Photos: John Heald Photography
Adam Lyth admitted his delight at firing Yorkshire to a thumping Royal London one-day Cup win over Leicestershire at the Fischer County Ground Grace Road.
Lyth’s unbeaten 132, added to half-centuries for opening partner Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Che Pujara, helped the Vikings chase down 294 with 3.3 overs remaining.
Yorkshire have now won two from five North Group matches and sit on five points.
They are third in the table, which would be good enough to reach the knockouts, although a number of other teams in the wide open group have only played four.
“It was a good pitch, and I thought they probably got 15 or 20 too many after the start we had,” said Lyth, who saw Leicester slip to 39-3 in their innings before recovering to make 293-9.
“Our two opening bowlers (Matthew Fisher and Ben Coad, who shared five wickets) bowled fantastic.
“The pitch got better and didn’t take too much spin. It was quite true.
“We are happy with a nine-wicket victory.
“The way Tommy played and myself, I thought we gave ourselves a chance.
“We didn’t get off to a flyer in the first few overs.
“We thought we played it really well.
“Tom was unlucky. On another day, his (shot to get out) could have gone for four and we could have won by 10 wickets.”
Great win yesterday! Proud of the boys at
YorkshireCCC</a> for putting in a collective effort. Thank you all for the support! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CountyStory?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CountyStory</a> <a href="https://t.co/gd31wYUdKN">pic.twitter.com/gd31wYUdKN</a></p>— cheteshwar pujara (cheteshwar1) May 28, 2018
Lyth went on: “I’ve felt in good nick all season, I just haven’t quite got the big score I did today. I’m over the moon with it.
“It was probably my best knock in a chase, which I’m thrilled with.
“Over the last few years, we’ve not been the best chasing side, but I thought the way we went about our business today was second to none.
“I’m happy with the way I’ve gone and the rest of the lads as well.”
Lyth narrowly missed out on passing a career best 136: “I’ll have to do that next week,” he smiled, with Wednesday’s trip to Derbyshire next up at the County Ground.
