A BEAMING Jonny Tattersall spoke of his delight after his unbeaten 52 helped Yorkshire secure knockout cricket in the Royal London one-day Cup by beating Northamptonshire at Emerald Headingley.

When Tattersall came to the crease, the final North Group game was in the balance with Yorkshire at 134-5 chasing 242.

But he shared 87 for the sixth wicket with club captain Gary Ballance, who also hit an excellent 66, to secure the two points that ensured they advanced beyond the group stages for the fifth year running.

Yorkshire now travel to Essex next Thursday for the right to reach the semi-finals, with the eliminator match televised by Sky from 2pm at Chelmsford.

The fledgling wicketkeeper batsman said: "To get a win and a quarter-final is great for the lads.

“It's great to contribute having played a bit of second-team cricket and then getting the chance to come in and keep when I've only been doing it a couple of months. I've really enjoyed it.

"That just tops it off for me, and hopefully there's more to come.

"We were always under control with the run-rate. It wasn't too out of control.

“Myself and Gary (Ballance) were keen to keep touching it around and getting the ones and twos. We knew that if we got the odd boundary away, the rate would come down.

"We weren't panicking, and we spoke in the dressing room afterwards. All the lads on the balcony were pretty comfortable as well.”

Tattersall continued: "Momentum has been good (over the last fortnight).

“Four wins out of four has been good. Hopefully we can take that into Essex and keep that winning streak going.”

The Harrogate-born 23-year-old also reserved high praise for Ballance, who calmly steered the ship to record his first fifty since returning to the game following personal problems.

“Gary showed his class and was talking me through it. It’s great to have that experience,” he said, before finishing by reflecting on next week’s clash with Essex, who finished second in the South.

“We’ll take whoever. It’s just another white ball coming down at you. We’ll do our prep beforehand, and I’m sure we will be full of confidence. We have nothing to lose now.”