Anthony McGrath left fuming as Yorkshire CCC run out of T20 power at Durham
“It was pretty embarrassing, if I’m honest. The last two performances have not been anywhere near good enough.”
That was the verdict from Yorkshire head coach Anthony McGrath, pictured, after watching his side slump to a 63-run defeat to Durham at the Riverside. It was their second Vitality Blast win over the White Rose in six days.
Defeat all but ended Yorkshire’s chances of reaching the quarter-finals. This was their sixth defeat in eight as they failed to chase 194.
Durham’s 193-4 included a series of dynamic contributions, led by opener Graham Clark’s 53 off 35 balls. New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham also starred with 42 not out off 21 before striking twice with the ball in defence.
Yorkshire’s forlorn chase continued through a ground power-cut, and they were bowled out for 130 inside 18 overs. Opener Adam Lyth top-scored with 38.
Alex Lees clattered four fours in five balls as 17 runs came off Will O’Rourke in the third over, the hosts going on to reach 50 without loss from five overs. Lees edged the same bowler behind in the sixth over, falling for 40 off 24 balls.
Every Durham batter aside from Ben McKinney, who made five before top-edging behind off Jafer Chohan, got set and contributed.
Clark started the 13th over by muscling back-to-back sixes down the ground off Chohan’s leg-spin before reaching his fifty off 30 balls later in the over.
Having shared 56 with Lees, Clark added a third-wicket 62 with Colin Ackermann, 28, before both holed out to O’Rourke in the 15th over.
The visitors started well with the bat, captain Dawid Malan hoisting a six over midwicket off Callum Parkinson’s spin as 24 came from the first two overs. Malan, on 21, was bowled by Potts.
A brief power cut didn’t stop play despite no floodlights or scoreboard, and it also seemed as if Yorkshire’s power was cut as the score reached 74-3 after 10 overs, with 120 more needed.
Jonny Bairstow was bowled for 19 as he tried to attack Nathan Sowter’s leg-spin before Will Luxton dragged left-armer Parkinson to long-on.
And when Lyth was run out backing up by Parkinson following a fierce Will Sutherland drive, Yorkshire were 91-5 in the 12th over and under severe pressure.
It was quickly evident that their task was too tall.
Sowter struck again to remove Jordan Thompson shortly afterwards before Neesham’s seam - 2-23 from three overs - ousted Sutherland and Chohan as the White Rose subsided.
McGrath said: “Again, we lost our way, and anytime we have a bump in the road we seem to have a bad three or four overs and can’t deal with that.
“We just give all the momentum away to the opposition.
“We did it a bit with the ball tonight and then with the bat.
“There’s no excuses. We haven’t played well enough as a team. You can have great individuals, and we’ve got that. But we’re just not playing well enough and are not smart enough either when push comes to shove.”