Picture by Simon Wilkinson/SWPix.com. Matt Milnes starred with a career best seven wickets, including a hat-trick.
Seven-wicket star Matt Milnes returned the third best bowling figures in Yorkshire’s List A history and took the county’s sixth hat-trick in this format as they beat Sussex by six wickets at Hove today to all but confirm a home semi-final in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup.
Only Richard Hutton (7-15 v Worcestershire in 1969) and Darren Gough (7-27 v Ireland in 1997) have bettered Milnes’s stunning 7-38 from 10 overs of seam as Sussex posted 284-9 before the White Rose completed the chase with 14 balls to spare to secure a sixth win in seven Group B matches.
Opener Imam-Ul-Haq continued his fabulous One-Day Cup form, top-scoring with 106 off 105 balls with 10 fours and three sixes.
He shared a 196 partnership for the second wicket with James Wharton, who impressed with a List A best 85 off 103.
Yorkshire sit top of the Group B table with 24 points, four clear of the chasing pack and with an overwhelmingly superior net run-rate. It would take something quite remarkable for them not to be playing in a home semi at Scarborough next Sunday.
Yorkshire will know for sure by Tuesday evening when they travel to face Kent at Canterbury in their final group game.
Yorkshire’s chase was – for most part – a walk in the park, despite it slipping to 11-1 inside four overs against a Sussex side who had to win this to maintain their slim hopes of qualification.
Things did tighten up a bit late on, but not enough to force a turnaround.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. James Wharton posted a maiden List A hundred and has now scored at least one in every format for Yorkshire.
Imam went beyond 50 for the fifth time in six matches, including three hundreds, and Wharton for the third time.
New-ball seamer Milnes claimed three wickets in the early stages of proceedings at the 1st Central County Ground as Sussex, who elected to bat, slipped to 24-3.
The 31-year-old then returned late in the innings – again from the Sea End – to claim four more, including a hat-trick in the 45th over, as Sussex fell to 243-8.
The hosts did well to recover from losing wickets in clusters twice to post a competitive 284-9 total against the Group B leaders. Oli Carter led the way with a career best 94 from the middle order, while captain John Simpson and Danny Lamb added 65 and 53.
Ben Cliff and Dom Bess accounted for the other two wickets on a pitch used for three successive 50-over games.
Milnes became the fifth bowler to take a hat-trick for Yorkshire in List A cricket, of which there have been six in all. Paul Jarvis, Darren Gough twice, Craig White and Matthew Revis.
The latter was back in Yorkshire’s team today having been released from Hundred duty with the Northern Superchargers to play.
Milnes was actually on a hat-trick twice, converting the second chance.
Picture by John Clifton/SWPix.com. Imam-Ul-Haq continued his fabulous form for Yorkshire with a third century in this season’s One-Day Cup.
He made the initial breakthrough by getting Tom Haines caught behind by Harry Duke in the fifth over, following it up by trapping Tom Clark lbw stuck on the crease next ball as Sussex slipped to 18-2.
When Fynn Hudson-Prentice was also trapped lbw in his next over, Milnes had struck three times in six balls. Better was to follow in the South Coast sunshine.
But not before Sussex’s middle order had dragged the innings into decent order.
Left-handed Simpson shared 60 with opener Charlie Tear, who miscued a pull at Cliff’s pace out to just in front of deep square-leg – 84-4 in the 22nd over.
Simpson and Carter then shared 79 for the fifth, with Carter going on to hit five sixes in a 79-ball innings which ended as the first leg of the Milnes hat-trick.
Prior to that, Simpson had fallen lbw sweeping at captain Bess’s off-spin – 163-5 in the 34th – and Carter and Lamb had put on another 80.
At that stage, an innings which looked like it could subside was now entering 300 territory.
Thankfully, though, Milnes put a stop to that as he wrote his name into the record books towards the end of his third and final season with the county ahead of a winter move to Kent, a county he is likely to play against at Canterbury on Tuesday.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Matthew Revis was back in Yorkshire colours amidst Hundred duty with the Northern Superchargers.
Carter was the sixth Sussex wicket to fall when he attempted a reverse scoop and could only pick out Cliff at short third – 243-6, 44.3 overs.
Then Milnes had Jack Carson caught at long-on by Bess before Archie Lenham was trapped lbw with a full delivery to spark wild celebrations from the bowler and team-mates.
In the penultimate over, Lamb top-edged a pull out to deep mid-wicket.
Adam Lyth fell early in Yorkshire’s reply, caught behind defending against Fynn Hudson-Prentice’s medium pace, leaving the score at 11-1 in the fourth over.
From there, Imam and Wharton put Sussex’s bowlers under immense pressure.
They were strong on both sides of the wicket, the Pakistani overseas left-hander playing with all the confidence in the world, as indicated by him going beyond 500 runs for the campaign.
Imam is the competition’s second leading run-scorer with 513 to his name.
He pulled with authority and drove with a flourish. One on-driven four against Hudson-Prentice early in his innings was particularly memorable, as were lofted and pulled sixes down the ground and over mid-wicket against spin.
Picture by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images. Yorkshire excelled in the Hove sunshine today and will be back here next month to play a crucial Rothesay County Championship fixture. By then, they will know whether they are preparing for a One-Day Cup final appearance at Trent Bridge on September 20.
Imam reached his 50 off 54 balls with the second six, against the leg-spin of Archie Lenham.
That came almost immediately after Wharton got to the same milestone off 61 balls.
When Imam got there, Yorkshire were 124-1 in the 22nd over.
Wharton worked nicely to leg and also drove one particularly eye-catching boundary down the ground off Sean Hunt’s left-arm seam.
When Imam reached his latest century, off 102 balls, Yorkshire were 198-1 in the 36th over.
He fell shortly afterwards – 207-2 in the 37th – when caught behind off a top-edged pull at Hudson-Prentice. Wharton drilled Hunt low down to cover four balls later with the score still the same.
Fin Bean also fell caught in the deep off Lamb’s seam and Yorkshire got stuck for a period as the requirement climbed to 51 off the last six overs. But Revis and George Hill hit a leg-side six apiece as 18 came off Hudson-Prentice in the 45th to get things back on track.
They hurtled to victory from there, sharing an unbroken 63 stand. Revis finished with 39 and Hill 31 respectively.
