Yorkshire CCC confirm home semi-final as James Wharton hits maiden one-day hundred
BARRING mathematical twists and turns so incredible and head-spinning that they would make even Carol Vorderman spontaneously combust, Yorkshire were already guaranteed passage through to a home semi-final in the One-Day Cup.
It would have needed an extraordinary swing on net run-rate - both here in Canterbury and at other grounds - for Yorkshire to have been denied even if they had lost this game and other results had gone against them.
They did not lose this game, instead beating Kent by 76 runs to make it seven wins from eight in the group stage, James Wharton’s maiden one-day hundred (118 from 106 balls with 13 fours) underpinning a total of 301-9 before Kent fell for 225, Dom Bess capturing 4-43.
It rendered any net run-rate calculations - used to separate sides level on points - immaterial as Yorkshire finished four points clear at the top of Group B, thereby confirming that home semi-final, which will take place at Scarborough on Sunday (11am start) against the winner of Thursday’s play-off between the second-placed team in Group A (Hampshire) and the third-placed side in Group B (Middlesex).
Be there or be square, as the saying goes, with Yorkshire on a roll and playing superbly. They have had their challenges in the County Championship and T20 Blast this season but apart from a six-wicket defeat to Somerset in York they have been flawless in the 50-over tournament as they chase their first one-day trophy since 2002.
On a warm and hazy day at the St Lawrence venue, with around 2,500 spectators present (an excellent figure given that Kent could no longer qualify), Yorkshire decided to experiment a touch, handing first-team debuts to 18-year-olds Will Bennison and Matthew Firbank, both of whom are on rookie deals. Matt Milnes - fresh from a career-best 7-38 in Sunday’s win at Sussex - made way against the county that he is to rejoin at the end of the season, and Matty Revis was back on Northern Superchargers action in The Hundred.
Yorkshire chose to bat, and Adam Lyth and Imam-ul-Haq gave them a solid platform, adding 71 for the first wicket inside 16 overs. It took a good ball from Corey Flintoff, the 19-year-old son of Superchargers’ coach Andrew, to make the breakthrough from the Nackington Road end, Lyth losing his off stump to a good delivery.
Lyth’s dismissal brought Bennison to the crease, the right-hander falling for a fifth ball duck when he was bowled trying to pull a googly from Mo Rizvi that perhaps did not get up as much as he thought. Plenty of players have made a blob on debut, and Bennison’s chance will come again.
Imam and Wharton are Yorkshire’s leading scorers in the tournament and they combined in a third-wicket stand of 59 inside 11 overs. As spectators looked on from the grassy bank, reclining serenely and protecting themselves from the sun with umbrellas, they seemed in no trouble until Imam was adjudged lbw to medium-pacer Ekansh Singh, which looked a marginal call by umpire Anna Harris on whether or not the ball pitched outside leg stump.
In striking 70 from 73 balls with seven fours, Imam lifted his tournament tally to 583 runs in seven innings at an average of 97.16. This was his third half-century to go with three hundreds; what an impact he has made.
At 133-3 in the 28th over when Imam fell, the Yorkshire innings was in the balance. Wharton and Fin Bean ensured that the scales tipped more favourably during a fourth-wicket stand of 101 inside 13 overs, broken when Bean turned Fred Klaassen to deep mid-wicket and was run-out going for a second.
George Hill fell in Klaassen’s next over, swatting to Jaydn Denly at mid-off, and Harry Duke was caught down the leg-side off Singh. But Wharton, who had made 12 fifties in all cricket this season but no hundred, finally got there when he reached the milestone from 94 balls with 11 fours, a case of 13th time lucky for the tall right-hander, who struck the ball powerfully and with controlled aggression.
Bess hit back a return catch to Singh, and Don Moriarty skied Klaassen straight up and was caught behind – as did Wharton in the last over before departing to a deserved standing ovation.
Kent were 122-1 in reply inside 23 overs, 79 of them to Jaydn Denly, the left-handed opener. Denly then sliced into the covers off Bess, who followed up by having Chris Benjamin brilliantly caught on the long-on boundary in front of the Woolley Stand by Noah Kelly, on as a substitute, who flicked the ball up before crossing the rope and stepping back inside to complete the catch.
Moriarty had Joe Denly caught at long-off and Olly Curtiss lbw first ball, then Kelly held another catch when Singh skied Hill to point for a career-best 71. Bess nipped in with two more wickets and pace bowler Firbank clinched victory when Rizvi was caught at deep square-leg, a proud moment for the young man.