Ottis Gibson admitted his frustration at seeing lightning strike twice at Grace Road today as Yorkshire’s batting let them down for the second game running in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup.
The Vikings lost by six wickets defending a 185 target against Group One leaders Leicestershire, ending their hopes of qualification with one game still to play.
Yorkshire were bowled out for 184, recovering well from 91-8 thanks to 45 from Ben Coad and 40 from Dom Bess. But it was that early collapse which ultimately cost them the chance of victory.
Unfortunately, this was their second defeat in four days, with Thursday’s defeat against Hampshire at York coming as they were bowled out for 134 chasing 312.
Coach Gibson said: “I’m a little bit disappointed and frustrated.
“If you look at all the guys who are away in the Hundred, this squad of players represents the best of the rest of what we have available. I definitely expected a better showing over the last couple of games, and it hasn’t happened.
“You can’t hide from that.”
Coad was Yorkshire’s top-scorer from number 10 in an innings which saw top order batters Fin Bean make 28 and James Wharton 26 on a slow and low pitch.
Gibson continued: “Ultimately, there’s some young batters trying to make their way in the game, and we’re trying to give them as much opportunity as possible.
“What we keep saying is that you have to learn from every opportunity, and ultimately you have to apply the learnings into the next one you get.
“Therefore, today is particularly disappointing because we spoke about the last game and what we would do if the pitch is difficult like it was against the new ball at York.
“Ultimately, there’s two options. You either try and nullify the new ball or, if you have the players with the skillset like a Jason Roy for example or an Alex Hales, you attack.
“Our skillset is to nullify it, and we haven’t been able to do it. We knew it was a used pitch, and we had to work hard to get through the new ball. But we lose wickets continuously.
“You can’t make the same mistake twice and expect to perform against a team that’s top of the league like Leicestershire are.
“I thought Leicester played well today.
“One or two of the players will make low scores. That’s the nature of the wicket.
“Our guys who got in made 30 or 40. Their guys who got in, Handscomb got 60 off 90 balls and Mulder 50 off 75. That’s the difference. Had we had somebody get 80 off 100 balls, then we get to 220.
“That total, on that pitch, would have given us a lot more to work with.
“We have another game in two days, and we’ll sit down and talk about it again as we do with every game.”
Yorkshire now head to Radlett to face Middlesex on Tuesday to round off their 50-over campaign.
Coad, who was outstanding today with bat and ball – he also returned 2-33 from 10 overs with the new ball, will be rested. Fellow seamer Ben Cliff will come in for his first competitive first-team fixture of the summer.
