RECORD-BREAKING York youngster Matthew Fisher won praise from Yorkshire coach Jason Gillespie after a memorable debut in county colours.

Gillespie hailed the efforts of a side containing four teenagers after they slipped to a narrow three-wicket Yorkshire Bank 40 defeat to Leicestershire Foxes.

Having lost four of their first five matches to ensure they could not qualify for the semi-finals, Yorkshire took the opportunity to given 15-year-old seamer Fisher his debut alongside 17-year-old all-rounder Ryan Gibson, while 19-year-olds Ben Coad and Will Rhodes were given further chances to impress.

They could not prevent Leicestershire overhauling their total of 258-5 with five balls remaining, but Gillespie admitted that, for once, the result was not as important as the performance – particularly when Fisher was making history as the youngest post-war player to figure in a competitive county match.

“I’m just incredibly proud of all the lads, especially the young lads who came in,” admitted Gillespie. “Having to step up and perform under pressure, I thought they were fantastic and they were an absolute credit to themselves and a credit to Yorkshire.

“I couldn’t be happier with how they performed and I know we went down and that’s disappointing, but the experience they will take out of this first day of first-team cricket is great for the future.”

Fisher, who had to postpone his French oral GCSE exam, scheduled for today, to play, could not have been more delighted with the experience and was watched in the crowd by mum Sue, older brothers Mark and Adam, and a contingent from his club, Sheriff Hutton Bridge.

“I was supposed to do an exam but thankfully I contacted my teacher and he told me I could reschedule it for another day. I was gutted about that as you can imagine,” said Fisher. “I’m not sure when the exam will be yet, but hopefully I will have some time to prepare.”

Yorkshire’s total was built around Joe Sayers’ 58 – in his first limited-overs match for Yorkshire since the start of last summer – and an aggressive 53 from only 23 balls, including five fours and four sixes, from Liam Plunkett which helped the Vikings add 61 in the final five overs.

Leicestershire made steady progress in reply and the inexperience of Yorkshire’s attack told at times, but when Fisher lifted the crowd by claiming his first senior wicket, trapping Shiv Thackor lbw, it appeared Yorkshire’s young side may claim an astonishing victory after plunging the Foxes to 189-7 with 8.3 overs remaining.

They were unable to complete the victory with Rob Taylor hitting an unbeaten 48 off 36 balls and dominating a 71-run stand in eight overs that kept Leicestershire on course for the semi-finals, but the future is bright for Yorkshire with Fisher finishing with 1-40, while Gibson claimed 1-24, Rhodes grabbed 2-26 and Coad bowled impressively with the new ball before conceding runs later in the innings.

Fisher’s day to remember followed another 24 hours earlier when captain Andrew Gale delivered one of the great Yorkshire batting performances in scoring 272 during the drawn County Championship match against Nottinghamshire.

Gale’s innings was the third highest by a Yorkshire player since the war, the highest by a Yorkshire player at Scarborough and the highest score in a county match by any player at the ground.