Plunkett Successfully Transforms Yorkshire

An unbeaten last wicket stand of exactly fifty between the belligerent Liam Plunkett and Matt Fisher (largely a spectator during this event) helped rescue the visitors from a hole that they had plunged into, courtesy of a middle order collapse. Bresnan, Rashid, and Rhodes all failed to build on the good start, and when young Jack Leaning was eventually dismissed, it looked like curtains for the Tykes. Leaning had knitted the innings together, after inadequate contributions from Bairstow, Ballance, and Alex Lees. If the latter is going to continue as the new captain, he had better achieve a greater level of consistency to justify his place in the team - something that his predecessor Andrew Gale plainly failed to achieve.

Earlier, Adam Lyth had demonstrated some semblance of form with a brisk 36. However, after the first five batsmen had made double-figure scores, the next three numpties couldn't match this. In the end, it took a brilliant cameo from Liam Plunkett to take the Tykes to a competitive score. Just how competitive the target would be was open to question. Clearly the white rose protagonists had to bowl well, since the total they were defending was quite good but still achievable.

After the hosts gifted Yorkshire an early wicket courtesy of an unlucky run out, they then proceeded to almost one hundred runs and looked on the cusp of victory. Instead, the Essex innings would soon ebb and flow like the Yorkshire one before it. Again, wickets came in batches, and although the hosts again recovered, due to a dangerous sixth-wicket stand, the loss of Foster opened the floodgates just when victory was there for the taking. It was young Will Rhodes (a failure again with the bat) who took two precious wickets which transformed the match. It only remained for the seasoned campaigners Bresnan and Patterson to polish off the Essex tail and take the Yorkshire team through to a last four encounter at home to Gloucestershire on Sunday week.

Ultimately, it was the innings from big Liam which turned the match on its head. His runs in the final two overs were literally the difference between the two counties in this close encounter. The England all-rounder then followed up with three key wickets and a crucial catch which tore a hole in the home team's top order. To state that Plunkett was the matchwinner would be an understatement. He will never be an economical bowler, but he did prove the merits of taking wickets and being costly in preference to not taking wickets but bowling tidily. On an occasion when the home county needed a mere five runs per over in their run chase on a small ground, wickets were much more important than maidens. In all probability, Yorkshire needed to bowl Essex out, and thanks to Liam, they just about accomplished that. Plunkett really stood up to the mark, and one hopes that he and Rashid will be released from England duty for the semi-final tussle, in between one-day inetrnationals. The semi finals are as follows:

YORKSHIRE versus Gloucestershire; Sunday the sixth of September

Surrey versus Nottinghamshire; Monday the seventh of September

THE FINAL: Saturday the nineteenth of September

Essex versus YORKSHIRE; at Chelmsford; Thursday the 27th of August 2015. Essex won the toss.

YORKSHIRE: 252 for nine (off 50 overs)

Lyth b Porter 36 (64-2)

Lees c Foster b Topley 18 (33-1)

Leaning c Nijjar b Topley 72 (195-7)

Bairstow c Foster b Ryder 19 (96-3)

Ballance c Foster b Bopara 32 (163-4)

Rhodes c Nijjar b Bopara 9 (183-5)

Rashid b ten Doeschate 0 (187-6)

Bresnan c Nijjar b Topley 7 (199-8)

Plunkett not out 49

Patterson b Topley 1 (202-9)

Fisher not out 5

Extras: 4

Topley 10-0-56-4

Essex: 232 (off 47.5 overs)

Pettini run out (Bresnan) 2 (3-1)

Browne c Plunkett b Rashid 37 (95-3)

Westley b Plunkett 54 (95-2)

Bopara c Bairstow b Plunkett 17 (129-5)

Ryder b Plunkett 3 (100-4)

ten Doeschate c Bresnan b Rhodes 54 (206-7)

Foster c Leaning Rhodes 30 (189-6)

Nijjar lbw b Bresnan 21 (227-9)

Masters lbw b Patterson 7 (227-8)

Topley b Bresnan 0 (232)

Porter not out 5

Extras: 4

Plunkett 10-1-58-3

YORKSHIRE won by twenty runs.