Harry Duke hit an excellent 44 not out to revive Yorkshire’s innings following early strife as they beat the South Asian Cricket Academy in their final T20 in Abu Dhabi, with new signing Jack White also to the fore in the Desert.
Yorkshire, winners by 39 runs, finish the Abu Dhabi Counties Super Cup competition, played across three days, with two wins and a defeat. They beat Essex on Friday and lost to Warwickshire yesterday to finish fifth out of the six teams. White also impressed with 3-10 from three overs in a successful defence, which saw SACA limited to 118-8.
Jordan Thompson’s side fell to 90-7 in the 12th over at the Tolerance Oval, having been inserted, with Matthew Revis posting 35 from number three against an on-song SACA attack.
Thankfully, though, wicketkeeper-batter Duke and left-arm spinner Dan Moriarty shared a superb 67 for the eighth wicket inside the last nine overs of the innings, with the latter contributing an important 18. Duke took on the lead role and hit a six and three fours in 32 balls, while Moriarty was more watchful as he faced 22 balls – the pair wrestling back the momentum.
In reply, SACA struggled having lost early wickets. White took the new ball and led the way, while captain-for-the-day Thompson and Dom Bess struck twice apiece. There was also a run out.
Picture by YCCC. Dan Moriarty had an excellent day with bat and then ball as Yorkshire beat SACA.
Five of the six SACA bowlers used claimed at least a wicket, with left-arm seamer Chinmay Mullapudi taking the new ball and returning 2-25 from his four overs.
Revis opened the batting with James Wharton, and the latter fell cheaply.
All-rounder Revis, playing as a specialist batter during the early stages of this tour as he continues his recovery from a back stress fracture suffered late last summer, hit four fours and two sixes in his 22-ball innings.
He shared 35 for the second wicket with Fin Bean (12) and 32 for the third with George Hill, who added 21.
Yorkshire then fell from 77-2 in the ninth over to 90-7 in the 12th before the intervention from number eight Duke and Moriarty put the county back into control against Jafer Chohan’s former side.
Picture by YCCC. Matthew Revis warms up before today’s clash with SACA, in which he opened the batting and posted 35.
Chohan didn’t play today, rested having featured on Friday against Essex and Saturday against Warwickshire.
Ismail Mohammed, from number five, played the lone hand for SACA with an unbeaten 49 from 42 balls, including three sixes.
England Under 19s pacer Alex Wade encouraged with the ball, returning 0-31 from four overs, and he also took a catch and had a hand in the run out of opener Vansh Jani.
Ex-Northamptonshire seamer White trapped the other opener Arav Shetty lbw and later had Hishaam Khan and Shaariq Sheikh caught to put the skids under SACA. Bess and Thompson claimed two wickets apiece, while Moriarty’s spin was miserly, returning 0-14 from three overs to cap a notable contribution for the left-armer.
Yorkshire will now turn their attentions to red ball preparation, with a two-day friendly against Somerset rounding off their tour on Friday and Saturday.
Picture by YCCC. Jordan Thompson captained Yorkshire today.
HARRY DUKE SAID:
“We didn’t want to be in the fifth and sixth play-off game, but it was nice to get that win today to build confidence into the year.
“I think it became pretty simple for me and Moz, to be honest. We were seven down going into the last 10 overs, so we said, ‘Take it deep’. Fortunately enough, Moz played really nicely, and we got to a decent total in the end.
“It’s been nice to go away in the winter (Melbourne) and spending time in the sun instead of the East Stand.
“It’s been good prep coming here, and feeling like you can hit the ground running has been nice.”
