YORKSHIRE fell narrowly short of becoming Vitality Blast Second XI champions on Tuesday.
The four-team finals day was held at picturesque Wormsley in Buckinghamshire, and Somerset beat Glamorgan in the first semi.
Yorkshire took on Surrey in the second last-four clash, and named a strong XI, which included first-team T20 regulars James Wharton, George Hill and Dom Leech.
Unusually, Yorkshire loanee Conor McKerr was playing for his parent club Surrey.
In a rain-reduced game, Yorkshire batted first and posted a challenging 176-6 from their 19 overs, Will Luxton (52) and Yash Vagadia (46) top scoring.
Surrey started brightly, racking up 55 in the first five overs of their reply.
But they had slipped to 67-4 by the time the rains came in the eighth over.
When play resumed, Surrey’s new equation meant they needed 51 to win from 20 balls, and they fell well short.
They finished on 90-8, teenage spinner Josh Hen-Boisen taking three late wickets to wrap up a 27-run DLS victory for Yorkshire.
That put them through the evening final against Somerset, who batted well to score 191 from their 20 overs.
Hill showed his experience by finishing with fine figures of 4-33, while the highlight was a bizarre caught and bowled for Ben Cliff.
How about this for a caught and bowled for Ben Cliff 😁#YorkshireFamily pic.twitter.com/Y0aXUQPsoU
— Yorkshire Vikings (@YorkshireCCC) July 16, 2024
Yorkshire faced a tall order in trying to chase 192 to win, and though Luxton (34) and Vagadia (27) got them off to another bright start, they faded away and lost by 66 runs after being bowled out for 125.
There was some justice for Ned Leonard, the batsman who had been dismissed for a duck by Cliff’s freak caught and bowled.
The Somerset man was his side’s star bowler in the final, taking 4-25 to help seal a comfortable win for the Cidermen.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here