Lancashire v Yorkshire: Rafiq holds his nerve to ensure Yorkshire overcome Lancashire

The 20-year-old off-spinner, who was at the centre of a registration row that led to Yorkshire’s expulsion from this competition in 2008, followed a career-best 3-15 with the ball with an unbeaten 11 from four deliveries to lead his side home with two balls to spare.

It was Rafiq’s first appearance for Yorkshire since he was banned for one month last July for a foul-mouthed rant against England Under-19 coach John Abrahams on the social networking site Twitter.

He had only just returned from a loan spell at Derbyshire, where he impressed during five CB40 and three County Championship games.

On a slow Old Trafford turner, Rafiq was brought in to replace Steve Patterson and form a three-pronged spin attack with Adil Rashid and David Wainwright.

The trio bowled superbly to help restrict Lancashire to 122-6 from 20 overs after Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale won the toss on a sun-kissed evening.

Twelve overs of spin yielded 5-59, Rafiq’s three-wicket burst reducing Lancashire from 44-2 in the eighth over to 58-5 in the 12th.

Rashid chipped in with 2-29, while Wainwright conceded only 15 runs from his four overs.

It needed an unbeaten seventh-wicket stand of 60 between Karl Brown (34) and Luke Procter (25) to lift Lancashire to respectability, the pair plundering 49 runs from the last five overs.

Yorkshire fell to 34-2 in reply in an unsuccessful attempt to capitalise on the first six overs of power play.

They then batted sensibly to reach 71-2 inside 12 overs before the loss of three wickets in nine balls threatened to wreck their progress.

But with Yorkshire 115-8 with four balls remaining, Rafiq scooped successive fours off Tom Smith over fine-leg to spark jubilant scenes in the visitors’ dug-out.

“I was a bit nervous towards the end, but thankfully we came out on the right side,” said a delighted Rafiq.

“We lost wickets in clusters during the middle of our innings, which made things a little bit pressurised.

“But it was great to get over the line and a brilliant experience to play again for Yorkshire.

“To play in a Roses match was really special and I just tried my best to enjoy it.”

Yorkshire’s victory was their second in successive days after they got their campaign back on track with a two-run win over Worcestershire at Headingley Carnegie.

It means they have won two and lost two of their opening four games in the 16-match group stage, the county returning to action tomorrow against Northamptonshire at Headingley (1.10pm start).

The confidence-boost of the Worcestershire result was immediately apparent as Yorkshire started well yesterday before a crowd of 8,591.

Rashid struck with the second ball of the innings when Smith tried an impudent reverse-sweep and was lbw.

Lancashire slipped to 22-2 when Steven Croft lobbed Rashid straight down the throat of long-on.

Lancashire managed only 35 runs during the first six overs of power play as Yorkshire squeezed them not only with the ball but also in the field, where they were nimble and alert.

Rafiq got in on the act when he had Paul Horton caught at deep-point, the spinner then bowling Gareth Cross before having Jordan Clark caught at deep mid-wicket.

When Stephen Moore was run-out following a mix-up with Brown, both batsmen ending up at the same end, Lancashire were 62-6 in the 13th over and in some disarray.

They managed only three boundaries during that time – all of them to Moore, who hit 34 from 37 balls.

Brown and Procter spared Lancashire’s blushes and belatedly gave Yorkshire something to think about.

They struck 12 off Ryan Sidebottom’s over, followed by 10 off an over from Rich Pyrah and then 17 off Rashid’s final over, which spoilt the leg-spinner’s figures.

The home side managed only six fours and two sixes in total, emphasising how well Yorkshire bowled.

Yorkshire’s innings began poorly when Gale skied to deep mid-off in the third over. Jonny Bairstow picked out deep mid-wicket two overs later but Lyth and Anthony McGrath stabilised the innings before Lyth was bowled by Gary Keedy to trigger a collapse.

McGrath picked out cover, Gerard Brophy was held at point, Gary Ballance found deep mid-off and Pyrah and Rashid were run-out.

Enter Rafiq, who kept his nerve to win the day.

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