Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Sam Whiteman congratulates Will Luxton upon reaching his second One-Day Cup century in four days.
Yorkshire – headlined by another wonderful Will Luxton century – were at their ruthless best with ball and then bat as they disposed of the defending champions Worcestershire Rapids by six wickets at York to claim a third successive win in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup.
George Hill claimed 3-54 from 10 overs of seam to bowl the Midlanders out for 230. Ben Coad, Jack White and Kuldeep Yadav also struck twice apiece, while ex-Yorkshire all-rounder Matthew Waite was one of three fifty-makers for the visitors with a late 53 not out off 42 balls.
Opener Dan Lategan played nicely for 67, Henry Cullen top-scored with 70. But Worcestershire were hurt by the loss of early wickets and a failure of either of those batters converting their starts as they suffered a first defeat in three Group B matches.
Converting a start was exactly what Luxton did. Dropped on nine at slip, he raced to 50 off 40 balls and went on to back up Sunday’s 117 in victory over Sussex at Hove. He finished with a List A best of 126 off 114 balls with 15 fours and three sixes and is the leading run-scorer in this competition with 331.
Yorkshire have now won three of four games, bouncing back impressively from last Tuesday’s opening-day defeat to Hampshire at Scarborough.
Yorkshire made a superb start after Dom Bess – the other wicket-taker in the innings – had elected to bowl first, the Rapids falling to 53-4 in the 16th over.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Kuldeep Yadav, trying to complete a run out here, claimed two wickets late in Worcestershire’s innings with googlies.
Coad struck twice in his first two overs – both maidens – as Brett D’Oliveira and Gareth Roderick both feathered behind pushing forwards. Hill then removed captain Jake Libby the same way before White jagged one back at Kashif Ali and bowled him.
Lategan kept Worcestershire afloat. A tall left-hander, he drove through the covers nicely and later hoisted White over long-off for six to move to 43.
By the time he reached a 70-ball fifty, Worcestershire were 79-4 in the 23rd over.
A further 50 runs were added by Lategan and Cullen, who shared 74 in all, before the former miscued the off-spin of Bess to long-off – 129-5 in the 34th.
Cullen’s fifty came in 75 balls before he miscued a scoop at Hill behind with 167 on the board at the start of 41st over, just as he and Waite were looking to accelerate.
White struck again to remove Tom Taylor before Kuldeep bowled Beyers Swanepoel and Fateh Singh with a pair of googlies in the 47th over as Worcestershire slipped from 198-6 to 199-9.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Ben Coad started his day with two wicket maidens.
Waite played aggressively to reach his fifty off 40 balls to push Worcestershire up to something which felt competitive before Hill yorked Ben Gibbon with the last ball of the innings.
An early Luxton edge, on nine, against the South African seamer Swanepoel burst through the hands of Cullen at slip, something which felt like a key moment given Luxton had topped 50 in two of the opening three matches in this competition.
Luxton drove nicely and whipped Tom Taylor’s seam (brother of Yorkshire’s new signing for 2027, James) over long-on for six in reaching his latest fifty off 40 balls.
At that stage, Yorkshire were 70-0.
Worcestershire then struck twice quickly to at give themselves a chance of a revival.
Ben Gibbon held a superb return catch at his bootlaces to remove Adam Lyth for 21. In the next over, the 16th, Waite had Will Bennison caught behind at 78-2.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Ben Gibbon is bowled by Yorkshire’s George Hill to wrap up the Worcestershire innings.
But Luxton remained and found a partner in James Wharton, who contributed 38 to a 72 stand before edging Gibbon’s seam behind with the score on 150.
Luxton, who went beyond 1,000 List A runs in this innings, launched Swanepoel over long-on at the City End for a second six to move into the nineties.
He reached his latest ton off 96 balls, with absolutely no way back for Worcestershire now.
Put simply, the visitors just didn’t get enough runs on a good batting surface.
With the victory line in sight, Luxton clattered a pull shot over mid-wicket for six against Waite. He shared 76 for the fourth wicket with Sam Whiteman (35 not out) before miscuing Swanepoel to mid-on.
It sets up a mouthwatering clash against Durham here on Friday. They have won three from three so far.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Will Luxton signs autographs for a young fan after leading Yorkshire home chasing 231 against the defending champions.
