Yorkshire v Kent: Shahzad’s best is not enough to rescue Yorkshire

Their County Championship form is patchy, their one-day form more so.

A two-wicket defeat to Kent underlined the fact.

They now face a difficult task to reach the semi-finals.

Last year, nine wins were needed to reach the last four.

Yorkshire have lost three of their opening four games and have no margin for error.

They have eight group games left and will need to win them all.

But even that might not be enough to make the knock-out stage.

This was one of those nip-and-tuck affairs.

Yorkshire scored 230-7 from their 40 overs – a competitive effort after being sent into bat.

Ajmal Shahzad top scored with a career-best, unbeaten 59 from 34 balls with three sixes and eight fours.

Gary Ballance (47) and Adam Lyth (40) chipped in with useful contributions, while Darren Stevens and Alex Blake each took two wickets.

Kent looked in trouble when their fifth wicket fell on 137 in the 25th over.

Yorkshire, at that stage, seemed likelier to prevail.

But a fine innings of 74 by Martin van Jaarsveld got their run-chase back on track.

Geraint Jones weighed in with 39 before James Treadwell (12 not out) and Ashley Shaw (four not out) saw the visitors home with two balls to spare.

Yorkshire made three changes to the side that beat Kent by 93 runs at Canterbury the previous Sunday.

Gary Ballance, Lee Hodgson and Steve Patterson replaced Tim Bresnan (calf), Gerard Brophy (thumb) and Rich Pyrah (knee).

Pyrah is out for at least three weeks with the injury sustained at the St Lawrence ground, while Bresnan and Brophy are both a doubt for Wednesday’s County Championship match against Lancashire at Liverpool.

Yorkshire are more optimistic about Brophy’s prospects of playing in the game, while England will be crossing their fingers Bresnan’s injury will not keep him out of contention for the start of the Test series against Sri Lanka in 10 days’ time.

On a cool and cloudy afternoon at Headingley Carnegie, Kent won the toss and chose to bat.

Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale had taken a century off their attack the previous week and raced to 34 off 29 balls this time before being bowled round his legs by Azhar Mahmood.

Fellow opener Jonny Bairstow was bowled for 22 by Stevens to leave Yorkshire 60-2 in the 10th over.

The home side fell to 77-3 when Joe Root was bowled by Stevens for six, the medium-pacer doing a splendid job on his way to 2-27 from eight overs.

Ballance and Adam Lyth gave the innings some shape with a fourth-wicket stand of 68 in 14 overs, ended when Lyth carved Blake’s first delivery to point.

Yorkshire slipped to 145-5 when Blake had Hodgson lbw three balls later and to 167-6 in the 34th over when Ballance was run out in laugh-out-loud fashion.

The left-hander drove Matt Coles to deep-point and then collided with partner Shahzad as they came back for the second run, both batsmen left stunned and stranded in mid-pitch as Jones whipped off the bails after collecting Sam Northeast’s return.

It was Keystone Cops stuff and ended a decent innings from Ballance, who is set to make his first Championship appearance of the season at Liverpool, with veteran batsman Anthony McGrath set to play in the Second XI Championship game against Warwickshire at Coventry as he steps up his recovery from sciatica.

The run-out seemed to fire up Shahzad, who began blasting the ball to all parts after Adil Rashid was caught at cover to leave Yorkshire 179-7 in the 36th over.

The England pace bowler struck Tredwell for successive sixes over mid-wicket and rounded off the innings with a six over cover off Matt Coles, Yorkshire plundering an impressive 33 runs off their last 10 balls.

Kent slipped to 27-1 in the eighth over when Northeast drove Ryan Sidebottom to Gale at deep mid-off.

The visitors then fell to 44-2 when Patterson struck with his first ball to have Rob Key lbw for 12, Patterson bowling with good control.

Coles flailed a one-day career-best 47 after being promoted to No 3, his innings ending when Hodgson had him caught by Root at long-on.

When Stevens carved Rashid to backward-point and Blake skied Patterson to cover, half the Kent side were back in the greenhouse.

But van Jaarsveld hurt Yorkshire with fours from the first five balls of the 33rd over, bowled by Shahzad, before the latter had his revenge by bowling him off the last delivery.

Patterson bowled Mahmood for a duck and Shahzad had Jones caught at cover in the last over, but Shaw won it by clubbing Shahzad for four through mid-wicket.

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Somerset maintained their 100 per cent record in the Clydesdale Bank 40 League with a convincing defeat of Lancashire at Taunton.

Steven Croft led by example with 107 from 109 balls for the visitors as they amassed 248-6 from their 40 overs after being put into bat.

However, Somerset captain Marcus Trescothick was not to be outdone, weighing in with a 69-ball century and going on to hit 111 as the hosts won by seven wickets with eight balls to spare – Jos Buttler hitting the winning boundary to complete a 46-ball half-century.

Elsewhere in Group C, Glamorgan overcame Gloucestershire to clinch an exciting four-wicket at Cardiff.