Northants' winning run ended by shock Yorkshire defeat

Northants went into the match with a similar side to that which suffered a cup washout the week before against Eastern Vipers with the only changes being Brad Fisher and Sean Farrow coming in to replace Mark Provan and Nick Killen.

Yorkshire led by former Northants player Shah Miah named a young side on the whole but still found room for former Leeds skipper Pete Hoey in there side which was only 10 players missing one b1.

Yorkshire were delayed on route to the ground so the two captains decided over the phone that Northants would bat first when the game started, which turned out to be after 2pm.

Yorkshire got an immediate break through as Northants captain David Gavrilovic suffered a second successive run out as he was dismissed 8th ball of the match for 0 by Shah Miah's throw. Northants bad start was only to get worse though as first Simon Hill misjudged a delivery from Ebrahim Lambat and was bowled for a golden duck and then Brad Fisher smashed a Quasid Nazair delivery too close to Shah Miah and the Yorkshire skipper held on to dismiss the former Metro man for 1 leaving Northants reeling on 12 for 3.

Elliot Stonhill was promoted up the order to join Ian Goodearl in the hope that the pair could stay in for a while and re-build the innings. They did this to an extent putting together a 60 run partnership before Shah Miah bowled VI.XI.NS star batsman Goodearl for 27. Alastair Provan and David Keeling soon followed Goodearl back to the pavilion leaving Northants in deep trouble on 107 for 6. Jagdisch Pata struck 5 rapid runs before Miah returned to trap him LBW and he was soon followed by Elliot Stonhill who's 18 over vigil finally ended for 9. Youngster Tom Willis then added 19 for the ninth wicket with Mark Simons before becoming Miah's final victim for 3 to give the Yorkshire captain figures of 4-44.

Simons then kicked on and along with Sean Farrow put on 35 for the final wicket before becoming Lambat's second victim caught by Shah Miah for his second catch to go with the run out and 4 wickets he'd already taken. Simons scored 21 his lifetime best with Farrow left not out on 8 as Northants recovered from 126/8 to end up 180 All Out.

The teams trudged off for tea after a marathon first innings which took Yorkshire well over 3 hours to bowl 30 overs and both teams felt in with a chance going into the second half of the game.

Yorkshire's innings started safely enough without a wicket in the first 3 overs. Elliot Stonhill came on to bowl the 4th over, an over that he described himself as the worst over he had ever bowled to get 2 wickets! Those wickets came after a string of wides as Alastair Provan and Dave Keeling held good catches to dismiss Ebrahim Lambat and Atif Rafiq.

This started a steady flow of wickets from one end as Shah Miah played himself in at the other. Alastair Provan and Dave Gavrilovic both claimed a wicket before Provan took another good catch to claim a caught and bowled to dismiss Quasid Nazair. Gavrilovic then took a brilliant left handed one handed diving catch to give Dave Keeling the wicket of Ricky Coleman to leave Yorkshire reeling themselves on 66/6. Shah Miah and Pete Hoey then shared a 31 partnership, which ended when Hoey was run out thanks to excellent fielding from Tom Willis without facing a ball. Miah continued to dominate the strike and steal singles off the last ball of overs as the score progressed to 176 before Alastair Provan trapped him LBW to claim 3-44 and leave Yorkshire needing 5 runs to win from their last wicket.

Unfortunately Northants only had b1 overs left and their captain Dave Gavrilovic couldn't bowl with the control he showed in his first 3 overs and the leagues newest team scraped over the line to claim a thrilling win.

Northants had only themselves to blame as they dropped Miah 5 times and with the exception of Jagdisch Pata who bowled excellently none of the other bowlers showed consistent control. The fact Elliot Stonhill was not well enough to bowl more than one over didn't help them either. This was truly a game of four quarters and could have gone either way but full credit to Yorkshire who held their nerve to notch up their first ever victory.

Northamptonshire VIXINS team: B Fisher; D Gavrilovic; S Hill; I Goodearl; E Stonhill; A Provan; D Keeling; J Pata; T Willis; M Simons; S Farrow

Northants Man Of The Match: Mark Simons

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