Gary Ballance top-scored with 91 as Yorkshire posted 269-7 in today’s Royal London one-day Cup semi-final eliminator against Essex at Chelmsford.

There is a bit of uneven bounce in a pitch which is largely good for batting - if a little slow, so the Vikings have it all to do.

But they had slipped to 45-4 following Steve Patterson’s decision to bat first upon winning the toss, with Tim Bresnan and Matthew Fisher also contributing to a superb recovery with 41 and 35 not out.

Tom Kohler-Cadmore fell for a golden duck two balls into the match, while Jonny Tattersall later failed to score as well.

Adam Lyth and Harry Brook fell cheaply before Ballance and Jack Leaning, who made 57, recovered the innings with a fifth-wicket partnership of 129.

Unfortunately, Ballance, who hit two sixes in a Ravi Bopara over, was caught behind trying to cut Neil Wagner as the score fell to 174-5 in the 39th over.

Leaning was lbw to Simon Harmer’s off-spin shortly afterwards before Bresnan and Fisher shared 71 in the last 8.1 overs of the innings. Jamie Porter finished with 3-25 from nine overs for Essex.