INTERMITTENT rain and a porridge-like outfield meant Durham Dynamos weren’t the only adversary Yorkshire had to deal with at Headingley.

But after nearly throwing the game away in a short run chase, the Tykes crawled over the line to keep their Friends Provident Trophy hopes alive with a two- wicket win.

Richard Pyrah was the standout player for the hosts. He took three wickets from his seven over spell at a cost of just 23 runs and then starred with the bat as Yorkshire squeezed home from a very precarious position.

It had all started so well. Only Gordon Muchall resisted for Durham after they won the toss and batted, his 31 was vital as his side were bowled out with two overs to spare for just 166.

The key was the speed in which the ever dangerous duo of Ian Blackwell and Dale Benkenstein were dismissed, the latter lasting only four balls before edging low to Jacques Rudolph at first slip.

Yorkshire fell short of a similarly small total against Surrey at Headingley earlier this month, so the pressure was on to avoid a repeat performance.

The early signs were not good. Rudolph was dismissed with the very first ball of the Tykes reply, playing at a wide and edging behind to Phil Mustard.

Having lost their run machine with the score on nought, fellow opener Joe Sayers stood up to be counted and his half century looked set to steer Yorkshire towards victory.

Frequent rain breaks allowed Duckworth-Lewis to creep into the equation and that seemed to unnerve Yorkshire, with Adil Rashid in particular guilty of throwing away his wicket when advancing and missing to get himself needlessly stumped.

The innings was imploding and when Simon Guy was removed first ball, bowled thanks to a deflection off his elbow. Durham were suddenly favourites with the Carnegie eight down and still well short of victory.

It was then Pyrah turned on the style with 42 from 49 balls as the Dynamos smelt blood, but were frustrated by fierce defiance.

It was appropriate Pyrah finished the job himself. Needing six from the final over, he made sure the game was finished inside two balls with a club to deep extra cover for two preceding a match winning cut for four through deep square.