Yorkshire defeated Surrey 241 (Geddes 92, Mike 4-40) with 243 for 9 (Duke 93*, Steel 3-49).
In a thrilling one-wicket victory over Surrey at York, last-wicket partners Harry Duke and Dom Leech scored the 32 runs necessary for Yorkshire to advance to the Metro Bank One-Day Cup knockout round.
With the Vikings falling from 141 for 3 to 210 for 9, Duke, who was chasing 242 and nearly missed a well-deserved century with 93 not out off 132 balls, watched wickets tumble at the other end.
With the aid of new-ball seamer Leech, who finished the game 18 unbeaten and scored the game-winning boundary off Ryan Patel’s medium pace with nine balls left, the wicketkeeper-batsman was able to maintain his composure.
Leg-spinning all-arounder Cameron Steel scored three of Surrey’s 49 total points to support the collapse of Yorkshire. Given that they were also nil for two after being introduced, Surrey worked really hard to construct a magnificent finish, first with the bat and subsequently with the ball.
Conor McKerr and Luke Griffiths were the only frontline seamers Surrey could field at Clifton Park due to injuries and a lack of availability, along with three spinners. Ben Geddes made a great list. Batting first, Surrey recovered to 241 all out in 48 overs thanks to a career-high 92 off 90 balls.
With three games left, Yorkshire won for the second time in five group games, putting them on track for a top-three finish and knockout cricket. Surrey lost their second game in a row and still have work to do to qualify because they are down 12 players due to the Hundreds in addition to other injury concerns.
In the second over of a game at Clifton Park, Yorkshire scored two.
In front of 3,000 spectators, Yorkshire scored twice in the second over of a game at Clifton Park, giving Ben Mike a career-high 4 for 40 from 7.5 overs. In his first over, Leech struck twice with the new ball, trapping Rory Burns on a drive at second slip and Surrey’s opener Patel at point off a leading edge.
As Surrey crumbled to 79 for five in the 21st over, Matthew Revis struck with his first ball, trapping hesitant opener Dom Sibley for 30 at midfield. Before being caught LBW by George Hill, Ben Foakes sought medical attention for a twisted ankle, although he later declined to don the wicketkeeping gloves.
Fortunately for Surrey, Geddes, another Ben, guided their successful recovery. Geddes, 22, and Josh Blake, who hit 25 and handled wicketkeeping duties, shared 45 runs for the sixth wicket. They then added 94 runs for the seventh wicket with McKerr, who added a career-high 32 from 124 for six in the 31st over.
Geddes’ Yorkshire team struggled for a while, but he eventually hit 10 fours and three sixes, including one into the gardens next to midwicket at the City End of this sunny stadium.
Mike later bowled Geddes and McKerr in the same manner. In front of a crowd of 3,000, the former Leicestershire quick took all four of his wickets in the final seven overs of the innings, helping Yorkshire contain the comeback.
The Vikings lost opener Fin Bean, who was bowled by McKerr on his home field, and skipper Shan Masood, who was similarly bowled by offspinner Amar Virdi, reaching 80 for 3 after 12 overs of their reply. Later, George Hill was caught behind by Griffiths and scored 30.
Three spinners made up Surrey’s bowling lineup, including Virdi. At one point, McKerr even momentarily left the field to attend to a hand injury. Duke scored a busy half-century, which took 59 balls to complete, to keep Yorkshire ahead. The hosts were cruising at 138 for three in the 23rd over at that time. The situation was about to alter, though.
Duke and Will Fraine (32) had put together a 61-run partnership for the fourth wicket, but when Fraine (32) left, the score had droppezd to 163 for seven in the 31st over. Four wickets fell for 22 runs, two to leg-spin from Steel and two to deputy keeper Blake’s stumpings.
When the score later dropped to 197 for eight in the 35th over, Steel had Mike stumped, Revis caught and bowled, and Dom Bess caught at deep midwicket on the slog sweep.
From that point on, Duke and Leech calmly and methodically chipped away at the runs, with the latter pushing Patel away to the delight of the 3,000-person audience.
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