Yorkshire were defeated by 76 runs at Hove as their CB40 campaign was derailed by the Sussex Sharks. Andrew Gale later admitted his side had been 'outplayed' by the in form side in Group A and Yorkshire's attention must now turn solely to Division One survival in the LV= County Championship.

Yorkshire required 247 in 40 overs to win and got off to a shocker when Andrew Gale was adjudged lbw to Arif when the ball stuck him on the thigh as it lifted. The Yorkshire skipper was understandably disappointed to see umpire Cowley's finger raised. A Lyth cover driven boundary and a Sayers square drive eased the tension.

Lyth hit 3 fours and 2 sixes as the 2nd wicket added 65 in 10.5 overs but he tried one shot too many and holed out to Goodwin at deep mid-wicket off Rana Naved for 33. Sayers was stumped by Brown off Monty Panesaar for 25 and Yorkshire were 76-3 in the 15th over.

With the rate required climbing Gary Ballance attempted to put his foot down the track against Nash and smashed a drive ti Vincent's right which he plucked from above his head as nonchantly as if drawing the curtains on Carnegie's chances. Ballance went for 8 and Yorkshire were 95-4 after 19.4 overs.

At halfway Yorkshire were 96-5 requiring another 151 runs to win at 7.55 an over with Rudolph and Bairstow at the crease who were content with knocking the spin threat of Nash and Panesaar around for the singles. A reverse swept boundary by Bairstow in 26th over was the first departure from that ploy. He then hit Panesaar straight back past him twice in the 27th over as the Carnegie charge went up a gear and Monty's figures were tarnished (8-0-36-1). Nash finished in the next over with figures one run more miserly to cap an excellent personal evening for the new England Lions.

Just as it seemed safe to watch once more Rudolph played a reverse sweep and Yardy made him the third victim of the high risk shot for 35. Yorkshire were 139-5 after 28.3 overs needing another 108 runs to win.

Yorkshire took the batting powerplay in order to stay in touch and Bairstow and Pyrah (twice) cracked Rana for off-side boundaries. But Pyrah was run out for 12 and Rashid was lbw Yardy first ball but Bairstow had no intention of going down without a fight, but his maiden one-day fifty was denied when Sidebottom went cheaply and he flung the bat and skied Yardy to Rana at short third-man.

Sussex had started well after Ed Joyce was caught by Ajmal Shahzad off the bowling of Sidebottom for 7 but Chris Nash got the Sharks off to a fine start - the pick of the strokes a flat six over the 3rd Man fence. Progress slowed as the fifty came up early in the 10th over. Adil Rashid was bowling well down the hill and he had Lou Vincent lbw when reverse sweeping in the 12th over and Sussex were 66-2.

Nash was joined by Murray Goodwin, who had scored a sublime double hundred against the Tykes at Hove in the Championship draw earlier in the summer. Nash raced past his fifty in 48 balls.  Jonny Bairstow picked up a ball and threw to the stumps at the non-strikers end only to see his throw hit Nash's bat, but a couple of balls later Goodwin dollied a return catch to Wainwright and he was out for 22. Nelson had nearly struck twice in the the 21st over - it was 111-3.

Wainwright was bowling impressively enough to encourage Andrew Gale to throw the ball to Joe Sayers. Rashid replaced the 'Squirrel' and immediately had Yardy caught behind when forcing off the back foot for 15. Pyrah then took Nash's off stump in the 30th over after the Sussex opener had hit 8 fours and 1 six in his 85 ball 79. Wells skied Wainwright to Rudolph at long-off but the South African couldn't quite get his fingers under the ball as he ran in from the fence. Sussex were 171-5 with 9 overs to go and the match was in the 'Gary'.

Luke Wells then tried a reverse sweep when he had been hitting the ball clean and straight so well and he was walking back for 17 and Sussex were faltering at 177-6. Wainwright ended his 8-over stint with a very creditable 2-37.

Susex took their batting powerplay at 187-6 after 33 overs and with Rana at the crease Yorkshire knew that danger may lay ahead, but Ajmal Shahzad returned to bowl one full and straight and Rana was out for 4.

The Sharks 200 came up after 36.5 overs and Sussex, who at one stage were eying 250-plus had altered their horizons. But with 22-year-old Ben Brown finding the gaps with some sweetly timed strokes Sussex regrouped effectively and showed their quality as the side sitting top of Group A.

Brown hit Sidebottom through Wainwright's hands at mid-wicket, dispatched the next delivery onto the roof of the marquee, cracked the next through mid-wicket, hooked the fifth behind square to the fence and guided the last behind square on the off-side to take 23 (22 for himself) off the penultimate over and take his own personal tally to fifty off 30 balls.

Arif then clobbered Rashid over mid-wicket for six, was dropped by Sayers at deep mid-wicket as he couldn't cling on running in and couldn't make contact with the final three Rashid deliveries. It had been an eventful end.

246 was probably 20 or 30 runs too many, but it had been marked what a difference the slow bowlers had made and Sussex had a few of their own which would prove decisive.

JAMES BUTTLER at HOVE

MATCH INFO

MATCH PREVIEW

With 6 matches remaining in this season’s CB40 competition Yorkshire Carnegie require a perfect run-in to stand any chance of reaching the Semi-Finals and even that may not be enough.

Last season the best second placed team was Essex who finished their campaign on 19 points. 6 wins for Yorkshire would take them to 16 points which is the same points tally the second placed sides in the other two groups finished on last season.

The CB40 uphill task commences with a visit to Hove to take on top-of-the-table Sussex Sharks on Wednesday evening and then it’s across the North Sea to Amsterdam where a revenge mission against Netherlands will be the order of the day.

YORKSHIRE CARNEGIE SQUAD FOR SUSSEX

Andrew GALE (c), Joe SAYERS, Jacques RUDOLPH, Anthony McGRATH, Adam LYTH, Jonny BAIRSTOW (wk), Gary BALLANCE, Richard PYRAH, Adil RASHID, Ajmal SHAHZAD, Ryan SIDEBOTTOM, David WAINWRIGHT and Ben SANDERSON.

There is one change in the squad that will travel to Netherlands - Joe Root replaces Jacques Rudolph.