Yorkshire Carnegie v Gloucestershire Gladiators: Yorkshire pointed towards last four by Pyrah

AS the Yorkshire members filed through the turnstiles yesterday in bright afternoon sunshine, the sight of rugby league fans queuing to buy tickets for a London cup final was taken by many to be a positive sign.

The next few hours were likely to go a long way towards deciding which of Yorkshire or Gloucestershire would remain on course for a place in the Clydesdale Bank 40 semi-finals.

Victory for the White Rose county would be enough to open up a four-point lead at the top of Group B, while defeat would leave the Gladiators favourites to go through to the knockout stage and a possible trip to Lord's for the final on September 18.

Happily for the vast majority of a partisan crowd of around 2,500, Yorkshire's cricketers took their lead from neighbours Leeds Rhinos, who last weekend clinched a place in the Challenge Cup final.

Richard Pyrah was the hero with a four-wicket haul that helped ensure Gloucestershire finished 23 runs short of the home side's 247-5.

After the visitors had enjoyed an encouraging start to their run chase by racing to 76 without loss inside 11 overs, Pyrah made the all-important breakthrough by removing the dangerous Alex Gidman as Anthony McGrath took the catch at mid-on.

Pyrah then shattered the stumps of James Franklin before returning to the attack to claim the wickets of Chris Taylor and Steven Snell in four devastating deliveries.

With Adil Rashid having earlier removed William Porterfield for 53 with a delivery that the opener mis-read, it meant the Gladiators went into the final seven overs needing 62 runs to win.

The visitors' task became a lot harder when Tim Bresnan bowled Hamish Marshall for 53 and a smart throw from Pyrah led to Ed Young being run out.

Anthony McGrath then trapped Jon Lewis in front of his stumps before Steve Patterson bowled Steve Kirby.

Fittingly, it was Pyrah who applied the finishing touch by running out Anthony Ireland with a direct throw that sent the Yorkshire members home dreaming of a first final appearance at Lord's since 2002.

Earlier, Carnegie's innings had been a mixed affair with a frantic start and finale sandwiching a spell where spin was King and boundaries were hard to come by.

Andrew Gale had been the driving force behind the early flurry of runs, the left-hander taking a particular liking to the bowling of Jon Lewis and Anthony Ireland.

After smashing Lewis back over his head for the first boundary of the innings in the fourth over, Gale preceded to score almost at will with a wide array of shots.

The Yorkshire captain was within touching distance of a deserved half-century when he lost partner Jacques Rudolph as the South African, who was yesterday confirmed as the captain of Nashua Titans for the 2010-11 season back home, was deceived by a wonderful delivery from Richard Dawson.

Gale, nevertheless, went on to pass 50 the following over but the introduction of spin to the attack was already having an effect as the home side's progress was checked.

Despite having been 79-1 at the end of the 13th over, Carnegie had only reached 109-2 by the halfway stage.

Gale had been the man to go in the meantime, paying the price for attempting a quick single despite McGrath's deft late cut having gone straight to Steve Kirby at short third man.

A direct hit from the former Yorkshire bowler accounted for Gale, whose 61 had come from 62 balls and included six fours and two sixes.

Dawson trapping Adam Lyth in front of his stumps in the 22nd over then saw the impetus firmly swing the way of the Gladiators, so much so that it would be another 12 overs before Yorkshire mustered another boundary.

Crucially, however, it came at the start of a rewarding batting powerplay for Yorkshire as McGrath, Gerard Brophy and Jonathan Bairstow plundered an invaluable 56 runs.

Kirby eventually dismissed McGrath but the damage had been done due to the Bradford-born batsman having hit 76 runs from 80 balls.

Some late lusty shots from Bresnan and Bairstow then helped Carnegie post a total that proved beyond even a Gloucestershire side who had successfully chased a target of 300 against Middlesex just five days earlier.

DISPLAY OF THE DAY

Richard Pyrah

Claiming 4-43 would have been enough to clinch the man-of-the-match award, but Pyrah also found time to run out Ed Young and Anthony Ireland to cap a memorable night.

Clydesdale Bank 40 – Group B

Yorkshire v Gloucestershire

Headingley Carnegie: Yorkshire beat Gloucs by 23 runs

Yorkshire

A W Gale run out 61

J A Rudolph b Dawson 16

A McGrath c Dawson b Kirby 76

A Lyth lbw b Dawson 7

G L Brophy c Marshall b Kirby 33

J M Bairstow not out 23

T T Bresnan not out 14

Extras lb3 w10 nb4 17

Total 5 wkts (40 overs) 247

Fall: 1-71 2-103 3-119 4-194 5-220

Did Not Bat: A U Rashid, R M Pyrah, A Shahzad, S A Patterson.

Bowling: Lewis 8 0 64 0; Kirby 7 0 55 2; Ireland 2 0 21 0; Franklin 4 1 21 0; Dawson 8 1 32 2; Young 8 0 33 0; Taylor 3 0 18 0.

Gloucs

A P R Gidman c McGrath b Pyrah 48

W T S Porterfield st Brophy b A U Rashid 53

J E C Franklin b Pyrah 3

H J H Marshall b Bresnan 53

C G Taylor c Brophy b Pyrah 11

S D Snell b Pyrah 0

E J C Young run out 25

R K J Dawson not out 12

J Lewis lbw b McGrath 2

S P Kirby b Patterson 1

A J Ireland run out 1

Extras b4 lb7 w4 15

Total (38.4 overs) 224

Fall: 1-76 2-84 3-134 4-160 5-161 6-201 7-212 8-215 9-220

Bowling: Shahzad 8 0 51 0; Bresnan 7 0 37 1; Patterson 7.4 0 35 1; Pyrah 8 0 43 4; A U Rashid 4 0 24 1; McGrath 4 0 23 1.

P W L T NR Pts

Yorkshire 9 8 1 0 0 16

Gloucestershire 8 6 2 0 0 12

Essex 7 5 1 0 1 11

Middlesex 8 2 4 0 2 6

Derbyshire 8 2 6 0 0 4

Northamptonshire 8 2 6 0 0 4

Holland 8 1 6 0 1 3