Pride is at stake as Yorkshire encounter champions

Few expected them to beat a Sydney Sixers’ side packed with stars but even fewer expected them to lose quite so heavily beneath the shadow of Cape Town’s Table Mountain.

The eight-wicket margin was sobering enough but defeat with 67 balls to spare was the heaviest Yorkshire have suffered in Twenty20 and the joint 11th-worst suffered by any team in the format’s history.

As lessons go, they do not come much tougher and it left Yorkshire facing an uphill task to emulate Somerset’s achievement last year by reaching the semi-finals.

To do that, Yorkshire will almost certainly have to win their remaining three group games, starting with today’s match against defending champions Mumbai Indians in Cape Town (4.30pm).

The severity of the drubbing inflicted by Sydney took a heavy toll on Yorkshire’s net run-rate, a system used to separate sides who finish level on points in limited-overs groups, and means they are now extremely unlikely to qualify with two wins out of four, which is sometimes sufficient.

Net run-rate is calculated by deducting from the average runs per over scored by a team the average runs per over scored against them, and Yorkshire’s is already minus six.

In the Champions League, net run-rate is the second tie-breaker after most wins, and with two sides having already won their opening two games in Yorkshire’s group (Sydney and Highveld Lions), and with only two sides from each of the two five-strong groups advancing to the semi-finals, Yorkshire have seemingly no room for error.

Phil Jaques, the Australian batsman who opens for Yorkshire in Twenty20, believes they did not do themselves justice against the Sixers.

“We’re a good side but we didn’t show that against Sydney,” said Jaques, who has played with many of the Sydney team for New South Wales.

“We came up against a very good outfit and they outplayed us in every facet of the game.

“They hit the track really hard, bowled at good pace and everything we tried didn’t quite come off, whereas everything they tried did.

“That basically summed up the match; up front it was very good bowling by them to restrict us to less than 100, and then they played some great shots when they batted. That said, I think we’ll learn a lot from the defeat.

“Hopefully, next game we’ll be a bit more relaxed and will be able to go out there and show what we can really do.

“We just didn’t get enough runs against Sydney – simple as that.

“It’s very hard on the bowlers to defend less than 100 in a T20 game and we have to be better with the bat to enable us then to build pressure with the ball.”

On the surface, a match against Mumbai is not the best way to get a thrashing out of the system.

A cursory glance at the Mumbai squad – Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Kieron Pollard, Mitchell Johnson, Lasith Malinga – reveals no passengers and plenty with the ability to inflict further punishment.

Twenty20 is a great leveller, however, as Somerset proved last year and as Yorkshire themselves proved by reaching the main competition this year with super qualifying wins over Sri Lankan Premier League champions Uva Next and West Indian champions Trinidad & Tobago.

Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale believes his team can win their last three games, while Mumbai themselves are looking to recover having lost their opening match by eight wickets to the Lions.

So far it has been a tough tournament for the Indian Premier League teams, with fellow Group B side Chennai Super Kings having lost their opening two games and with Kolkata Knight Riders having struggled in Group A.

The pace and bounce of the South African pitches may have played a part, but too many big-name players have yet to deliver.

Instead, it has been sides with fewer stars and more collective emphasis who have caught the eye, something that gives Yorkshire cause for hope.

The Lions’ achievement in beating Mumbai and Chennai was especially striking, while fellow qualifier Auckland Aces saw off Kolkata Knight Riders.

For all that, Yorkshire deserve credit for reaching the Champions League proper, and despite the fact there is no expectation on them to make the semi-finals outside their own dressing room, they know they are capable of significantly better.

Their total of 96-9 against Sydney was their second-worst in Twenty20 and the result, as much as anything, a blow to their pride.

Without some of the men who carried them to the Twenty20 Cup final which, in turn, secured their Champions League place, a more realistic goal would be to try to surprise one of the big guns.

With games to follow against the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday (12.30pm) and Chennai Super Kings in Durban on Monday (12.30pm), they still have a chance of doing just that.