Yorkshire v Gloucestershire (Friends Provident Trophy)

JACQUES RUDOLPH unleashed an outstanding century and fell just two balls short of carrying his bat for the whole 50 overs, but it still wasn’t enough to avoid defeat against Gloucestershire after the visitors set a daunting target of 270 to win at Headingley in the Friends Provident Trophy.

The South African batted himself past the point of exhaustion in a three-hour spell at the crease that was worth 118 runs from 139 balls.

“I’m a little tired”, he said after the game. “The legs are sore but we’ve been training hard and we’ve got good fitness staff in Scott McAllister and Tom Summers, they keep us going.

“The responsibility of batting through and getting a hundred was on my shoulders today,” he said. “I had to take some risks.”

There were no maximums in Rudolph’s innings, but he did make seven exquisite boundaries, two of which saw him let fly over long on for one bounce fours.

Rudolph was paired with no less than eight partners during his time at the crease, Andrew Gale performed well in an opening stand of 67 but Michael Vaughan made just five before snatching at a full toss and offering an easy catch to Tom Stayt in the deep.

Joe Sayers was a somewhat surprise inclusion in place of the England bound Tim Bresnan but he showed limited over pedigree in a knock of 30 off 36 balls that owed much to taking his vice-captain’s advice.

“I told him not to take balls for granted,” said Rudolph. “If you come in and get 10 runs of 25 balls you’ve wasted 15 deliveries.”

Sayers showed an impressive variety of shots but was eventually outdone by trying one too many sweeps and was caught by Kadeer Ali on the fence.

Yorkshire were in the game for long periods and at 186 for four after a successful power play they needed 84 from 60 for victory but having dragged themselves into contention, the middle order suddenly dissolved.

“We lost three or four wickets at the end,” said Rudolph.

“We had so many caught on the fence, if they go for six it’s a different ball game and maybe we’d be smiling tonight.”

In the end Rudolph was left frustrated as the innings collapsed around him but after wracking up 198 against Worcestershire in the Championship in the week, back-toback centuries for the Tykes star is some consolation.

“They say when you get a hundred the next innings you probably get a duck,” he said.

“Luckily I’ve avoided that and hopefully I will again tomorrow.”

Yorkshire lost three wickets for 26 in the closing stages and went on to fall 28 short of the Gloucestershire total.

Earlier, Craig Spearman led the Gladiators to their winning score with a scintillating 92 from just 71 balls that had the crowd ducking out of the way of two big sixes.

Rana Naved took one wicket and two catches in his first appearance of the season after successfully shaking off his visa issues but could only make two with the bat before lobbing one to Will Porterfield off the bowling off Tom Stayt.

Scorecard

Yorkshire v Gloucestershire
At Headingley Carnegie.
Gloucestershire Innings
H J Marshall c Shahzad b Naved-ul-Hasan 10
Kadeer Ali run out 63
W T Porterfield c Rudolph b A U Rashid 37
C M Spearman c Rudolph b Pyrah 92
C G Taylor c A U Rashid b Kruis 17
A P Gidman c Guy b Kruis 7
S J Adshead c Rudolph b A U Rashid 15
J Lewis c Naved-ul-Hasan b Pyrah 3
T P Stayt st Guy b Pyrah 0
V Banerjee c Naved-ul-Hasan b Pyrah 2
S P Kirby not out 0
Extras (b2 lb8 w8 nb5 pens 0) 23
Total (49 overs) 269
Fall: 1-15 2-103 3-143 4-185 5-196 6-236
7-247 8-253 9-269
Naved-ul-Hasan 10-1-46-1. Kruis 9-2-38-2.
Pyrah 9-0-54-4. Shahzad 8-0-49-0. A U
Rashid 6-0-42-2. Vaughan 7-0-30-0.

Yorkshire Innings
A W Gale b Lewis 33
J A Rudolph c Spearman b Kirby 118
M P Vaughan c Stayt b Banerjee 5
A McGrath lbw b Gidman 22
J J Sayers c Kadeer Ali b Lewis 30
A Shahzad c Marshall b Stayt 10
Naved ul-Hasan c Porterfield b Stayt 2
A U Rashid c Marshall b Lewis 4
R M Pyrah not out 6
S M Guy not out 0
Extras (b3 lb1 w7 pens 0)11
Total 8 wkts Innings Complete (50 overs) 241
Fall: 1-67 2-83 3-131 4-188 5-207 6-215
7-224 8-241. Did Not Bat: G J Kruis.
Lewis 10-1-46-3. Stayt 8-1-51-2. Kirby 9-0-
46-1. Taylor 10-0-34-0. Banerjee 7-0-34-1.
Gidman 6-0-26-1.
Gloucestershire beat Yorkshire by 28 runs