Maxwell Savages Worcestershire

Glenn Maxwell has been a monumental let-down for Yorkshire for much of the summer, apart from one scintillating Twenty20 effort. However, in the last 24 hours, he has produced two batting displays that go some way to atoning for his early summer mediocrity.

In addition to Maxwell's century-making fireworks display, Hodd and Lees got Yorkshire off to an uncharacteristically good start. (Andrew Gale take note. Is it any coincidence that Yorkshire have produced good one-day wins against Warwickshire and Worcestershire in the last week, with Gale absent?)

Then, along came the middle-order maestros Leaning and Rashid to build upon the good foundations and help themselves to an impressive century stand. Even Liam Plunkett managed to smash a six off the penultimate ball of the innings, the first one that he had faced. It's been a while since Yorkshire amassed such a total in one-day cricket. Just occasionally everything goes right on the batting front, and Thursday at New Road was one such occasion.

When it came to the run chase, the hosts were unable to get off to a flier, which only served to inflate the required run rate. Therefore, in their anxiety, Worcestershire's Rapids rapidly lost early wickets to a couple of direct throw hits. Conceding a pair of run outs was the last thing that the home team's top order batsmen needed to do. Steven Patterson was responsible for one such run out and then he proceeded to take no fewer than five wickets and even obtained a maiden against a team that simply had to accelerate the score. This was a clear reminder that big Steve was probably underused in the Twenty20 Blast. Jason Gillespie and Martyn Moxon believe that they can remedy the Vikings' twenty overs' woes, but if Patterson is not in their plans, then they may be deluded. Of course, Worcestershire went down fighting, courtesy of another excellent knock from Ross Whiteley who loves nothing more than to defy Yorkshire, with his third display of belligerent batting against them in the last few weeks. This defeat avenged a recent reverse against the same opposition in the Twenty20 campaign and it has partially wiped out the memory of Yorkshire's narrow defeat at the hands of Surrey 24 hours earlier. Although the Tykes have now played one more match than everyone else in the group, they are now sitting pretty in second place, and two further wins from their four remaining fixtures ought to be sufficient to secure a quarter finals outing.

Worcestershire versus YORKSHIRE; at Worcester; Thursday the 30th of July 2015. YORKSHIRE won the toss.

YORKSHIRE: 345 for six (off fifty overs)

Hodd c Kohler-Cadmore b Barnard 18 (61-1)

Lees st Cox b Ajmal 67 (122-2)

Maxwell c Cox b Barnard 111 (236-4) [

Ballance c Ajmal b Morris 28 (227-3)

Leaning not out 58

Rhodes c Cox b Barnard 0 (236-5)

Rashid c Cox b Morris 41 (338-6)

Plunkett not out 7

Extras: 15

Barnard 10-0-59-3

Worcestershire: 212 (off 41.3 overs)

Mitchell run out (Lees) 32 (60-3)

Oliver run out (Patterson) 2 (3-1)

Fell c Carver b Patterson 14 (32-2)

D'Oliveira c Hodd b Plunkett 42 (137-5)

Kohler-Cadmore c Rhodes b Rashid 18 (95-4)

Whiteley c Leaning b Patterson 77 (212)

Cox c Rashid b Plunkett 6 (153-6)

Leach c Ballance b Patterson 7 (184-7)

Barnard lbw b Patterson 0 (185-8)

Ajmal c Rhodes b Patterson 6 (212-9)

Morris not out 0

Extras: 8

Patterson 7.3-1-24-5

YORKSHIRE won by 133 runs. Worcestershire no points, YORKSHIRE two points.

GROUP STANDINGS:

Surrey five points from three matches

YORKSHIRE five points from four matches

Durham five points from three matches

Gloucestershire three points from two matches

Derbyshire two points from three matches

Northamptonshire two points from three matches

Leicestershire one point from two matches

Worcestershire one point from two matches

Somerset no points from two matches