Phoenix almost pull off mission impossible

Centuries from Somerset's new wonder boy Matt Wood and captain Ian Blackwell put Phoenix on the rack, but in a pulsating finish, last man Deon Kruis struck 20 off the final over to leave Yorkshire just three runs away from reaching their massive 346 target.

All hope seemed to have gone with 23 required from the last over but after Kruis had failed to score off the first delivery from Blackwell he then struck a six and three fours off consecutive balls.

That left the South African needing to hit the last ball for four to tie and six to win but his off-drive was fielded on the boundary edge and Somerset scraped home by two runs.

Craig White won the toss and put Somerset in to bat but Yorkshire could never have imagined that they were in for another caning from 24-year-old opener Wood, who only five days earlier had thrashed 297 in the Championship encounter between the sides.

But Wood went on playing the same sort of dazzling strokes he had shown in the first-class match to yield him a magnificent 129 from 105 balls.

It was the highest individual score against Yorkshire in the totesport League and for a while it seemed as if Wood was capable of passing the highest knock against them in the history of the Sunday League - 155 by Hampshire's Barry Richards - but in the 40th over he was caught on the boundary edge off Tim Bresnan, having survived chances on 84 and 113.

Bresnan's figures of 1-87 in nine overs were Yorkshire's most expensive ever recorded in Sunday cricket.

Blackwell made his runs in brutally, his 114 containing 11 fours and five sixes and coming off only 61 balls.

Yorkshire knew they were up against it after Wood and John Francis had added 105 for the second wicket, this partnership then being exceeded by the 136 in only 19 overs between Wood and Blackwell.

Yorkshire got a good start to their long run chase with their own Matthew Wood and Phil Jaques running up 121 together in 16 overs.

But Wood was caught by James Hildreth for 51 from 58 balls with eight fours, and three overs later Jaques was lbw to a quicker ball from Blackwell for 66 off just 46 deliveries.

Every batsman who followed made some attempt to keep Yorkshire in the hunt, particularly Ismail Dawood, who had moved on to 57 when he was seventh out at 286.

Richard Dawson and Bresnan followed him back to the pavilion to leave Yorkshire on 304-9, but Kruis showed that Phoenix still had a sting in their tail and his amazing blast almost pulled off what would have been their most stunning one-day victory ever.

The Championship match between the two sides ended in a draw as rain limited play to half-an-hour on Saturday.

SCOREBOARD

totesport National League

Division Two

Somerset Sabres v Yorkshire Phoenix

at Taunton

Yorkshire Phoenix Won Toss

Somerset Sabres Innings

Wood c Pyrah b Bresnan 129

Francis c Kruis b Blain 28

Suppiah st Dawood b Pyrah 45

Blackwell b Blain 114

Hildreth not out 14

Parsons not out 4

Extras b2 lb7 w2 11

Total 4 wkts (45 overs) 345

Fall: 1-51 2-156 3-292 4-339.

Did Not Bat: W J Durston, C M Gazzard, R L Johnson, C K Langeveldt, S R G Francis.

Bowling: Kruis 9-1-45-0 Bresnan 9-0-87-1 Blain 9-0-60-2 Dawson 9-0-55-0 McGrath 4-0-28-0 Pyrah 4-0-41-1 White 1-0-20-0 .

Yorkshire Phoenix Innings

Wood c Hildreth b S R G Francis 52

Jaques lbw b Blackwell 66

Lumb c Hildreth b Durston 19

McGrath b Blackwell 11

White c Blackwell b S R G Francis 38

Pyrah c Gazzard b Suppiah 6

Dawood c K A Parsons b Langeveldt 57

Dawson b Langeveldt 27

Bresnan c K A Parsons b Johnson 8

Blain not out 11

Kruis not out 27

Extras lb7 w10 nb4 21

Total 9 wkts (45 overs) 343

Fall: 1-121 2-141 3-157 4-176 5-184 6-231 7-286 8-298 9-304.

Bowling: Langeveldt 9-0-60-2 Johnson 9-0-65-1 K A Parsons 3-0-23-0 S R G Francis 7-0-65-2 Blackwell 9-0-65-2 Durston 2-0-21-1 Suppiah 6-0-37-1

Umpires: A A Jones and J W Lloyds.

Somerset Sabres (4pts) beat Yorkshire Phoenix (0pts) by 2 runs

Updated: 11:37 Monday, August 15, 2005