Will Fraine and Harry Duke scored superb centuries as Yorkshire made an impressive start to their Royal London Cup campaign with a run-filled 33-run win over Northamptonshire on DLS at York.
Openers Fraine and Duke underpinned a mammoth 353-5 in 46 overs, the pair making 143 and 111 respectively as the Vikings entertained a 3,000 strong Clifton Park crowd, Will Luxton also adding 84.
Fraine was dominant and Duke supportive as they both faced 107 balls, while Luxton played in a similar manner to the former in his 53-ball knock during the latter stages of the innings.
In reply, New Zealand opener Will Young impressed with 91, but he realistically needed to bat much longer than the 24 overs he did as the visitors were bowled out for 320 inside 45 overs.
Lewis McManus crashed 82 off 62 balls late in the piece to ever-so briefly threaten a comeback. But, in the end, it was a consolatory innings as Dom Bess finished with 3-63 from nine overs.
Ben Coad, Tom Loten and Harry Sullivan, the debutante left-arm spinner, all struck twice, while Sullivan’s fellow first gamer Ben Cliff also picked up his maiden wicket.
Fraine and Duke gave Yorkshire a commanding start with a memorable partnership of 209 inside 30 overs, later backed up by a Luxton innings which became an exhilarating shot-a-ball knock as the overs whittled down.
Duke and Luxton shared 134 for the second wicket inside 15 overs to leave Northants with a mountain to climb in the afternoon sunshine.
A real feature of an innings which included 12 sixes – eight of which were hit by Fraine and three by Luxton – was the timing.
Fraine displayed power on the leg-side and finesse on the off. He pulled the seam of Tom Taylor over the pavilion and later thudded another six into the balcony railing off Saif Zaib’s left-arm spin on the way to his century off 85 balls.
By the time he reached three figures for the second time in his Yorkshire career, the Vikings were 142-0 after 23 overs.
Duke was more reserved, though became busier as his innings progressed. The scoop shot was a productive one on his way to 12 boundaries.
After Fraine sliced Zaib to backward point, Luxton came in with similar aggression. He was particularly strong down the ground.
Duke and Luxton reached 100 and 50 in successive deliveries as the score reached 299-1 after 40 overs. Duke brought up his century off 97 balls before Luxton reached his fifty off 35 with a pulled six.
Both men were caught in the penultimate over off Nathan Buck, who was the pick of the Steelbacks’ bowlers with 2-66 from nine, a large reason why only 11 runs came in the final two overs.
It was the only time Northants were able to stem the flow of runs having failed to find a good line and length.
Yorkshire’s bowlers, however, were far more precise.
Debutant Cliff struck after only four balls of the defence, getting Ricardo Vasconcelos caught at wide mid-on off a leading edge, before Coad had Emilio Gay caught at slip as the score fell to 36-2 in the sixth over.
Young and Zaib shared 82 for the third wicket to revive the innings.
Young was strong square on both sides of the wicket in 64 balls at the crease, though he added two straight sixes off Sullivan.
However, the Vikings reasserted their authority in the space of five overs as both men fell, leaving the score at 158-4 in the 24th.
Zaib was stumped off the off-spin of Bess and Young miscued a pull at Coad to mid-on.
Rob Keogh’s 59 kept Northants’ hopes alive, him sharing 79 for the fifth wicket with wicketkeeper McManus.
But the former was the first of three wickets to fall for 17 runs, which realistically put the tin lid on the visiting side’s chances as they fell from 237-4 in the 34th over to 254-7 in the 37th.
A delighted Sullivan claimed his maiden wicket when Keogh picked out deep cover before the same man bowled James Sales and saw Bess remove Taylor caught and bowled.
Bess had Buck caught at deep mid-wicket shortly afterwards – 268-8 in the 39th over – before McManus batted with real license to just about keep the game alive.
He hit all of 23 off Coad in the 42nd over, including three sixes, to take the score to 311-8 with four overs remaining. However, wickets in hand were always the issue.
?And so it proved. Loten trapped him lbw with a full toss before last man Curtley-Jack White clothed to mid-on to wrap up the game with 10 balls remaining.
