Jordan Thompson completed his maiden five-wicket haul as Yorkshire wrapped up a campaign ending victory, by 10 wickets, over Leicestershire in the Bob Willis Trophy.
Thompson claimed the last two wickets of Leicester’s second innings to finish with 5-31 from 11 overs, bowl the visitors out for 161 and set up a target of only 34.
That was achieved shortly after lunch on day four – in 6.2 overs – by openers Adam Lyth and Tom Kohler-Cadmore, leaving the White Rose at the top of the North Group with three wins and two draws.
It was confirmed on day three that victory would not be enough for Yorkshire to advance to next month’s Lord’s final.
They must now wait to see if pre-game leaders Derbyshire can beat Lancashire at Liverpool to reclaim top spot.
Yorkshire, particularly the seamers, have been excellent this week.
Ruthless with the ball, they did enough with the bat in challenging conditions to secure a 21-point haul. The final day was the only time the sun shone!
While 23-year-old all-rounder Thompson impressed and finished his breakthrough red ball summer with 234 runs and 15 wickets in five games, new ball seamer Ben Coad stood out in this game.
Coad finished with stunning match figures of 8-41 from 27.2 overs, including three in the second innings.
Yorkshire did not have things all their own way on day four, despite the landslide nature of the win.
An innings victory looked likely at the start of the day when Leicester resumed on 78-5 from 26 overs in their second innings, trailing by 50 runs.
And Coad struck twice in the first seven overs, getting Arron Lilley caught at fourth slip and Ben Mike lbw as the score fell to 92-7.
But Leicester made Yorkshire bat again thanks to a 43-run partnership for the eighth wicket between captain Colin Ackermann (47) and fellow South African Dieter Klein.
Klein was dropped twice in the teens on the way to a belligerent 27.
Duanne Olivier was the victim of one of the Klein drops – Coad at long-leg.
But he was cheered when Klein slashed him to backward point, where Thompson held on as Leicester fell to 135-8 in the 46th over, a lead of seven.
Thompson then uprooted Ackermann’s off-stump – 139-9 in the 49th – before some lusty hitting from last pair Alex Evans and Gavin Griffiths boosted the target.
But Thompson wrapped up the innings by bowling the former in the 51st over, leaving Yorkshire with two overs to bat before lunch – 4-0.
Lyth and Kohler-Cadmore later finished unbeaten on 14 and 23 respectively.
Yorkshire, whilst blooding some youngsters, have played some superb cricket in this shortened four-day campaign, and would likely have qualified for the final had the weather gods played ball.
Across their three home matches – Leicester, Derbyshire and Lancashire – they lost 476 overs to rain and bad light. The Derbyshire and Lancashire games both finished in draws.
Yorkshire return to Vitality Blast action on Friday and face Leicestershire again, this time at the Fischer County Ground, Grace Road (6.30pm). Both counties are in quarter-final contention with five games remaining.
