‘Everything is brilliant in Nidderdale’, read a York-shire supporter’s flag in Rotterdam.
And the same can be said for the Tykes form in this season’s Clydesdale Bank 40, after they went back to the top of Group B with a comfortable win against the Netherlands.
Rich Pyrah was the star with the ball, before Jonathan Bairstow again showed he has the temperament to score runs under pressure with the bat to see Yorkshire home by five wickets.
After losing at Gloucestershire on Wednesday, the Tykes travelled to the Netherlands in second spot in the group, despite winning five of their first six games, and from the beginning it was obvious that they viewed this fixture as vital to their chances of reaching the semi-finals.
Tim Bresnan gave them the start they wanted – with two quick wickets after Andrew Gale had won the toss and elected to field.
Then, after Ajmal Shahzad had confirmed his return to fitness by removing Tom Cooper for 12, Pyrah began his assault on the home side.
He finished with figures of 4-24 and along with Steven Patterson, who remarkably leaked only nine runs from his eight overs, the two of them successfully strangled the Netherlands during the mid-part of their innings.
Only a late flurry of runs from the lower order lifted them from 101-8 in the 34th over to their final total of 154-9.
However, with a required run rate of only 3.8, it was always going to be difficult for the Netherlands to contain the Tykes top order.
At 41-0, they appeared to be cruising home as well, until Jacques Rudolph, for six, and Gale, for an entertaining 32, departed in quick succession.
Home hope of a Dutch victory was then increased further when Bradford-born Anthony McGrath and Adam Lyth were ousted, leaving Yorkshire on 87-4 in the 22nd over, but then came Bairstow.
Showing huge maturity for a man of 20, he put on 59 for the fifth wicket with Gerard Brophy, who struck 25, to effectively end the contest.
Apt then, after a poodle had stopped play by running on the pitch, that it was Bairstow who struck the winning runs with 24 balls to spare.
Meanwhile, the club have confirmed that Tino Best did not make the trip overseas because he was ordered back to Headingley to “improve on his bowling.”
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