Duke breaks record as leaders Yorkshire prove tough to catch

By the time that Harry had done the necessary, back from his jaunt up to Radlett town centre, half of the Middlesex side were back in the pavilion, the innings in ruins at 43-5.

“Might want to get your pads on, Harry,” the thought occurred as Yorkshire’s bowlers took charge of the game.

There was no let-up then from Dom Bess’s players as they strengthened their hand at the top of Group B.

Middlesex, who had started the day in second, were rolled out for 129 in 31 overs, the lowest one-day total at this ground and by some margin, beating the 173 by Kent in 2015.

Matt Milnes took four wickets, Ben Coad three, and another Harry - Harry Duke - six catches behind the timbers, the most by a Yorkshire wicketkeeper in a one-day match, beating the five dismissals achieved by Richard Blakey (three times), David Bairstow (twice) and Gerard Brophy.

The highest score of the innings was 28 by Sam Robson, the former England batsman, and by left-arm seamer Noah Cornwell, the No 10, who enjoyed himself with five fours and a six in a 25-ball wallop as if to say: “What were you all messing about at?”

Yorkshire made largely serene progress to 59-0 in reply before Henry Brookes, the tall seamer, took three wickets in seven balls to inject some jeopardy back into the contest.

Had Middlesex managed even somewhere around Kent’s 173 here 10 years ago, they might have caused the visitors some problems, but it was mostly plain sailing from that point.

Imam-ul-Haq continued his excellent form, the Pakistani striking an unbeaten 54 from 66 balls with seven fours after previous scores in the competition of 117, 159 and 55.

With him at the finish was that man Duke, who hit 28 from 47 with five fours as Yorkshire sealed their fourth win in five group games by seven wickets with 23 overs remaining.

“It was a pretty good day all round,” said Duke. “The bowlers were outstanding, with everyone putting their hand up and just passing the baton on to each other every time, and then Imam there was outstanding at the end.”

Commenting on his catching, Duke added: “I just tried to do my job for the lads who were bowling. There weren't too many extravagant catches in there, or things like that, and the most pleasing thing was to get another few points on the board and to keep pushing at the top.”

On a lovely day at Brunton Memorial Ground, with not so much as a cloud in the sky, it looked a good toss to lose from Yorkshire’s perspective.

Faster than you could say “Harry, could you please hotfoot it to Tesco to get some milk for the media”, Middlesex were 5-3, Coad taking two of the wickets and Jack White the other, a suitably stunned crowd of 1,275 never finding its voice. The new-ball pair - rested against Somerset at York on Thursday - immediately located a good line and length, exploiting a pitch of variable bounce.

White removed Josh de Caires with the third delivery of the game from the Salter’s Field end, the ball appearing to strike the batsman’s back elbow before dropping down on to the stumps, then Coad pounced with his first delivery from the Town end, Joe Cracknell caught low down at point by a diving Will Luxton before the seamer had captain Ben Geddes caught behind pushing forward.

Robson and Jack Davies added 38, the highest stand of the innings, then Middlesex lost two wickets with the total on 43. Robson edged Coad to George Hill at first slip, and Milnes struck with his first ball after replacing White as Davies was strangled down the leg side.

Milnes grabbed another when Luke Hollman chopped on, then Hill got among the wickets when Nathan Fernandes was caught behind. In his next over, Hill found Roland-Jones’s outside edge to leave the hosts 93-8 just after halfway, before Duke’s fifth and sixth catches brought matters to a finish, Milnes finding the outside edges of Henry Brookes and Nathan Gilchrist to claim 4-29.

Lyth had a life in the opening over of the chase, a difficult chance down the leg-side to wicketkeeper Cracknell, diving full stretch to his right off Roland-Jones. The ball disappeared to the boundary for good measure, the first of nine fours by Lyth in an innings of 39 that dominated an opening stand of 59 with Imam, who had missed the Somerset defeat with a hip injury.

Brookes, charging in from the Salter’s Field end, eventually had Lyth held at point, then Luxton caught behind off an attempted uppercut and James Wharton caught behind off an inside edge.

It left Yorkshire 67-3 in the 14th over and saw the volume levels rise among the Middlesex fielders, who encouraged one another with the customary inanities before Imam and Duke had the last word.