Weekend woe for Yorkshire in County Championship and CB40 (From York Press)

Weekend woe for Yorkshire in County Championship and CB40

9:46pm Sunday 19th August 2012 in Yorkshire County Cricket Club By Chris Parrott

Yorkshire’s promotion aspirations in the LV= County Championship suffered a big setback after they failed to beat Derbyshire.

The game ended in a draw at Headingley on Saturday.

It means that for the first time this season the Tykes’ hopes of a top-two finish in division two are no longer in their own hands.

With only three matches to go, the county have slipped to third in the table after Hampshire beat Northamptonshire.

Yorkshire are now 13 points adrift of the south coast side, with the county 21 points behind Derbyshire, who have also played a game less.

“We have a lot of work to do now to finish top of the pile,” admitted captain Andrew Gale after Saturday’s conclusion in Leeds.

“I’ll take promotion whether it’s first or second though. We have three games left and if we can win two out of three then we’ll be in a good place.”

Despite forcing Derbyshire to follow on, an unbeaten century from Usman Khawaja was the main reason the Tykes were denied what could have been a vital victory.

His innings of 110 not out saw the Falcons reach 190-5 in their second innings, before the teams shook hands at around 5.30pm with no prospect of the game finishing in a positive result.

It was a valiant effort from Yorkshire to try to force a win in another rain-hit game, after they had bowled Derbyshire out for 268 first time around in the first hour of the day.

Gale added: “Khawaja played well and dug in. Sometimes you have to hold your hands up and praise the guy who plays well.

“The most frustrating thing is we’ve lost 104 overs to the weather and it’s difficult to win at Headingley without four days of good weather.”

Yorkshire’s next fixture in the Championship is against Gloucestershire at Scarborough next week.

They then face Glamorgan at Headingley, before ending the campaign with a tough trip to Essex.

Meanwhile, Yorkshire’s chances of winning the Clydesdale Bank 40 are over.

The Tykes can no longer make the semi-finals of the competition after being dramatically beaten by Sussex on Sunday.

In a match which was shortened to 28 overs a side by the weather, Yorkshire lost by three wickets in a final ball finish.

Amjad Khan was the hero for the visitors, hitting 15 of the 16 runs that Sussex needed off Azeem Rafiq’s final over of the match.

The defeat leaves Yorkshire fifth in group ‘C’ – meaning there is no chance they can either catch Sussex at the top of the section or finish as the best runner-up.

This result also gives the Sharks the psychological edge ahead of the rivals’ clash at Twenty20 finals day in Cardiff on Saturday.

There was little evidence that there would be so much late drama at the half-way stage of the match, with Yorkshire in control as they posted 200-8 from their allotted overs.

Captain Andrew Gale top-scored with 43, with Joe Root making 41.

However, Chris Nash and Ed Joyce then got the Sussex chase off to a good start with half-centuries, before Khan finished the job to reach a target of 207 thanks to Duckworth-Lewis.

Needing 27 off the last two overs, he helped the Sharks hit Tim Bresnan for 11 runs off the penultimate six deliveries.

A six and a four off the first two balls of the last over then helped see his side home.

The win for Sussex means they are now in pole position in the section.