Poor start by Yorkshire in group which presents tough challenge

Whereas the Dutch came fifth in Group A, two places off the bottom, Yorkshire finished sixth after losing seven of their 12 fixtures –including both against their Continental rivals.

The Netherlands are not in Yorkshire’s group this time, which some might think a blessing in disguise.

But a pool which includes Derbyshire, Sussex, Unicorns, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire, in addition to yesterday’s opponents, will be a challenging one for Andrew Gale and his players – particularly in view of the fact that only the first-placed side qualifies for the semi-finals, along with the top team from the other two groups and the leading second-placed side from across the three pools.

Just how challenging was demonstrated yesterday, when Yorkshire began their 40-over campaign with a four-wicket defeat against Kent.

After choosing to bat in sunny conditions, Yorkshire were quickly in the mire as they slipped to 22-4 in six overs.

It was the equivalent of going 4-0 down in the opening stages of a football match, and, although Yorkshire rallied to 175-9 from their 40 overs, with Joe Root (49) and Gale (44) leading the way, it was not enough to compensate for a wretched start before a crowd of 1,800.

A fine 59 from Darren Stevens, along with a composed 40 from Rob Key, earned Kent a victory that was largely as comfortable as an easy chair.

Following back-to-back County Championship games against Kent and Leicestershire, and with another to follow against Gloucestershire this week, Yorkshire opted to rest Anthony McGrath along with Ryan Sidebottom, while there was no place for batsman Adam Lyth.

With Tim Bresnan also unavailable at England’s behest, although possibly allowed to play in the Gloucestershire match, Yorkshire recalled off-spinner Azeem Rafiq along with pace bowlers Moin Ashraf and Iain Wardlaw as they sought to maintain their unbeaten start to the season.

That aspiration suffered an early setback when Joe Sayers was smartly caught by James Tredwell at slip off Mark Davies from the final ball of the third over.

Yorkshire slipped to 10-2 when Phil Jaques played-on to Matt Coles for a golden duck, an unfortunate way for the Australian to mark his 150th List A appearance.

Matters went from bad to worse when Jonny Bairstow played fractionally too soon at a delivery from Coles and was caught one-handed by the leaping bowler, Gary Ballance perishing to Coles’s next ball when he was trapped lbw.

The innings, at that stage, was in total disarray in the face of some splendid bowling and fielding.

It was left to Gale and Root to try to reconstruct it – no easy task with four men already back in the pavilion and the loss of further wickets unthinkable at that stage.

In view of the match situation, the pair played well, reining in their attacking instincts but not to the extent they did not keep the fielders busy and the scoreboard ticking.

Gale, a dab hand in any one-day situation, continued his good form from the Championship match against Leicestershire before he was fifth out with the total on 92 in the 25th over.

It was wretched luck for the Yorkshire captain, who was sawn off by David Millns when the umpire inexplicably failed to spot an inside-edge when upholding an lbw shout from Stevens.

Root, too, fell in soft fashion, albeit by his own hand after an innings of skilful placement and impressive scampering.

Seeking a run to bring up his half-century, he steered a delivery from left-arm pace bowler Adam Ball to Sam Northeast in the gully to leave Yorkshire 113-6 in the 29th over.

Having taken 3-13 during an opening spell of four overs, Coles returned to inflict further punishment on a Yorkshire side who have borne the brunt of his splendid start to the season.

The 21-year-old pace bowler, who scored his maiden Championship hundred at Headingley in April and also bothered Yorkshire in the return at Canterbury, had Rafiq caught at mid-off, Steve Patterson held by wicketkeeper Geraint Jones off a top-edge and Adil Rashid caught at long-off following a run-a-ball 32.

Coles’s figures of 6-32 from eight overs were the fourth-best for Kent in one-day league cricket and Kent’s best in the re-branded CB40 competition.

Yorkshire’s score looked some way short and Kent set about illuminating its inadequacy.

Key and Sam Billings added 57 for the first wicket in 12 overs before Billings rather gave it away, slogging Rafiq to Wardlaw at deep mid-wicket.

Rafiq caused problems from the Football Stand end, making further inroads when he had Alex Blake lbw and Key caught and bowled.

Root ended Stevens’s innings with a catch at long-on by Ballance, Ashraf had Northeast lbw and Root struck again when he trapped Brendan Nash on the pad, but the destiny of the points was never in doubt.

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