McGrath and Hamilton lead Yorkshire to victory

Anthony McGrath and Gavin Hamilton dashed Somerset's hopes of taking over as National League leaders by inspiring a 32-run Yorkshire victory at Taunton. The pair shared an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 124 after acting-captain Darren Lehmann had won the toss and opted to take first use of an excellent batting pitch.

At 125-3 after 27 overs, with danger-man Lehmann dismissed for 38, Yorkshire might have settled for a final score of around 220.

That would have been par for the course. But McGrath and Hamilton built their partnership steadily before unleashing a savage final onslaught that brought 54 runs from the last five overs.

The Yorkshire total was suddenly 249-3 and Somerset faced a victory target that was beyond even their long batting line-up. They managed only 217 all out off 43.3 overs in reply.

The bowler to suffer most at the hands of McGrath and Hamilton was former Yorkshire seamer Paul Jarvis, asked to use his experience at the death by skipper Jamie Cox.

His last over, the penultimate of the innings, went for 19 as McGrath smashed 2 fours and a straight six to leave Jarvis with the miserable figures of 1-67 from nine overs.

Somerset did not help themselves with a sloppy fielding display that handed the visitors 15 or 20 extra runs.

But most of the credit should go to McGrath, who is looking to make up for lost time after missing the first half of the season with knee trouble.

His 83 not out, off 77 balls, was his best ever score in the competition, as was Hamilton's unbeaten 43, which gave such valuable support.

Lehmann, Vic Craven (24) and Simon Widdup (38) all made contributions as Somerset's bowling wilted after a luckless start in which Steffan Jones, in particular, beat the bat on numerous occasions.

The home side were in with a chance at 91-1 in reply off 20 overs as Rob Turner took advantage of promotion to opener with a powerful 44, including 7 fours. But the wicketkeeper undid all his good work with a dreadful reverse sweep off Ian Fisher that sent the ball straight into the hands of Gary Fellows at backward point.

Cox, who relegated himself to number three, had perished two overs earlier and the double blow proved too much.

In-form Peter Bowler hit a rapid 40 off 42 balls, but Ian Blackwell, Keith Parsons and Mike Burns all perished as a result of the required run-rate, attempting big shots.

Spinners Fisher and James Middlebrook did an excellent job in mid-innings before Matthew Hoggard and Hamilton polished off the tail for figures of 3-32 and 2-35 respectively.

Yorkshire held their catches and fielded competently, which was all that was necessary to defend such a formidable score.

For the Tykes the four points meant keeping clear of the First Division relegation zone, while Somerset now visit arch-rivals Gloucestershire for a floodlit match on Wednesday when both teams will be vying to overtake leaders Worcestershire.