Tuesday 18 August 2015 18:56, UK
Northamptonshire’s chances of qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Royal London One-Day Cup were washed away by the rain at Headingley.
The visitors needed a victory against Yorkshire to break into the top four in Group A but the match was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to persistent heavy rainfall.
There were only spots of light rain at the scheduled starting time but the weather worsened as the morning wore on and by mid-afternoon there were pools of standing water on the ground, leaving umpires Jeff Evans and Stephen Gale with no option but to call the game off at 3.20pm.
Yorkshire therefore advance to the knockout stages along with the holders Durham, Surrey and Gloucestershire having already qualified.
But Northants narrowly miss out as they have an inferior net run-rate to Durham.
Yorkshire coach Jason Gillespie told Sky Sports: “At the end of the day it is pretty disappointing not to be able to get on the park, play cricket, and win in the right way.
“We have got a point, which has made us qualify, which is fantastic, but I do feel for Northants. We are here to play cricket.”
Steelbacks coach David Ripley added: “After winning yesterday, being up and thinking we have got a big must-win game, we’ve been deprived of that chance but, unfortunately, that is the way it goes.
“We have still got (T20 Blast) Finals Day and that will keep our season going, we will look forward to that.”
The top two in the group squared off at Bristol and Rory Burns made a career-best List A score of 95 as Surrey beat Gloucestershire by 12 runs in an entertaining encounter to secure top spot.
Having been put in to bat, Surrey made 291-8 from their 50 overs and then bowled the hosts out for 279 with two balls of their innings remaining.
Surrey’s England opener Jason Roy fell to James Fuller (3-26) but Aneesh Kapil made 33, and Burns shared stands of 72 with Ben Foakes (30), who was superbly caught and bowled by Fuller, and 93 with teenager Sam Curran (42).
Burns eventually went five runs short of his century but the runs continued to tick over nicely thanks to wicket-keeper Gary Wilson, who made 37 off 32 balls.
Tom Curran (4-65) removed Will Tavare (8) and Gareth Roderick (19) when Gloucestershire replied and it was 97-4 when Chris Dent went for 49.
Jade Dernbach (3-45) was also among the wickets and it looked like game over at 137-6 but Benny Howell (60) and Fuller (45) put on 90 for the seventh wicket.
That duo then fell in consecutive overs however and a gallant 37 not out from Tom Smith could not salvage the situation for Gloucestershire.
At Grace Road, Peter Trego smashed 71 not out off just 31 balls as Somerset thrashed Leicestershire by nine wickets.
Neither side was able to qualify for the last eight but the visitors finished in style, bowling Leicestershire out for just 120 and then knocking off the runs required in one ball short of 15 overs.
The visitors chose to field upon winning the toss and it proved a shrewd decision as they reduced the Foxes to 19-4 and 38-6.
Josh Davey had Angus Robson (1) caught behind with the first ball of the second over and then trapped Lewis Hill (0) lbw two balls later.
Niall O’Brien (4) fell to Tim Groenewald (1-16), and Lewis Gregory (3-26) dismissed Aadil Ali (7), Dan Redfern (13) and Andrea Agathangelou (2).
However, the hosts managed to partially recover from 38-6 thanks to Ned Eckersley (29), Rob Taylor (25) and Wayne White (28).
Having dismissed Leicestershire in 39.4 overs, Somerset’s reply was disrupted early on when Tom Abell had to retire hurt having just scored a single.
And it was 10-1 when Adam Hose (2) was caught behind off Atif Sheikh but Trego was unperturbed, hitting seven boundaries and six maximums as Somerset cantered to victory.
He found a willing ally in Tom Cooper, who smashed 43 not off 35 balls and playing his part in an unbroken second-wicket stand of 112.
Somerset therefore finished the competition with three impressive wins but their run came too late to secure a last-eight berth.
Derbyshire’s chances of qualifying had ended on Monday at Durham but they finished on a high note with an emphatic win over Worcestershire, who suffered their sixth Group A defeat.
On a wet day at the County Ground in Derby, the hosts posted 234-8 and, chasing an adjusted target of 231 in 48 overs, Worcestershire never looked like getting there and were dismissed for 181 in 44 overs.
Derbyshire’s Tillakaratne Dilshan (14) became the 24th player to pass 14,000 runs in List A games but the Sri Lankan then fell lbw to the first delivery from Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal (1-39) as Derbyshire slipped to 76-4.
However, Shiv Thakor (68) and Scott Elstone (52) salvaged the situation, making their first one-day half-centuries for the Falcons and putting on 93 for the fifth wicket.
Charlie Morris removed Elstone and returned his best List A figures of 3-46 for the visitors.
When Worcestershire replied, only Tom Fell with 46 threatened to loosen Derbyshire's grip on the game but he became one of two victims for Wes Durston (2-27) and it was 122-7 when Brett D’Oliveira (5) was run out by Elstone.
Some resistance was provided by youngsters Alex Hepburn (32) and Ed Barnard (30) but Thakor (3-37) ended the match and completed a fine all-round performance when he bowled Ajmal (1).
