Yorkshire left bottom after latest defeat

Yorkshire were sent spinning to a 25-run Friends Life t20 defeat by Nottinghamshire in front of a 7,100 crowd at Headingley. The result pushed Nottinghamshire to the top of the North Group with 10 points but it left Yorkshire next to the bottom with just five points and virtually without hope of qualifying for the quarter-finals.

Chasing a target of 156, Yorkshire looked to be in with a good chance as Joe Sayers and Dan Hodgson put on 67 in 10 overs for the second wicket, but left-arm spinners Samit Patel and Graeme White soon broke through with some fine bowling to knock the stuffing out of the home side.

Patel finished with 2 for 19 from his four overs while White also claimed two crucial wickets at a cost of only 18 runs as Yorkshire limped from 75 for 1 to 130 for 6.

With skipper Andrew Gale rested as a precaution having returned to Championship cricket last week following time out with a broken hand, Adam Lyth was recalled to open the innings with Sayers. But off the final ball of the first over from left-arm paceman Harry Gurney, Lyth gave a gentle catch to Patel at cover to bring in Hodgson, who has been in good form in the competition.

Sayers hit former team-mate Ajmal Shahzad hard through extra cover for four and the same bowler suffered again as Hodgson struck consecutive balls for cover boundaries. There were further boundaries for Sayers off Gurney and Ian Butler to propel Yorkshire to 49 for 1 at the end of the six overs of Powerplay and at that stage they were well on course to win.

But momentum quickly shifted Nottinghamshire's way when Sayers drove Patel straight into the hands of Steven Mullaney at long on to depart for 38 from 30 balls with five fours. It became 90 for 3 as Hodgson, on 32 with four boundaries, was lured from his crease by White and Chris Read whipped off the bails.

Yorkshire became increasingly desperate and Andy Hodd fell lbw to White before danger man Gary Ballance was brilliantly caught by White on the midwicket boundary off Patel to make a Nottinghamshire triumph inevitable.

Put in to bat on a cloudy afternoon, Nottinghamshire lost Michael Lumb in Ryan Sidebottom's first over and Alex Hales had his off-stump sent spinning by Liam Plunkett with the score on 33 in the fifth over. Yorkshire perked up even further when James Taylor hit Plunkett straight to Adil Rashid at midwicket but Patel batted fluently for his 46 from 37 balls with four fours and two sixes.

But it was David Hussey who took the visitors to a respectable score with a solid unbeaten 52 from 48 deliveries - including four fours and a six - while Butler did late damage with 18 from nine deliveries, hitting a four and taking sixes off both Sidebottom and acting captain Azeem Rafiq.

Apart from two expensive overs from Jack Brooks, Yorkshire bowled tidily and it was their batsmen who proved they were not up to the task.