It was another poor day at the office for the Yorkshire Academy side led by Jack Hargreaves, pictured, when they lost their second one-day friendly match of the week to their Durham counterparts at New Rover.

This time the margin was 70 runs. Once again Yorkshire were thwarted by a middle-order stand, and once again wicket-keeper/batsman Edward Wilson stood out in the batting.

Durham won the toss, elected to bat and the Yorkshire coaches must have been pleased with the start: Durham were 66-4  after 17 overs. Johnny Moxon and Curtis Free bowled wicket-keeper Pearce and Sameet Brar, and Free had opener Coyne well caught low down by Hargreaves. Durham captain Ryan Pringle was caught at mid-wicket by George Ross, and off-spinner Johnny Booth trapped New Zealander Harvey Nicholls lbw.

The visitors were struggling at 124-6 with 29 overs gone, but as in the previous day’s match a middle-order pair came to the rescue. Carr and Loughlin put on 104, and the usual Yorkshire steel was not evident. The lack of tenacity allowed these two to control the match. Shoulders went down, and the fielding was below standard as 126 runs were conceded after the fall of the sixth wicket. The target, after all, was 250.

Booth and Ross put on 32 for Yorkshire’s first wicket, but three more then went down and the White Rose were 94-4. Of the first six batsmen only Jack Leaning passed 20 runs. Leaning was lbw to medium-pacer Carr, and only Wilson played an innings of any note - hitting 55 off 61 balls.

Moxon and Wilson had a stand of 55 until Moxon fell to the off-spin of the Durham captain. Yorkshire reached only 180 in another poor day at the office: defeat by 70 runs; the bowlers allowing middle-order batsmen to dominate and, apart from Wilson, no Yorkshire batsman occupied the crease for a long period.

Words and Statistics: HAROLD GALLEY