Brilliant Bean makes history as Yorkshire march on

As Yorkshire blew away Durham by 212 runs, extending their lead at the top of Group B with a fifth win in six, Bean achieved the fastest century for the county in one-day cricket.

It took him just 53 balls – shaving seven off the previous mark by Adam Lyth at this ground against Northamptonshire in 2016, one left-handed opener taking the record from another.

Only Bean, 23, did not open the innings on this occasion but instead came in at No 5. It would appear that Yorkshire have stumbled on something, Bean - a determined if by no means dour performer in County Championship cricket - providing the thrilling impetus as Yorkshire scored 354-7 from their 50 overs after being sent into bat before Durham fell for 142 with 14 overs of their innings unused.

Bean, who only came to the crease with the score 169-3 in the 33rd over, finished unbeaten on 102 from 57 balls with eight fours and six sixes, also his maiden one-day hundred.

In just 75 minutes he revealed that he can bat like Joe Sayers one day and Darren Lehmann the next, with lots of Lehmann about this as he toyed with the bowlers.

“It was just one of those days where it all went my way and thankfully we put a nice total on the board,” said Bean, who helped Yorkshire to their third-biggest one-day win by a runs margin and consigned Durham to their heaviest runs defeat.

“I didn’t know it was a record for the fastest hundred; I haven’t played a huge amount of white-ball cricket, so I didn’t think I’d be the one to have that.

“I've not done a whole lot of batting in the middle order, so I think what's been key this year is we've had wickets in hand, which has been nice for the lads coming in to have a platform to play aggressively. Thankfully, it was one of those times so it was credit to the batters and then to the bowlers.”

If such a thing existed as “Metro Bank One-Day Cup fever”, then they might have declared an outbreak of it here on the North Yorkshire coast.

A crowd of 4,020 flocked to the stadium, the largest seen here for quite some time despite an overcast, windy, chilly old day, although the sun peeked through late in the piece.

The fact that Durham were in town no doubt helped, the ground just 60 miles from Chester-le-Street as the crow flies, along with the fact that we are in the school holidays, with plenty of children sat in the stands. The pull of this place remains magnetic while, most importantly, Yorkshire have been flying as they chase their first one-day trophy since 2002.

Bean, who was four-and-a-half months old when Dick Blakey lifted that C&G silverware, looked on as the top-four laid a promising foundation. Lyth and Imam-ul-Haq added 47 inside the first nine overs before a rare “failure” for the Pakistani, who was caught behind hooking for 22. Lyth pulled Will Rhodes, his former Yorkshire team-mate, to deep-backward square but Will Luxton and James Wharton maintained momentum with a stand of 88 for the third wicket inside 17 overs.

Luxton pulled Ben Raine for six en route to a fluent 46 from 61 balls, while Wharton was his usual powerful self, dispatching loose balls - and often good ones - like a lord dismissing a butler from his presence.

When Bean and Wharton combined, the acceleration intensified. They added 101 in 10 overs exactly when Wharton fell not far short of a deserved century of his own, yorked by Raine for 84 from 76 balls with 12 fours.

By now, Bean had his fifty, from 33 balls, and boundaries were flying hither and thither, Bean striking all of his sixes to the leg-side with a combination of pulls, sweeps and Lehmann-esque pick-ups.

George Hill holed out to cover; Harry Duke was caught behind playing to leg, and Dom Bess bowled trying another leg-side blow but it hardly seemed to matter: Yorkshire had an excellent score, their second above 350 in this year’s competition.

Durham’s reply started badly when Alex Lees, once of this parish, was bowled by Ben Coad in the third over, Coad following up with the wicket of Emilio Gay, caught at second slip, before going off with what looked to be a hamstring problem.

The innings flirted with embarrassment at 48-6 as Colin Ackermann was caught behind, Ollie Robinson pouched at point, Scott Borthwick bowled and Robbie Bowman held on the mid-wicket boundary.

But George Drissell struck a one-day best 46 before skying Jack White to mid-on, then Lyth gained revenge on Rhodes when he sliced to short-third.

Bess held a fierce return off Raine and White trapped Codi Yusuf with a yorker to round off the rout. OMG indeed as Yorkshire roll on.