Ricardo Vasconcelos scored his first List A century before persistent light rain set up a tight finish and gave Yorkshire the 2 points.
Jason Holder returned to the Steelbacks line-up for the final time this season with Ricardo Vasconcelos the only other change for Northamptonshire. Vasconcelos would be straight into the action as Alex Wakely won the toss and elected to bat on a cloudy but warm afternoon at The County Ground.
It was an impressive start for the home side with Cobb and Vasconcelos putting on 118, the highest opening stand of the competition for the Steelbacks. Known for his strong hitting and fast scoring, Richard Levi was outgunned by Vasconcelos as the pair looked untroubled in the opening overs. The total passed 50 after 8.2 overs and 100 after 15 as Levi and Vasconcelos both brought up half centuries.
Levi fell for 58 when his lofted cover drive found the man at deep cover bringing Josh Cobb to the middle. Cobb and Vasconcelos continued the momentum, consistently finding the boundary to keep the scoring rate high. Ricardo Vasconcelos brought up his first List A century off just 92 balls, finishing with 112 his innings was full of class and power as he cleared the ropes on three occasions. Cobb too reached 50 in sharp time, finishing with 58 from 55 balls with four fours and three sixes.
Jason Holder looked threatening once again, moving to 36 before being adjudged lbw. The Steelbacks lost wickets quickly in the final 10 overs, with the last 5 batsmen falling for 5 runs. Adam Rossington standing tall amongst the flurry of wickets, smashing 45 not out from just 25 balls. Northamptonshire eventually bowled out with 3 balls left, 351 on the board.
The Yorkshire reply got off to an ideal start for the Steelbacks with Lyth’s flick finding Vasconcelos at short fine leg. Brook and Kohler-Cadmore then kept in touch with the DLS par, moving to 128 before the rain arrived. At that stage Yorkshire were 7 ahead of the par score and looked to be taking home the points during an extended rain delay. It subsided though, with a revised chase of 175 with 4.1 overs remaining.
With a limit of 5 overs per bowler, Wakely didn’t have the luxury of his main strike bowlers. Sanderson, Buck and Procter all having bowled their full allotment before the resumption. That meant it was down to Keogh and Holland to get the job done. Holland’s first over went for just four runs and included one of the best catches you’re likely to see. Off his own bowling, the on-loan all-rounder ran thirty yards towards the sightscreen to dive full length and cling on to a sky ball that disappeared into the night sky. It was Keogh’s over that turned the chase though, Ballance clearing the ropes three times in three balls to bring the equation down to 13 from the final over.
A wicket off the first ball gave the Steelbacks hopes of finding their second win of the campaign, but these were short lived as Tattersall sent the next ball all the way and found the rope two balls later to take the Vikings home with 2 balls to spare.
Northamptonshire 351 (49.4) (Vasconcelos 116, Cobb 58) defeated by Yorkshire 175/5 DLS (24.4) (Holland 2/38, Sanderson 1/15) . Full scorecard.
The Steelbacks final home game of the Royal London One Day Cup is Monday the 6th of May against Notts Outlaws. As the 2019 Briggs & Forrester Community Day, this match is free entry for everyone with a load to do throughout the day.