Yorkshire Carnegie v Essex Eagles: Rudolph eclipses Lehmann but Yorkshire slump to second loss

The question may soon become highly pertinent, with player and club having given a less than categorical assurance he will be back next year.

For now, however, the answer is clear.

Yorkshire would not still have a chance of winning the County Championship, with Rudolph having scored 1,298 runs at 56.43 to help them to third in the table, and they certainly would not be in the semi-finals of the Clydesdale Bank 40 League, where they will meet Warwickshire at Scarborough on Saturday.

If Rudolph's form in the Championship has been excellent, it has been nothing less than exceptional in the 40-over competition.

The South African's eighth score of 50-plus in 12 group matches was not enough to prevent a thumping seven-wicket defeat to Essex on Saturday but it did create a slice of history at Headingley.

Rudolph's 59 lifted him to 755 runs in the competition at 94.37 and past Darren Lehmann as the club's highest run-scorer in a one-day league season.

In 2001, Lehmann scored 753 runs at 53.78 in the old Norwich Union League.

The Australian played 15 innings – three more than Rudolph this year – and scored more than a quarter of his aggregate in one innings: an unforgettable 191 against Nottinghamshire at Scarborough.

For the record, Rudolph's scores in this summer's tournament are 101*, 83, 26, 83*, 86*, 12, 6, 105, 16, 124*, 54 and 59.

He is leading run-scorer in the country and, with potentially two more games to play, has power to add.

Although this was perhaps not the most eye-catching of his limited-overs displays, it still represented the highest innings in a modest total of 209-8 after Yorkshire were sent into bat beneath sunny skies.

The visitors romped to their target with 21 balls to spare, England batsman Alastair Cook leading the way with an unbeaten 101, his fifth one-day hundred.

Having already booked their place in the last four with victory at Northampton in their penultimate group match, Yorkshire were keen to maintain the momentum generated by 10 wins in 11 games.

Further incentive was provided by the fact they had a chance to knock Essex out of the competition, with the visitors going into the game second in Group B, three points behind Yorkshire and needing a win to guarantee progress to the last four.

But the home side were dealt a blow by the absence of all-rounders Tim Bresnan and Ajmal Shahzad, the latter having been drafted into England's Twenty20 squad on the eve of the match as cover for the injured Stuart Broad.

And before an unexpectedly good crowd of 3,500, they were comprehensively outplayed as Essex were superior in all departments.

When the teams met at Chelmsford in April, Rudolph and fellow opener Andrew Gale won an even more one-sided match with an unbeaten opening stand of 233.

This time they managed only 18 before Gale fell for six in the fifth over, brilliantly stumped by James Foster off David Masters.

Yorkshire slipped to 26-2 when Adam Lyth was caught by the same combination and the home side managed only 29 runs during the first eight overs of power-play.

Their woes continued when Anthony McGrath was caught at cover in the 12th over to leave Yorkshire 41-3, a more than useful platform for Mark Pettini to unleash leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, his star weapon.

The Pakistani, who has been implicated in a spot-fixing investigation relating to a Pro40 game last season, was taunted by sections of the crowd who repeatedly shouted "no ball" during his opening over.

But it was all done in jest and Yorkshire played Kaneria well to claw themselves back into the contest.

Rudolph and Gerard Brophy added 82 in 15 overs to stabilise the innings and help ensure Yorkshire's bowlers had something to work with.

They had carried the score to 123 when Rudolph was caught behind cutting Chris Wright following a 68-ball innings that included three fours.

Yorkshire slipped to 144-5 in the 31st over when Brophy – one ball after reaching a composed half-century – was bowled by Ryan ten Doeschate for 52.

Not for the first time this season, Jonathan Bairstow injected much-needed impetus late in the piece. The 20-year-old cracked 30 from 22 balls and lofted Wright for a straight six and Masters for a six over square-leg before falling to a catch down the leg-side.

Yorkshire's total looked at least 30 runs light, Masters finishing with 4-41 from eight overs and Tony Palladino returning an economical 1-21 from seven overs.

Yorkshire desperately required early wickets but met only the solid bats of Mark Pettini and Cook, who played with aplomb.

Both reached half-centuries from 57 balls and had added 161 in 29 overs when Pettini was caught behind for 82 off Sanderson, who received his second team cap before the start of play.

David Wainwright had Grant Flower lbw second ball and Matt Walker fell lbw to Richard Pyrah, but Yorkshire were never at the races.

DISPLAY OF THE DAY

Alastair Cook

Steered Essex home with a classy unbeaten innings of 101, made from 110

balls with 10 fours and a six.

Yorkshire Carnegie v Essex Knights

Headingley Carnegie: Essex beat Yorkshire by 7 wkts

Yorkshire

A W Gale st Foster b Masters 6

J A Rudolph c Foster b Wright 59

A Lyth c Foster b Masters 5

A McGrath c Cook b Palladino 12

G L Brophy b ten Doeschate 52

A U Rashid b Masters 18

J M Bairstow c Foster b Wright 30

R M Pyrah lbw b Masters 0

D J Wainwright not out 9

B W Sanderson not out 12

Extras b4 lb2 6

Total 8 wkts (40 overs) 209

Fall: 1-18 2-26 3-41 4-123 5-144 6-183 7-183 8-189

Did Not Bat: S A Patterson.

Bowling: Masters 8 1 41 4; Palladino 7 1 21 1; ten Doeschate 7 0 41 1; Wright 8 0 54 2; Danish Kaneria 8 0 31 0; G W Flower 2 0 15 0.

Essex

M L Pettini c Brophy b Sanderson 82

A N Cook not out 101

G W Flower lbw b Wainwright 0

M J Walker lbw b Pyrah 19

R N ten Doeschate not out 4

Extras lb4 w1 5

Total 3 wkts (36.3 overs) 211

Fall: 1-161 2-162 3-206

Did Not Bat: A J Wheater, J S Foster, D D Masters, A P Palladino, C J C Wright, Danish Kaneria.

Bowling: Sanderson 8 0 33 1; Patterson 7.3 0 40 0; A U Rashid 6 0 32 0; Pyrah 5 0 40 1; Wainwright 8 0 47 1; McGrath 2 0 15 0.