Unicorns v Yorkshire
Yorkshire Bank 40

Yorkshire secured a nervous five-wicket victory over the Unicorns at Chesterfield yesterday to get their first Yorkshire Bank 40 points on the board at the third attempt.

First-team coach Jason Gillespie pulled no punches before leaving Edgbaston on Friday night when he called for an improvement in their 40-over form after back-to-back defeats against Glamorgan and Somerset.

The Vikings did not bat or bowl well enough in their first Group C fixtures to leave themselves in a situation where they could maybe afford one more slip-up from their remaining 10 fixtures if they were to qualify for the semi-finals.

There were times yesterday when that slip-up looked like coming, especially when they fell to 88-4 in the 22nd over in reply to 189-9 on a slow pitch.

But they will be relieved just to get a win on the board, and they now have a week to work on their 40-over games ahead of next Monday's game with Middlesex at Radlett.

Adam Lyth top-scored with 58 not out off 60 balls, including five fours and three sixes.

Against a team made of players who have either recently dropped out of the county game and are looking for a way back in or ones who are looking for a maiden opportunity in professional cricket, they chased down 190 with just seven balls to spare.

Yorkshire were also put on the back foot during the last five overs of the home side's innings when they scored 60 runs to move from 129-7 after 35 to 189-9 thanks to some clean striking from Aneurin Norman, who finished with 38 not out off 26 balls.

Rich Pyrah returned 3-34 from eight overs, while Steve Patterson and Adil Rashid added two apiece. Leg-spinner Rashid was excellent for his 2-27, both of which came with successive balls in his eighth over.

Rashid had Scott Elstone caught at short third-man by Andrew Gale and bowled Vishal Tripathi to leave the score at 103-6 in the 29th over.

In fact, Patterson struck twice in the seventh over of the innings after Unicorns' captain Keith Parsons had elected to bat and Pyrah picked up his first two wickets in the 19th.

Batting was tough for both sides on a dry day overhead but damp underfoot.

Lyth, however, spared Yorkshire's blushes by sharing in two crucial partnerships.

He shared 58 in 12 overs for the fifth with Rashid (32) and an unbroken 48 with Andrew Hodd inside six for the sixth.

Gary Ballance and Phil Jaques, who posted 44 and 25 respectively, had earlier added 56 for the third wicket to recover the score from 24-2, but two wickets for left-arm spinner Luke Beaven sent jitters through the away dressing room.

Lyth, however, hit two sixes and a four in the 38th over off Tripathi's spin to break the back of the chase which had got to an equation of 24 off the last three overs.

SCOREBOARD

Unicorns v Yorkshire
At Chesterfield.

Unicorns
T J Lancefield c Hodd b Patterson .......15
T J New b Patterson ............................ 6
M P O’Shea c Ballance b Pyrah ............26
G T Park b Pyrah ..................................13
S L Elstone c Gale b A U Rashid ...........16
K A Parsons run out .............................28
V Tripathi b A U Rashid ........................ 0
R G Querl b Sidebottom .......................23
A J Norman not out ..............................38
W W Lee c Patterson b Pyrah ............... 6
L E Beaven not out ............................... 0
Extras (b9 lb2 w5 nb2 ) ...........18
Total 9 wkts Innings Complete (40 overs) 189
Fall: 1-21 2-22 3-64 4-65 5-103 6-103 7-118
8-155 9-179
Bowling: Patterson 8-0-35-2. Sidebottom 8-
0-37-1. Plunkett 8-0-45-0. A U Rashid 8-0-
27-2. Pyrah 8-0-34-3.

Yorkshire
A W Gale lbw b Lee ............................... 8
R M Pyrah b Lee .................................. 6
P A Jaques c K A Parsons b Norman ...25
G S Ballance b Beaven ........................44
A Lyth not out .......................................58
A U Rashid c O’Shea b Beaven ............32
A J Hodd not out ..................................11
Extras (b1 lb1 w5 ).....................7
Total 5 wkts (38.5 overs)........191
Fall: 1-16 2-24 3-80 4-88 5-143
Did Not Bat: L E Plunkett, R J Sidebottom,
S A Patterson, W M H Rhodes.
Bowling: Querl 8-0-40-0. Lee 5-0-31-2.
O’Shea 8-0-21-0. Norman 6.5-0-39-1. Beaven
8-1-29-2. Tripathi 3-0-29-0.

Yorkshire beat Unicorns by 5 wkts