Yorkshire v Derbyshire: Patterson grabs his chance as Yorkshire demolish Derbyshire

THE Yorkshire bandwagon keeps on rolling.

A 100-run victory over Derbyshire made it three wins out of three in the Clydesdale Bank 40 League, maintaining their lead at the top of the table.

As with the previous victories against Essex and Northamptonshire, it was a clinical performance brimming with quality.

Having scored 241-4 after winning the toss, Yorkshire routed Derbyshire in 31.5 overs to extend their unbeaten run to eight games in all competitions under new captain Andrew Gale and director of professional cricket Martyn Moxon.

By far the most encouraging aspect of Yorkshire's superb start is that so many different players have made telling contributions.

It is not just the usual suspects such as Jacques Rudolph who have scored the runs, or the likes of Adil Rashid who have taken the wickets, but a genuine team effort that has brought rich rewards in all forms of the game.

That was emphasised yesterday when wicketkeeper Gerard Brophy scored a one-day career-best of 93 not out before Steve Patterson (6-32) and Ben Sanderson (2-17) claimed one-day career-bests with the ball.

Neither Brophy nor Sanderson can get into the Championship side at present, highlighting the strength in depth of a squad that looks well-equipped to challenge for silverware on all fronts, while Patterson continues to impress in the absence of first-choice seamers Tim Bresnan and Ajmal Shahzad, who are on Twenty20 World Cup duty with England.

At Scarborough last Thursday, Patterson claimed his maiden five-wicket haul in first-class cricket when he captured 5-50 against Essex.

Yesterday the 26-year-old seamer returned Yorkshire's eighth-best figures in one-day cricket and their fifth-best in the various guises of this tournament, finishing the game with a lethal spell of 5-5 in 11 balls.

Patterson and Oliver Hannon-Dalby, the tall pace bowler who has claimed two five-wicket hauls in the Championship, have grasped their opportunities splendidly to equip Yorkshire with greater cutting edge than anyone could reasonably have anticipated going into the season.

Why, Yorkshire could even afford for Tino Best and Rashid to go wicketless yesterday, while their fielding display was once again excellent.

Brophy – kept out of the Championship side by 20-year-old Jonathan Bairstow – set the tone for yet another day of White Rose dominance with a fluent knock that comprised 70 balls and included 12 fours – the majority beautifully improvised beneath sunny skies.

The South African came to the crease in the 20th over with Yorkshire 88-3 and comfortably eclipsed his previous one-day best of 68 not out against Sussex in the Friends Provident Trophy at Headingley last summer.

Brophy found his stride with three fours in an over off the left-arm pace bowler Mark Footitt and then swept and reverse-swept consecutive boundaries off the spinner John Sadler.

Brophy reached his half-century from 46 deliveries and although many of his shots were the product of brute force, he displayed a touch as delicate as silk to skilfully manipulate yorkers from Tim Groenewald to the third-man boundary.

Brophy shared in an 82-run stand for the fourth-wicket with Anthony McGrath, who hit 40 from 58 deliveries, and then accelerated sensibly as he and Rashid added an unbroken 71 in the last eight overs.

After Patterson removed "the one and only" Chesney Hughes in the second over of Derbyshire's reply, the visitors hit back well with a rapid 55-run stand between Chris Rogers and Garry Park.

But Sanderson knocked the stuffing out of the visitors' chase with two wickets in four balls to remove Rogers and Greg Smith that left Derbyshire 57-3.

Park – reverse-sweeping – was brilliantly caught by substitute Azeem Rafiq off David Wainwright before Richard Pyrah had Dan Redfern caught at backward-point by Sanderson as Derbyshire limped to 125-5.

The innings then disintegrated miserably as a diving Brophy caught Sadler off Patterson, who then bowled Lee Goddard, had Needham caught behind, Tom Lungley caught at mid-off and Groenewald lbw to cap a tremendous individual effort.

Assuming Yorkshire can beat the Netherlands at Headingley next Saturday, they will have a big toe in the semi-finals with eight group games remaining.

Former Yorkshire and England captain Ray Illingworth will tomorrow unveil a plaque to mark the birthplace of Herbert Sutcliffe.

Sutcliffe, who played for Yorkshire between 1919 and 1945, is the county's leading run-scorer with 38,558 at 50.20.

Yorkshire president Illingworth will perform the ceremony at 10 East View Terrace, Summerbridge, Harrogate, at noon.

Yorkshire are set to hand first-class debuts to Joe Root, Callum Geldart, Moin Ashraf and Jack Hargreaves in the three-day game against Loughborough University that starts at Headingley Carnegie today (11am).

Yorkshire (from): Ballance, Root, Geldart, Brophy, Pyrah, Rafiq, Blain (captain), Sanderson, Hodgson, Ashraf, Hargreaves, Wainwright.

Yorkshire v Derbyshire

Headingley Carnegie: Yorkshire beat Derbyshire by 100 runs.

Yorkshire

A W Gale c Lungley b Groenewald 10

J A Rudolph c Hughes b Needham 26

A Lyth b Smith 38

A McGrath c Lungley b Needham 40

G L Brophy not out 93

A U Rashid not out 22

Extras lb2 w8 nb2 12

Total 4 wkts (40 overs) 241

Fall: 1-19 2-48 3-88 4-170.

Did Not Bat: R M Pyrah, D J Wainwright, S A Patterson, T L Best, B W Sanderson.

Bowling: Lungley 8 1 47 0; Groenewald 6 0 48 1; Smith 8 0 42 1; Needham 8 0 34 2; Footitt 4 0 31 0; Hughes 5 0 26 0; Sadler 1 0 11 0.

Derbyshire

C J L Rogers c Rudolph b Sanderson 37

C F Hughes c Lyth b Patterson 0

G T Park c Sub b Wainwright 31

G M Smith b Sanderson 0

J L Sadler c Brophy b Patterson 37

D J Redfern c Sanderson b Pyrah 17

L J Goddard b Patterson 3

J Needham c Brophy b Patterson 1

T D Groenewald lbw b Patterson 5

T Lungley c A U Rashid b Patterson 6

M H A Footitt not out 0

Extras lb2 w2 4

Total (31.5 overs) 141

Fall: 1-2 2-57 3-57 4-81 5-125 6-129 -130 8-131 9-141.

Bowling: Best 4 0 19 0; Patterson 5.5 0 32 6; Pyrah 7 0 27 1; Sanderson 5 0 17 2; Wainwright 5 0 23 1; A U Rashid 5 0 21 0.

Umpires: N G B Cook and S A Garratt.

DISPLAY OF THE DAY

Steve Patterson

Captured 6-32 from 5.5 overs as Yorkshire continued their unbeaten start.

Yorkshire's best one-day figures

7-15 RA Hutton v Worcestershire at Headingley, 1969

7-27 D Gough v Ireland at Headingley, 1997

6-14 HP Cooper v Worcestershire at Worcester, 1975

6-15 FS Trueman v Somerset at Taunton, 1965

6-18 D Wilson v Kent at Canterbury, 1969

6-27 AG Nicholson v Minor Counties at Middlesbrough, 1972

6-27 PW Jarvis v Somerset at Taunton, 1989

6-32 S Patterson v Derbyshire at Headingley, 2010