Adam Lyth lays waste to Leicestershire in Yorkshire's nine-wicket win

Yorkshire 295 for 1 (Lyth 132*, Pujara 75*, Kohler-Cadmore 74) beat Leicestershire 293 for 9 (Cosgrove 84, Dexter 50, Eckersley 50, Fisher 3-40) by nine wickets
Scorecard

A fine unbeaten century from Adam Lyth saw Yorkshire through to a supremely comfortable nine-wicket victory over Leicestershire at the Fischer County Ground.

The left-handed opener played with real fluency and timing, albeit against some distinctly average seam bowling, first in compiling first a partnership of 153 with fellow opener Tom Kohler-Cadmore (74 from 71 balls) and then of 112 with Cheteshwar Pujara (75 not out from 81 balls).

With the match being played on a pitch which had yielded over 700 runs in Leicestershire's previous RL50 match, against Nottinghamshire, the Foxes were well aware they needed a good start: they got the opposite, losing their first three wickets for only 39 runs.

First to go was Cameron Delport. Back from IPL duty, the South African cracked two boundaries off Ben Coad, but in the second over Matthew Fisher swung a ball back in to the left-hander to have him leg-before. Colin Ackermann gave Coad the charge but could only give the bowler a straightforward return catch, and captain Paul Horton then off-drove a delivery from Fisher waist-high to Steve Patterson at mid-off.

Mark Cosgrove and Ned Eckersley repaired the innings with a stand of 128 for the fourth wicket, compiled in 20.1 overs, but having reached his 50 off 61 balls, Eckersley's attempted on-drive failed to clear mid-on, and Pujara took a simple catch.

Leicestershire badly needed Cosgrove to go on to three figures, but the Australian's attempt to loft Adil Rashid for a straight six was well held by Kohler-Cadmore above his head on the boundary at long-on, and soon afterwards the same combination accounted for Tom Wells, this time at long-off. Neil Dexter and Callum Parkinson compiled a partnership of 41 for the eighth wicket, but though Dexter reached his half-century off the final ball, a total of under 300 never looked likely to be enough.

So it proved. Neither Lyth nor Kohler-Cadmore needed to take risks in scoring at six runs an over, thanks in part to a series of half-volleys bowled by Richard Jones, making his first appearance of the season for the Foxes after returning from injury.

Carelessness saw the end of Kohler-Cadmore, the right-hander pulling a long-hop from Delport to Horton at midwicket, but Lyth went to his century off just 96 balls, hitting thirteen fours and a six before finishing on 132 not out, just four short of his List A career best. Pujara too played with freedom and, towards the end, creativity, twice ramping countryman Aaron Varun for four to third man as the end came quickly.