Yorkshire lose thriller at Durham as chase fades away badly

Yorkshire, chasing 171, were cruising at 113-2 in the 12th over before leg-spinner Nathan Sowter bowled buccaneering Will Luxton for 33 and had Jordan Thompson brilliantly caught and bowled on the run towards long-on. 

Left-armer Dwarshuis then claimed his first wicket for Durham in the last over and defended four off the last ball against George Hill. The Vikings, replying to 170-6, finished on 167-7, handing Durham a fourth win in eight games - this by three runs. Yorkshire lost their fourth in eight.

Dwarshuis was the hero in only his third game. The overseas man had been dropped after the first two games.

Opener Graham Clark top-scored with 49 off 35 balls for Durham, while Adam Lyth top-scored for Yorkshire with 54. 

Visiting left-arm spinner Dan Moriarty impressed with 2-26, a return matched by Durham’s excellent seamer Ben Raine. But Sowter, who also affected a run out, contributed massively to the comeback. 

Considering Durham, who elected to bat, took 10 off the first over - a boundary piece for Clark and Alex Lees - Yorkshire did well to limit them to 44-1 after six overs.

Clark struck the ball sweetly, but David Bedingham struggled to get going amidst a run-a-ball 21, ended when he pulled Jafer Chohan’s leg-spin to deep midwicket - 59-2 in the ninth over. 

Clark took back-to-back boundaries off Jordan Thompson to take the score to 88 for two after 12 but fell agonisingly short of a fifty when he dragged Moriarty on in the next, Durham now 91-3. 

And they were struggling to get going.

But that impetus did come in the final five overs, with Ollie Robinson, Bas de Leede and Michael Jones all finding or clearing the boundary, the former two contributing useful scores of 33 and 28 before falling to Thompson and Dom Bess.

Thompson had Robinson caught behind and bowled Raine, but 64 came off the last five overs. 

Lyth continued the flow of runs at the start of Yorkshire’s chase with a couple of leg-side sixes before losing opening partner and captain for the night Dawid Malan. 

Adam Lyth looked in good touch from the off in Yorkshire's reply last night. (Image: Ray Spencer.)

He was brilliantly caught at cover by a diving Lees off George Drissell’s off-spin, leaving Yorkshire at 35-1 in the fourth over. 

Malan, who scored only seven, was leading Yorkshire after Shan Masood was concussed in the Roses win 24 hours earlier. 

That dismissal brought Joe Root to the crease for his last domestic appearance before England Test commitments, and he breezed to 20.

But when he was caught behind off Raine’s seam - 60-2 in the seventh over - Durham’s hopes were raised.

Luxton tried his best to dash them in only his fourth career T20 appearance and his first of 2024. 

He hit two leg-side sixes and a four down the ground as 19 came off Drissell in the 10th over, taking the Vikings to 100-2.

It seemed as if they were, by now, in an unassailable position, but Sowter bowled him and had Thompson superbly caught and bowled running towards mid-on.

Lyth reached 50 off 35 balls but was also lbw to Raine. With those three dismissals, Yorkshire were 130-5 in the 16th and the game in the balance again. 

Sowter brilliantly ran Donovan Ferreira out with a direct hit from deep midwicket before Dwarshuis had Dom Bess caught at long-on in the last over.

Yorkshire still would have won the game with a boundary from the last ball, but Hill missed an attempted ramp shot, so it was the hosts who took the two points.

The White Rose must quickly shake off last night's disappointment, as they are back in action tomorrow, for the start of a Vitality County Championship Division Two clash against Gloucestershire at Scarborough.

Yorkshire currently sit seventh in the eight-team table, having drawn five and lost two of their opening seven games, but in a tight division, victory in this coming week could take them up as high as third.