Yorkshire overcome menacing pitch to beat Derbyshire Falcons in Royal London Cup

They surveyed the 22-yard strip from opposite ends of it as groundstaff went about their tidying-up work: rolling the surface, repainting the lines, sweeping away the debris, and so on.

Some fans took pictures of the pitch on their mobile phones; others tried to get as close to it as possible, as though it was about to speak to them and they had gathered around to listen.

Mostly, however, spectators regarded it with an air of bemusement - just what was this strange bit of earth in the middle of Queen’s Park, one on which Derbyshire had just been dismissed for 109 in 42.4 overs, a scoring rate that was a throwback to the one-day cricket of the 1960s?

A few hours later, after Yorkshire had squeezed home by one wicket to climb back into the third and final qualifying place in Group B with one game left, a few stragglers went back out to look at the pitch before wending their way home in the late afternoon sunshine.

It had been, to all intents and purposes, alright to the naked eye - “looks fine to me,” was the popular reflection among spectators as they returned to their seats after the interval.

But hidden beneath that strange bit of earth in the middle of Queen’s Park was the proverbial bag of snakes, a minefield for batsmen and a dreamland for bowlers, and at the end of a harum-scarum, crazy sort of game, a crowd of around 3,000 could ponder that although they had seen a paucity of runs by contemporary standards, it made for a not unwelcome change from the bat-dominated slog-fests we now see too often.

Not that the batsmen on show might have seen it that way.

By the time Billy Godleman got a leading edge back to Ben Coad in the day’s fifth over, after Yorkshire decided to let their opponents deal first with the bag of snakes, it was clear that the pitch was unusually spicy with signs of uneven bounce right from the start.

Whereas some balls climbed high and spat off a length, others shot through low from almost identical positions.

If it was not out-and-out dangerous, it was still hazardous enough for batsmen to be struck on various parts of the body, including what is euphemistically known as the “unmentionables”. Ouch.

Ultimately, the match was arguably settled by a sprightly cameo from Matthew Waite, the Yorkshire all-rounder who is leaving to join Worcestershire at the end of the season.

When Waite came to the crease on a warm afternoon, with a good breeze rustling the greenery of the surrounding trees, Yorkshire were 37-4 and had just lost their captain, Jonny Tattersall, the type of player who has all the attributes to anchor such a low-scoring chase.

The game was in the balance and Derbyshire’s tails were up, but Waite produced a flurry of boundaries - five in his 17-ball innings - before being bowled for 23, the highest score of the match, by which time Yorkshire were in a much healthier state at 70-5.

Waite was removed by a delivery that did not seem to bounce much from Sam Conners, a 23-year-old right-armer, who was the pick of the bowlers with 5-28, career-best figures on his eighth one-day outing.

Conners got rid of both openers, Will Fraine and Harry Duke, and later all-rounders Matty Revis and Tom Loten, the latter wicket leaving the visitors 88-7 and Derbyshire perhaps even fractionally favourites.

But Coad chanced his arm and kept George Hill company, who stuck it out to make 21 from 48 balls, an important contribution in the context of the match.

When Hill chased after a wide one from Ben Aitchison and was caught behind, however, leaving Yorkshire 101-8 with still nine runs wanted, it looked as though the pendulum had swung once again.

But although Coad was yorked with the scores level, Harry Sullivan kept his cool to steal the winning single into the offside, ensuring that last man Jack Shutt was not required to face a ball.

Earlier, Coad led the bowling effort with 2-15 from his 10 overs, with Shutt, Revis, Sullivan and Waite also taking two wickets.

Waite’s second victim was Shan Masood, the Derbyshire captain, who is set to join Yorkshire next year as an overseas player.

At 32, the Pakistan left-hander should have plenty to offer after turning down Derbyshire’s offer of a new contract, and he would be an obvious choice to captain the side with Steve Patterson leaving at the end of the season.

All that, however, is for the future.

For now, Yorkshire have quarter-final qualification back in their own hands and they will achieve it should they defeat Hampshire in Scarborough on Tuesday.

Indeed, it is perfectly possible that they would still go through even if they lose that match depending on results elsewhere.

This was a fine victory on the back of a narrow defeat at Kent on Friday on what was not so much the proverbial “good cricket wicket” as a “bad cricket wicket”, one which made for a largely sedate encounter with few thrills and spills but a tense and exciting finale all the same.