YORKSHIRE captain Gary Ballance refused to blame a long journey back from Somerset for his side's defeat to Surrey in the Royal London Cup elimination play-off.

Kumar Sangakkara inspired Surrey to a 24-run victory at Headingley with an imperious century which booked a tie against Worcestershire at New Road on Saturday as they bid to reach a third straight final.

Yorkshire had returned from Taunton the previous day following a nail-biting County Championship victory which left them second in the Division One table.

Yet Ballance pointed out: "Surrey had a game down near London, so they also had to travel. There's no excuses there. We were definitely very up for the game. We just weren't quite good enough."

The Yorkshire skipper did accept that the schedule his players – as well as Surrey's – faced was ridiculous but could not hide his disappointment at failing to progress in the 50-over competition.

"I've not even thought about last night (beating Somerset by three runs), which shows how crazy this schedule is," said Ballance.

"You win a game, a four-day game, and then you have to travel five hours on a bus and play a knockout game the next day. It's mad for both teams.

"I'm not making excuses and we're not even thinking about Somerset now. We're disappointed about losing here."

Sri Lanka legend Sangakkara's run-a-ball 121 represented his 100th hundred in all cricket and ultimately proved the difference between the sides.

Ballance said: "Sangakkara played a brilliant innings for them. It was a match-winning knock. We just needed someone to do that for us.

"We knew how good a player he is and we tried everything at him. He played very well. Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up.

"When you are chasing a score, one of the top five has got to get a score. We didn't quite do that.

"It's a knockout game and everyone's up for it but to lose out in such a big game, to Surrey again, we just got outplayed."

Sangakkara underpinned Surrey's competitive 313-7, which also included 86 for Ben Foakes. The pair shared a fourth-wicket stand of 180 inside 29 overs to recover the score from 70-3.

Adam Lyth top-scored in Yorkshire's reply with 75 off 83 balls but the Vikings fell away from a healthy 126-1 in the 25th over. They finished on 289-9 as former West Indies seamer Ravi Rampaul claimed three wickets.

Yorkshire's spin duo of Azeem Rafiq and Karl Carver impressed with 3-51 and 1-52 from their ten-over spells.

Surrey lost four wickets inside the last eight overs of their innings to give Yorkshire some momentum as they did not quite make the most of the death overs, having been 250-3 in the 43rd over.

Lyth and Jack Leaning, who made 42, shared 95 for the second wicket but Rampaul struck twice in as many overs to remove the pair and leave the score at 131-3 in the 27th.

Ballance and Peter Handscomb shared 64 inside 11 overs to keep Yorkshire firmly in the hunt but the captain's departure, caught at mid-wicket off a Tom Curran full toss, to leave the score 195-4 in the 38th over was a key blow.

Handscomb and Tim Bresnan were together at the start of the final ten overs with 110 still needed.

The Australian reached 50 off 46 balls in the 43rd over with a six over mid-wicket off Rampaul, who claimed his third wicket in the same over when Bresnan was caught behind to make it 236-5.

But when Jade Dernbach had Handscomb caught at wide long-on for 60, making it 245-6 in the 45th with 69 more needed, Yorkshire were left with a mountain to climb.

Rafiq and Matthew Fisher were run out as the target became 29 off the last, with Matthew Waite falling in the last over for 34.