Ali Maiden hailed the character of his players after bouncing back from losing a thriller against Kent on Friday to win one against Derbyshire today.
The county’s assistant coach was a happy man after what he described as a “scrappy” but “amazing” game of Royal London Cup cricket.
Yorkshire, chasing just 110, won by one wicket with 18.1 overs to spare, losing their ninth wicket with the scores level.
It represented a fourth win in seven Group B games, one which puts them back on course for knockout qualification after a defeat against Kent at Canterbury that ended with the hosts hitting the six they needed off the last ball.
“The lads were nervous all the way through because it was ours to lose in many ways. But we got there. And winning’s a habit,” said assistant coach Maiden.
“To get over the line after losing the game the other day shows great character. That’s all I would look at for a young team.
“We found a way to win. It was a really tough pitch to chase on.
“It was just hard. Both teams put everything into it, but it was very difficult to score runs on. There was always a ball with your name on it, and we showed huge character to get over the line.
“It was definitely not an easy chase, so we did well.
“It was tough watching but tough going for the lads.”
On the pitch, Maiden said: “I thought it would do a bit with the ball. The challenge was that it was uneven, but I didn’t have those kind of scores on my radar.
“I didn’t see it being as hard as that, but I did think we’d make the most of bowling first on it.
“Coady could have had more wickets than he got. He bowled beautifully and deserved more.
“We broke partnerships when we needed to and showed good discipline.”
On the chase of 110, he continued: “We predicted it to be tough.
“Each individual takes a different approach. With Dukey, it was a the case of, ‘I’m going to get stuck in and get behind it’. Someone like Waitey was saying, ‘If I bat like that, I’m going to get out. I need to play shots’.
“That was my favoured approach from as many batters as possible, to try and be positive, because there was always a ball which would bounce and take the glove or keep low.
“If the ball was in your area, you had to try and hit it.
“Even the lads at the end did well. Coady hit a couple over the top.”
Yorkshire have moved back into third place in Group B, and they know they will qualify for the knockout stages for the second year running if they win their final game against leaders and already qualified Hampshire at Scarborough on Tuesday (11am).
The Vikings are one point clear of the chasing pack, so it doesn’t matter what anybody else does.
Maiden added: “We’ll take confidence from getting over the line in a really tough situation. We’ll be positive about the way we approach the game.
“We’ve had lots of batters scoring runs, bowlers putting in good performances. We’ve had the odd loss from a tight situation, but we’ve also won one from a tight situation.”
