Yorkshire clinched only their third Clydesdale Bank 40 win of the season against Northamptonshire tonight as Bradfordian Adil Rashid played a crucial part with both bat and ball.
After Andrew Gale lost the toss, Rashid hit a brisk and inventive 25 off 16 balls to ensure his side’s innings did not fall apart completely as they posted 262-8, having been superbly placed at 177-2 after 30 overs.
A score in the region of 280 to 290 was realistic with ten overs left, but Rashid impressed with the ball as well because his first ever four-wicket haul in List-A cricket helped bowl Northants out for 193 to clinch a 69-run success.
Rashid and company’s hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals of this competition are still all but over having lost four of their eight matches but any limited-overs win is crucial to build momentum ahead of t20 Finals Day later this month.
Yorkshire face the Unicorns at Headingley on Sunday.
On the back of five wickets in the County Championship match here last week, Rashid took the first four Northants wickets to fall as they slipped from 54-0 in the 11th over to 129-4 in the 25th, finishing with 4-38 from eight overs.
He had Rob Newton caught at mid-off as the opener tried, and failed, to go over the top, he had Alex Wakely stumped off a leg-side wide, Niall O’Brien caught at mid-wicket off a full toss and Rob Keogh trapped lbw with a pin-point googly.
South African overseas player David Miller also enjoyed a good night by affecting two run outs to reduce Northants to 172-6 in the 34th over.
It followed a useful 44, including a huge six over long-on to clear the roof of the main pavilion.
Iain Wardlaw finished the match off with a double-wicket maiden by bowling Lee Daggett and Luke Evans.
Earlier, 87 off 83 balls from opener Phil Jaques helped to put Yorkshire in an excellent position.
The Australian shared 57 for the second wicket with Adam Lyth and 87 for the third wicket with Miller.
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