Two young bowlers virtually new to coloured clothing cricket were chiefly responsible for Yorkshire Phoenix gaining a splendid victory over Gloucestershire Gladiators at Headingley yesterday.

Phoenix won by 35 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis system for calculating rain-hit matches after their first innings had been reduced to 33 overs.

Gary Ramsden, the 17-year-old paceman brought in at the last minute to replace the injured Craig White, claimed two vital wickets on his debut appearance in the Norwich Union National League as Gladiators chased a revised target of 165 off 33 overs.

Then 23-year-old off-spinner James Middlebrook, whose only previous game in this form of cricket was two years ago, continued the good work by capturing three wickets for 16 runs in five deadly accurate overs.

There were 16 balls left and rain was falling when Gloucestershire lost their last wicket and it was not only because Yorkshire had beaten the Division One joint leaders that they were so thrilled by their success.

It avenged three wounding one-day defeats last season by Gloucestershire who overpowered them in the final of the Benson and Hedges Super Cup, knocked them out of the semi-finals of the NatWest Trophy and ended their title hopes in this competition.

A wet morning meant a delayed start with the game reduced to 40 overs a side and when further rain caused a stoppage with Yorkshire on 25 without loss, the overs were whittled down to 33 a side with Duckworth-Lewis coming into play.

White's absence meant promotion to the opening spot for Gary Fellows and he and David Byas batted so well together that they got Phoenix off to easily their best start of the season with a 77 stand in 18 overs, Fellows following up an edged four off Michael Cawdron with a blistering shot over extra cover, and Byas driving Dewsbury-born Mike Smith for classic boundaries on either side of the wicket.

The spree ended when Fellows was lbw to Mark Alleyne for 30 and newcomer Richard Blakey enjoyed an escape as Matt Windows dropped a chance above his head at cover.

Byas deserved a half-century but on 48 he was smartly stumped by Jack Russell off Cawdron after facing 78 balls and hitting six fours, and the crowd was then entertained by Darren Lehmann who smacked a full toss from James Averis high over square leg for six.

The Australian was caught for 24 attempting to hoist a ball high to long leg and Blakey, shrugging off the pain from a damaged finger, finished unbeaten on 43 from 50 balls with just two fours.

Hoggard struck with the second ball of Gloucestershire's innings by knocking back Rob Cunliffe's off-stump with one of the day's fastest deliveries, but it was the youthful Ramsden who was to then make two crucial breakthroughs.

He came on at the football end at 42 for one and with his sixth ball pinned Tim Hancock lbw on the back foot.

An even bigger prize came his way when a swinging full toss crashed into the stumps of Kim Barnett, the most experienced batsman still playing county cricket.

Gavin Hamilton had Windows caught behind but a revival between skipper Mark Alleyne and Australian Ian Harvey was quickly snuffed out by Middlebrook who had Alleyne brilliantly caught by Byas diving low to his right at mid-wicket.

And Middlebrook put the result beyond any doubt in his fourth over when he snared both Jeremy Snape and Harvey lbw to leave Gloucestershire floundering on 113 for seven.

A smart return by Hamilton to Middlebrook in his next over sent Russell scowling his way back to the pavilion and the return of Hoggard and Hamilton to the attack soon put paid to Gloucestershire.

SCOREBOARD

CGU National League

Division One

Yorkshire Phoenix v

Gloucestershire Gladiators

(at Headingley)

Yorkshire Phoenix Innings

Byas st Russell b Cawdron 48

Fellows lbw b Alleyne 30

Blakey not out 43

Lehmann c Cawdron b Averis 24

Harden not out 2

Extras b1 lb6 w6 13

Total 3 wkts Innings Complete (33 overs) 160

Fall: 1-77 2-108 3-149

Did Not Bat: G Ramsden, M J Wood, G M Hamilton, J D Middlebrook, P M Hutchison, M J Hoggard.

Bowling: Smith 7-1-19-0 Harvey 7-0-36-0 Cawdron 6-0-33-1 Averis 6-0-42-1 Alleyne 7-0-23-1

Gloucestershire Gladiators Innings

Hancock lbw b Ramsden 19

Cunliffe b Hoggard 0

Windows c Blakey b Hamilton 26

Barnett b Ramsden 3

Alleyne c Byas b Middlebrook 10

Harvey lbw b Middlebrook 31

Snape lbw b Middlebrook 4

Russell run out 3

Cawdron c Byas b Hoggard 8

Averis not out 6

Smith c Byas b Hamilton 0

Extras b1 lb5 w9 nb4 19

Total (30.2 overs) 129

Fall: 1-1 2-44 3-58 4-60 5-96 6-108 7-113 8-118 9-128

Bowling: Hoggard 5-0-14-2 Hutchison 5-1-21-0 Hamilton 5.2-1-12-2 Ramsden 4-0-26-2 Lehmann 5-0-24-0 Middlebrook 5-0-16-3 Fellows 1-0-10-0

Umpires: M J Harris and J W Holder

Yorkshire Phoenix (4pts) beat Gloucestershire Gladiators (0pts) by 35 runs (D/L Method)