Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Disappointed? Of course. But Anthony McGrath praised his players for their efforts in this season’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup.
Anthony McGrath spoke of his disappointment as Yorkshire were beaten in today’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup semi-final by Hampshire at Scarborough.
Yorkshire suffered only their second defeat in nine matches in this competition having won seven times in the group.
They were beaten by 18 runs on DLS, finishing on 235-8 from 41 overs chasing a revised 254-target following two half-hour rain delays.
Frustratingly, Yorkshire were in a position of significant strength twice.
Hampshire were 78-4 batting first before recovering to 304-6.
Yorkshire were then 146-1 in the 28th over chasing, with Imam-Ul-Haq in and en-route to a superb 105 off 97 balls.
Hampshire’s heroes were Liam Dawson with 142 and two wickets and Scott Currie with 61 not out and two wickets. Both of those players posted List A best scores with the bat.
Hampshire advance to face Worcestershire in the Trent Bridge final on September 20.
Head coach McGrath said: “It’s been a bit of a funny game, I reckon, because we were really, really good with the ball for 38 overs and then they obviously batted well.
“Daws is a fabulous player, but to concede 120-odd off the last 10 overs was a bit too much.
“But, having said that, the way we batted, Imam again and Adam Lyth getting us off to a good start and then Imam and Will Luxton, we were cruising the game.
“Obviously it’s not easy when you go back on and off. But when we got the revised target, we spoke in the dressing room about 115 off 15 overs with nine wickets in hand.
“If you took that in a T20 game, you’d be more than happy.
“The plan was just to try and get down to five or six overs with wickets in hand.
“But I think, if we’re being honest, apart from Imam, we just looked like we had a bit of a brain fade – probably swinging a little bit too hard.
“I think proper shots, running hard, which we’ve done in this competition, would have done it.
“We know on this ground it’s difficult to defend. So, yeah, that’s a target we should have got.”
Yorkshire have been excellent in this competition before falling short today.
“The way for them to win that game, I thought they had to get wickets,” added McGrath. “If we got a partnership, you saw there once two players got in, the outfield is fast as well. So I think we did help them, if you look at the dismissals.
“But, look, that can happen.
“We’ve been tremendous in this competition.
“Everyone’s disappointed in there. And, as I’ve just said, maybe it’s just a little reminder that we’re not quite there yet. We’ve got to learn from it.
“I think the seven wins out of eight games, we’ve played really, really well in the group.
“Of course it’s very disappointing tonight, there’s a lot of emotions.
“But we’ve got to remember what we’ve done really well this four weeks. And it’s something we can certainly build on.”
