YORKSHIRE suffered a damaging defeat in the Friends Life Twenty20 last night when they lost to Derbyshire.

In a thrilling encounter at Headingley, the Tykes were beaten by just 12 runs.

A victory would have taken them to third in the North Group table – the fact they are not celebrating a fourth win in five games in the tournament is down to a poor batting display.

Set just 153 to win – it eventually came down to the final over in front of a disappointing crowd of 3,812.

However, 26 runs were needed and despite impressive innings from both Gary Ballance and Joe Root, the Tykes were unable to force a dramatic win.

“I thought 150 was a gettable target,” admitted captain Andrew Gale.

“Par score at Headingley is normally about 160 or 170, so it is disappointing to have lost.”

His frustration is understandable as Yorkshire looked were in control at halfway.

Although the visitors added 42 runs from their final three overs to close on 152 for four, a disciplined display in the field had looked like laying the foundations of an attainable run-chase.

Things went wrong from the first over though, when Gale was stumped off a wide.

The Tykes skipper has been the county’s stand-out performer with the bat recently, and his wicket seemed to unsettle Yorkshire in the face of some accurate bowling.

Adam Lyth soon cut straight to cover for 17, before Anthony McGrath was runout for only six to leave the white rose on 38 for three.

Jonny Bairstow went for 16, after being caught at mid-off by Wayne Durston off Chesney Hughes, before Ballance and Root began rebuilding.

They moved the score on to 114 for three with 18 balls left, until a terrific 17th over from Steffan Jones swung the game Derbyshire’s way.

His heroics left Yorkshire needing 35 off the last two overs, before Ballance was eventually out for 46 to all but end the game as a contest.

By the time he had gone the Tykes needed 18 off the final two balls – with Root unbeaten on 46 when Yorkshire closed on 140 for five.

It was certainly a fine display with the ball from the Falcons though, while Madsen had earlier been the star with the bat.

He closed on 61 not out, with Hughes making 32 and Garry Park hitting 31.

Their efforts helped Derbyshire rescue themselves from 54 for two after ten overs to eventually post 152 for four at the change of innings.

Yorkshire will now hope for a better outcome in their next fixture which takes place tomorrow against Warwickshire.

SCORECARD

Yorkshire v Derbyshire
At Headingley Carnegie

Derbyshire
M J Guptill run out 1
W J Durston lbw b Shahzad 5
C F Hughes b Rafiq 32
W L Madsen not out 61
G T Park st Bairstow b Patterson 31
R A Whiteley not out 17
Extras (b1 lb1 w1 nb2) 5
Total 4 wkts Innings Complete (20 overs) 152
Fall: 1-1 2-15 3-68 4-127
Did Not Bat: L D Sutton, J L Clare, P S Jones,
T D Groenewald, T C Knight.
Bowling: A U Rashid 4-0-24-0. Shahzad 4-
0-27-1. Patterson 4-0-34-1. Pyrah 4-0-32-0.
Rafiq 4-0-33-1.

Yorkshire
A W Gale st Sutton b Durston 2
J M Bairstow c Durston b Hughes 16
A Lyth c Guptill b Groenewald 17
A McGrath run out 6
J E Root not out 46
G S Ballance c Guptill b P S Jones .46
A Shahzad not out 0
Extras (lb1 w6) 7
Total 5 wkts Innings Complete (20 overs) 140
Fall: 1-5 2-31 3-38 4-53 5-135
Did Not Bat: R M Pyrah, A U Rashid, Azeem
Rafiq, S A Patterson.
Bowling: Durston 2-0-16-1. Clare 3-0-20-0.
Groenewald 4-0-25-1. Hughes 4-0-25-1.
Knight 4-0-27-0. P S Jones 3-0-26-1.
Derbyshire beat Yorkshire by 12 runs