Steve Patterson admitted his frustration as Yorkshire fell narrowly short of a remarkable heist against Worcestershire in today’s Royal London one-day Cup clash at Emerald Headingley, but the stand-in captain said: “We were way below par and didn’t deserve to win after that first half.”
Yorkshire lost by four runs chasing 351, what would have been a club record in List A cricket.
Worcestershire posted 350-6, including 122 off the last 10 overs.
Yorkshire then fell to 253 for five after 42 overs and finished 346-9, including Che Pujara’s excellent 101.
Amazingly, that including Andrew Hodd hitting the penultimate ball of the match for six to take the target to six, only to hit the last along the ground to long-on.
“It was an interesting game with a lot of runs scored in the end, and we’re very disappointed,” said Patterson.
“I thought it was a tremendous effort from the batting unit to get us as close as we did.
“It probably flattered us a little bit in terms of the way we played today.
“The first half was quite below par for what we’re capable of, both in the execution of our bowling and our fielding in general.
“To go for 122 off the last 10 overs is not good enough. I think we also let 27 extras go as well. All these little things you look at afterwards and think ‘When you lose by four runs’.
“But we were way below par and didn’t deserve to win after that first half.
“There were a few basics we didn’t do well enough in the field, and it’s cost us.”
Patterson went on: “Puj was superb, again. He’s been brilliant in this competition from the first game.
“All we ask of him is ‘Can you bat for 25-35 overs and get us in a position come the last 10 to be in the game?’.
“He’s done exactly what we asked and got a wonderful hundred. Without him, we would have got nowhere near.
“The scores proved it was good pitch. I know we went for a few runs off the last 10, but they did also. It was tough for the bowlers.
“The lads down the order did a great job, Rash, Brez, Hoddy at the end. Unfortunately, it was just too much.
“If we’d have got it right in the first half, we wouldn’t have been chasing anywhere near that.”
Yorkshire, who face champions Nottinghamshire here on Friday, have now won one and lost two in the North Group.
“It’s still relatively open,” added Patterson. “We’ve got five games left, and if we win three or four of them we’re going to be in the hunt.
“It would be nice to win on Friday. But, if we don’t, I don’t think we’re out of the competition.”
