Poll: Rashid excels 
to ensure last-eight home tie

Adil Rashid produced the best figures of his career in limited overs matches as Yorkshire made sure of a home tie in the quarter finals of the Royal London One-Day Cup with a six-wicket win over an under-strength Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl.
Adil Rashid.Adil Rashid.
Adil Rashid.

Leg-spinner Rashid finished with 5-33, the last four coming in 15 balls, as Hampshire were bowled out for 172 in 39 overs.

Yorkshire made no mistake in their run-chase, reaching their target in the 29th over and with a mammoth 127 balls to spare to finish top of Group A and set up a quarter-final next Thursday with Durham at Headingley.

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Yorkshire were fortunate that Hampshire rested James Vince, Chris Wood, Adam Wheater and Sean Ervine with the NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day on Saturday clearly a priority.

Michael Carberry was made captain for the first time but after losing the toss, the left-hander edged Tim Bresnan’s second ball of the match to wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow.

Carberry’s opening partner Sean Terry went in the same manner in the next over from Jack Brooks and from that moment, Yorkshire never relaxed their grip.

Only Jimmy Adams, coming in at the fall of Carberry’s wicket, offered any prolonged resistance, batting through the innings for his 91 not out, the one knock of substance and one of just four batsmen to reach double figures.

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He shared in stands of 45 for the fourth with Joe Gatting and 46 for the fifth with Matt Coles, but Hampshire never looked like posting a total to test their opponents.

Rashid first intervened to send back Gatting leg before, but with Michael Bates offering some support, Hampshire reached 161-5 until Rashid returned to the attack and, making use of a little turn, ran through the Hampshire tail.

Rashid had Danny Briggs, Tom Barber and James Tomlinson all leg before and bowled Basil Akram.

Brooks took 3-30 only to be upstaged by Rashid, who never before in 178 limited overs appearances had been able to claim five wickets in an innings.

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Yorkshire needed a bright start to their innings and got it as Adam Lyth and Alex Lees put on 31 inside six overs for the first wicket, Lyth the first to go when he lofted Tomlinson to Carberry, but it was only a temporary setback.

At tea, Yorkshire were 79-1, requiring another 94 only for them to suffer an unexpected double setback in the first over after the resumption.

Barber, making his first Hampshire senior appearance, marked his first over at this level by having Kane Williamson caught behind for 33 and then Andrew Gale went the same way next ball.

At 81-3 there might have been a glimmer of hope for the home side but this was soon extinguished by a stand of 78 for the fourth wicket between the patient Lees and Bairstow, taking the score to within 14 of victory before being parted.

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Lees hit six fours in his 76-ball innings of 61 but provided Tomlinson with his second wicket of the innings before Bairstow and Jack Leaning knocked off the runs to complete the formality.

Bairstow, unbeaten with 45 at the close, said: “To win six out of eight group matches is a great achievement and it will be a huge game against Durham in the quarter-final.

“We want to keep the momentum going in the championship as well.

“Throughout the group stages we played good, consistent cricket and we lost only once.

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“We feel we can beat anyone now that we have reached the sudden-death part of the competition.

“Adil bowled a terrific spell when it mattered and left us with the sort of target where we just needed to pace ourselves.”

Adams said: “We left out one or two for the Twenty20 finals day. Having won only one match in this competition, we knew where our priorities lay.

“We got off to a bad start and we were always struggling after both openers fell in the first two overs, so we cannot complain about the outcome.

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“We were able to give some of more inexperienced players a chance so this would have been part of their learning process.”

Derbyshire pipped Leicestershire to the fourth and last quarter-final spot thanks to a 53-run victory over Gloucestershire at Derby.

That confirmed fourth place in Group A and a quarter-final tie with Group B winners Nottinghamshire after Midlands rivals Leicestershire, who had occupied the final qualifying position at the start of the day, succumbed to an eight-wicket thrashing at Lancashire, who had had just one win in their previous seven matches.

Essex ensured a home tie against Warwickshire next week as they finished runners-up to Yorkshire following a tense four-wicket victory over Northamptonshire at Wantage Road.