home side to 224-7 off their allotted 43 overs, with Muchall 35 not out off only 26 balls at the close of the innings. Although Muchall’s powerful hitting helped to boost Durham’s total, the consensus suggested it was still around 30 runs shy of a ‘par’ total.
Ultra-reliable Patterson was the pick of the Yorkshire bowlers with 1-32 off his nine overs, while Plunkett and Bresnan chipped in with 3-40 and 2-51 respectively.
Yorkshire started slowly and when Alex Lees was run out for nine having chanced a quick single against Pringle’s arm, the contest was truly on. But wicket keeper Andy Hodd and Maxwell took the score up to 80 before the latter nicked one to Mustard behind the stumps. Maxwell began to see the ball clearly and a couple of towering sixes steered Yorkshire in front. Gary Ballance survived a couple of close shaves off Hastings’ fierce bowling, but the pair were still together at 130, having put on a half century partnership, when the umpires called the players off the pitch due to driving rain at 4.35pm.
The rain persisted and around 25 minutes later the umpires, Michael Gough and Tim Robinson, called off the match with Yorkshire winners by 32 runs via the D/L method.
Although it has been a disappointing three days for Durham, they clinched a place in the quarter-finals with nine points from their group matches last season and went on to lift the trophy. With five points already in the bag, two wins from their last three games against Gloucestershire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire could again be enough to see them reach the knock-out stages.
Result – Yorkshire win by 32 runs via D/L method. Yorkshire 2 points, Durham 0 points.