Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Ben Cliff struck four times at York today, just as he did at Neath last Friday.
Yorkshire took a significant step towards the knockout stages of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup for the second season running with a convincing seven-wicket victory over Durham at York which was forged by an outstanding display with the ball.
Ben Coad returned 1-19 from nine overs and Ben Cliff 4-38 from 9.1 as Durham were bowled out for 165 on a used pitch which nibbled.
As well as Yorkshire bowled en-route to a fourth win in five Group B games, Durham were a long way below par with the bat having won the toss.
For the second game running, they encountered early problems with the bat. After falling to 97-6 in victory over Glamorgan on Wednesday, they slipped to 15-3 inside 10 overs here.
Thankfully, however, recovering once more to win was a step too far. Yorkshire did fall to 5-2 early on in the chase before James Wharton and Sam Whiteman posted 68 and 52 respectively. Both finished unbeaten and shared 97 for the fourth wicket as victory was secured with nine overs to spare.
At the start of Yorkshire’s fourth straight win, Alex Lees feathered George Hill behind driving, Emilio Gay lost his middle stump to Coad trying to reach the city walls never mind clear the boundary rope and Graham Clark miscued Cliff to mid-on.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. An unbeaten fifty for James Wharton at York this afternoon.
Ben Stokes was next to go, caught at backward point for 12 on the reverse sweep at Kuldeep Yadav – 42-4 in the 21st over in front of a near 5,000 crowd.
With cloud cover and a smidgeon of rain in the early stages, this was clearly a good toss for Yorkshire to lose, and Durham were in the nightmare territory of losing wickets and not being able to score given how well the hosts had bowled.
Kuldeep had replaced Coad from the City End, the new-ball seamer with early figures of seven overs, five maidens, one for four.
This was the same pitch used for Wednesday’s win over Worcestershire.
Will Rhodes shared 32 with Colin Ackermann, a partnership which desperately needed extending from Durham’s point of view. But when the former skied a return catch to Dom Bess for an innings-high 31, Yorkshire’s grip tightened at 75-5 in the 28th over.
Wickets continued to fall. Ollie Robinson was caught by Cliff running around in front of the sight-screen from long-on against Bess before Kuldeep trapped Ackermann lbw for 26 – 121-7 in the 37th.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. A crowd of 4,859 watched Yorkshire cruise past Durham at York today.
Kasey Aldridge was caught at deep mid-wicket pulling at Cliff, who then had George Drissell caught in the short mid-on region following a skied miscue.
Tenth-wicket pair Luke Robinson and Shafiqullah Ghafari then shared 29 to add some respectability to the total. But, even though there was some help on offer for the bowlers at the start of the game, it was never likely to be enough.
Robinson contributed 17 not out and Ghafari 12 before he miscued to cover off Cliff to wrap the innings up in the 49th over.
Cliff claimed his second four-day haul in as many Fridays having done likewise in victory over Glamorgan at Neath this time last week.
Stokes then took the new ball and removed Will Luxton caught behind for four in the second over of Yorkshire’s chase on the back of successive centuries.
Robinson had trapped Adam Lyth lbw in the next to give the visitors a sniff.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Frustration for Ben Stokes and Durham.
But Will Bennison and Wharton settled things down nicely with a 65 stand.
The challenge of facing Stokes will have done wonders for the development of Bennison and the cause of England Lion Wharton in front of watching England men’s national selector Marcus North.
Bennison punched his first boundary through the off-side against Stokes and later handsomely drove Robinson through the covers.
Unfortunately Bennison was unable to convert a start of 36 and played on to the leg-spin of Afghanistani Ghafari with the score on 70.
But Wharton looked in excellent order.
He drove and worked boundaries off Stokes and drove another beautifully down the ground off Robinson.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Sam Whiteman was excellent with the bat at Clifton Park today.
Having shared a half-century partnership with up and comer Bennison, Wharton united with the more experienced Sam Whiteman, who was probably the best batter on show today.
He drilled Drissell’s spin aerially down the ground for four to move into the forties, by which time the target was down below 50.
Wharton reached his fifty off 97 balls, followed by Whiteman’s off 52.
And that was that.
Yorkshire face fellow Group B pacesetters Middlesex at Lord’s on Sunday.
