Yorkshire's FLt20 campaign is building impressive momentum after they claimed a second successive victory, this time by 41-runs against Derbyshire Falcons at Derby.

MATCH ZONE

MATCH REPORT

Yorkshire's FLt20 campaign is building impressive momentum after they claimed a second successive victory, this time by 41-runs against Derbyshire Falcons at Derby.

The man of the match was Gary Ballance who cracked an unbeaten 47 from 35 balls at the death to boost Yorkshire's total to 150-5 to seize the momentum at the halfway stage.

Ballance's 3 sixes and 3 fours, included the 19th over where Yorkshire took 17 runs off Mark Turner's bowling to take charge.

Yorkshire's win lifts them to second in the Northern Division table a point behind the Notts Outlaws who they play at Scarborough on Sunday. First they must seek revenge on Durham Dynamos in Chester-le-Street in Friday evening.

Derbyshire began their chase of 151 to win in steady fashion with Usman Khawaja and Wes Durston opening their reply. Khawaja top edged a pull off Mitchell Starc to Gerard Brophy and at the end of the 6 overs of Powerplay Derbyshire were 45-1 against Yorkshire 47-1 at the same stage.

In the next over Moin Ashraf had Wes Durston leg before for 21 off 20 and all of a sudden Yorkshire were back on top. And in his next over Ashraf bowled Derbyshire skipper Madsen for 6 and after 9 overs Derbyshire were 58-3.

Ross Whiteley drove Azeem Rafiq straight back and the ball flicked off the bowlers hand with Redfern short of his ground at the non-strikers end. Rich Pyrah bowled Ross Whitely (8) in the 11^th over at the end of which Derbyshire were 67-5 needing 84 runs from 54 balls.

Pyrah bowled Hughes (11) and at 78-6 Yorkshire were looking good. With 6 overs left Derbyshire needed 69.

Poynton was caught by Root at long-off as Derbyshire slipped to 84-7 at the end of the 15^th still needing 67 to win from 30 as Pyrah finished with 3-21 from his 4 over stint.

David Wainwright 'Wainscooped' his first ball from Ashraf for four but with 24 balls left Derbyshire were 60 adrift and needed something special. The Tykes strategy of bowling Yorkers was working a treat once again.

Ashraf picked up his third when he had Naved (13) caught behind off the toe of his bat and he then bowled Groenewald (1) as he ended with career best figures of 4-18. The importance of four controlled overs from Rafiq which yielded only 19 runs should not be underestimated as the fielding side turned the screw.

Two overs left and Derbyshire were 48 short and with 43 required from the final over the Falcons game had gone. Mitchell Starc bowled Turner with the final ball of the game as Yorkshire secured an impressive victory in a game that could easily have been a banana skin in their bid to reach Finals Day for the first time.

Yorkshire had won the toss and opted to bat and began their innings shortly after a minutes silence after the shock death of 23-year-old Surrey batsman Tom Maynard.

Fresh from their record stand of 116 against Leicestershire on Sunday, Gale smashed Turner’s third ball over cover for four. And it was Gale that had the bit between his teeth.

Phil Jaques fell for 8 in the fifth over when he slog swept Durston straight to Redfern on the midwicket boundary to make the score 37-1.

Gale was joined by Joe Root promoted up the order. The right-hander reverse swept Chesney Hughes for his first boundary and then Gale hit Hughes over the top for four more as Yorkshire ended the Powerplay six overs at 47-1.

Root walloped Durston over wide midwicket to the fence and everything looked good for Yorkshire but then Gale rtied to launch former Tyke Wainwright over long-off and was caught by Durston for 39 off 26 balls. Wainwright made it two scalps in three deliveries when David Miller edged Groenewald to slip from his first ball and Yorkshire were 67-3 at the end of the 9^th.

Root had some fortune early on when he scopped two deliveries into no mans land, but a great hook shot off Groenwald took him to 27 and Yorkshire 83-3 after 12 overs. He stroked the returning Hughes through extra cover and Gary Ballance gave his innings some momentum with a reverse swept boundary.

Wainwright had impressively tidy figures of 2-14 off his 4 overs as Yorkshire’s progress slowed and could have had another in his final over when Balance pulled to midwicket to be dropped and collect one run. The former Tyke certainly didn't deserve to be on the losing side.

Joe Root attempted a reverse sweep off Naved and edged behind, although replays suggested he hadn’t got a nick, and Yorkshire were 102-4 towards the end of the 16th over and at risk of losing the initiative.

Rich Pyrah (2) was bowled by Turner, but the 19th over proved key as the same bowler disappeared for 17 runs as Ballance smashed two sixes and a four. He gave the Tykes hope as he boosted the total and Brophy chipped in with an important 9 from 6 balls.

Ballance was bowled off the final Rana delivery but it was called a no ball and the resulting extra delivery went to the fence as the left-hander ended three runs short of fifty.  It proved crucial as chasing 151 under lights was too much for the Falcons.

JAMES BUTTLER

MATCH PREVIEW

It was an excellent all-round performance that saw Yorkshire bag their first FLt20 points against Leicestershire Foxes at Headingley yesterday. Now more of the same is required as Andrew Gale takes his side to Derby this evening.

The Falcons took the spoils at Headingley last summer but Yorkshire won the corresponding match in Derby and will have taken great heart from their opening two games.

Derbyshire Falcons have already secured a home win against Lancashire Lightning this term and were frustrated with an abandoned washout when they visited Trent Bridge.

The match commences at 7.10pm and will be shown of SKYsports.

JAMES BUTTLER @Yorkshireccc

YORKSHIRE CARNEGIE SQUAD

Andrew GALE (c), Phil JAQUES, David MILLER, Gary BALLANCE, Joe ROOT, Richard PYRAH, Gerard BROPHY, Azeem RAFIQ, Mitchell STARC, Ryan SIDEBOTTOM, Moin ASHRAF, Adam LYTH, Adil RASHID and Iain WARDLAW.