McGrath sets up stunning victory

to bring Yorkshire a stunning victory over Essex in the quarter-finals of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy.

The scores finished up tied on 283, but Yorkshire went through by virtue of losing fewer wickets - five to their

opponents nine.

All seemed lost when Fellows joined McGrath with Yorkshire having slumped to 155 for five in what appeared to

be a hopeless chase towards a 284 target.

But the sixth wicket pair complemented each other to perfection with an unbroken stand of 128 in 18 overs,

shattering the club's previous record for that wicket of 105 between Richard Blakey and Craig White against

Warwickshire at Headingley in 1993.

McGrath received the man-of-the-match award for his 72 off 70 balls with six fours but it was a desperately

close call between himself and Fellows whose 68 were scored off only 59 deliveries with eight fours and a six.

Once the two heroes had settled in they always looked in command of the situation until they created a ripple

in the final over when only four were required to overhaul Essex's score.

McGrath turned Jon Dakin's first ball to fine leg for two but then could not manage a run off the next three before

scrambling a single to put Yorkshire level.

A conference followed between players and umpires but the two batsmen were left in no doubt that Yorkshire

would be the winners and it did not matter that Fellows could not score off the final delivery.

The result has given Yorkshire a huge shot in the arm after a dreadful first half of the season and both McGrath

and Fellows have stepped out of the shadows with this performance.

McGrath has held his place this season without managing anything truly outstanding while Fellows has been

persevered with in one-day cricket but has lost his place in the Championship.

After receiving his award, McGrath said: "It has been a terrible season for us so far and quite a few players have

let the team down but the revival starts here.

"Gary played some magnificent shots and I chipped in. Our plan was to try to get through to the last ten overs

and leave ourselves to score at about eight an over from then on and that is how it worked out."

Chris Silverwood kept the score ticking over for Yorkshire early on by making an attractive 37 in his

pinch-hitter's role but wickets kept falling at the wrong time and it seemed as if former Yorkshire off-spinner

James Middlebrook had dealt his native county a fatal blow when he bowled Darren Lehmann off an inside edge

which hits the stumps via his boot.

The loss of the captain made it 120 for four and there was another shock at 155 when Michael Vaughan was

given out caught behind for 42 although there was a feeling that the noise came from his bat hitting the ground.

For a while, McGrath and Fellows consolidated before blossoming out with some sparkling strokes, none more

memorable than Fellows' massive on-driven six off Dakin which took him to his half-century.

Essex batted with calm assurance upon winning the toss and they quickly overcame the early loss of Nasser

Hussain who hooked Matthew Hoggard to long leg where Richard Dawson held the catch and was then floored

when Darren Gough charged into him.

Fortunately neither player was hurt in the violent collision and Gough went on to take two for 52 in his first

appearance of the season for Yorkshire.

Opener Darren Robinson had made a stylish 52 when Silverwood flung out a right arm to hold a return catch

and Essex's top-scorer was the unflappable Andy Flower who carefully stroked his way to 75 off 82 balls with

six fours.

Gough was later able to confirm that England have given him the green light to play in the Roses match which

begins at Headingley on Friday.

"I have not played a four-day game since last August and I need to try out my knee before the Test series,"

said Gough.

"If we play like we did today we can get out of trouble in the Championship because we have some great

characters in the side and some great supporters."

England have banned the other Test players from turning out in Friday's round of Championship

matches which means Yorkshire will be without Vaughan and Hoggard and Lancashire will be missing Andy

Flintoff.