Anthony McGrath stars in Yorkshire victory

Yorkshire 162 for 3 beat Nottinghamshire 158 for 7 by seven wickets
Scorecard

Yorkshire notched their third consecutive Friends Provident t20 victory by toppling North Group table-toppers Nottinghamshire by seven wickets in a fine all-round performance at Headingley.

Chasing a 159 target, Yorkshire got there at a canter with 10 balls to spare, Man of the Match Anthony McGrath (38) and Gerard Brophy (31) enjoying an unbroken stand of 61 together. McGrath had earlier picked up a wicket in four accurate overs and also held a catch.

Yorkshire showed they meant business from the start of their innings as skipper Andrew Gale slammed the first two deliveries from Darren Pattinson to the boundary and in the same over Adam Lyth cleared the rope over midwicket before striking a four.

After Gale had been bowled by Dirk Nannes at 23 in only the second over, Lyth and Herschelle Gibbs put Yorkshire in charge with a 53 stand before Gibbs drove Samit Patel gently to David Hussey at cover.

However, Lyth remained in control until he was out for 43 from 33 balls with three fours and a six - hitting spinner Graeme White's first ball to Alex Hales on the midwicket boundary. Yorkshire continued to play it cool, however, and Brophy boosted the scoring even further with three early boundaries in one over from Paul Franks.

Although Nottinghamshire lost a couple of early wickets after winning the toss, they were still able to make rapid progress through a third-wicket stand of 70 in eight overs between Hales and Patel before Yorkshire managed to apply the brake again as only 60 runs came off the last nine overs.

Steve Patterson continued his recent habit of taking a wicket with his first ball as Alistair Brown fell to a well-judged catch behind the bowler by McGrath in the second over and after Hales had hit a couple of sixes it became 32 for 2 when Matt Wood off-drove Patterson to Gale.

Both Patel and Hales benefited from dropped catches off hard hits before settling in together but the run spree was ended at 102 with the dismissal of Patel for 41 off 24 balls with five fours and a six, the batsman getting a thick edge off the accurate Richard Pyrah to McGrath.

An airborne catch by Lyth at long-off brought McGrath the valuable wicket of Hussey but an even more astounding effort by Richard Pyrah in the same fielding spot at the other end got rid of the dangerous Hales for 62 from 43 deliveries with four fours and three sixes, Pyrah leaping to take the catch one-handed in a successful bid to stay inside the rope.

With Yorkshire keeping it tight in the closing overs, particularly Pyrah who conceded only 17 runs, Nottinghamshire lost their momentum and they will have been disappointed with their final effort.