YORKSHIRE’S message in their bid to reach the Royal London One-day Cup final continues to be ‘Why not?’.

The Vikings have won five matches on the bounce, including Thursday’s come from behind victory over Essex at Chelmsford, to qualify for tomorrow’s semi-final against Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl, starting at 11am.

Rather than wallowing in the disappointment of losing a raft of internationals, they are using it as added motivation as they bid to reach a Lord’s final for the first time since 2002 when they beat Somerset to win the C&G Trophy.

That was Yorkshire’s last piece of limited overs silverware.

“Not many teams lose six players in a knockout, play away from home and get over the line,” said coach Andrew Gale, who will only have to deal with five absentees at Hampshire given Che Pujara is an almost certain starter following Test duty with India.

“A lot of squads wouldn’t stand up to that. But that just shows the work we put into our Academy, the hard work that goes in throughout the winter and the lads’ team spirit. They believe they can come in and perform under pressure, and that makes me really proud.

“We’re full of confidence and have nothing to fear going down to Hampshire.

“We’re massive underdogs. We know we’re up against it because they’re a good team on their home patch.

“But we said (at Essex) ‘We just want to be brave and see where it takes us’.

“We’re one game away from a Lord’s final. Why can’t we go down to the Rose Bowl and win – why not?”

Steve Patterson – who yesterday was appointed Yorkshire’s new full-time captain – and the man he has replaced, Gary Ballance, were their stars at Chelmsford. After Ballance’s 91 helped them recover from 45-4 to post 259-7, Patterson claimed 4-36 from 10 overs in defence and scooped the man-of-the-match award as a result.

“It was a fantastic win, one that will be remembered for a long time given the circumstances we were in, the number of players that were missing,” said Gale.

“Lads came in who haven’t been in squads throughout this tournament. Karl Carver came in for his first bowl in first-team cricket this year and performed exceptionally well. I’m over the moon for the lads.

“The way we won our last four (group) games, they were tight, close games. And that’s given us a lot of confidence. It brings a calmness. At 40-4, we just said ‘Let’s rebuild and see where it takes us’.

“Gary showed all his experience, and Jack Leaning (57) played exceptionally well. They set it up for Matt Fisher and Tim Bresnan to come in and push on at the end.

“We still thought we were 20 or 30 short. But we knew if we started well, hit back of a length, it was tough to score freely on that pitch.”

Hampshire head into the clash having won five of their eight group games to finish top of the South and secure direct passage through to the semi-finals.

But Yorkshire actually finished the North Group campaign with a better record.

Both teams won five, lost two and had a No Result, with third-placed Yorkshire’s net run-rate superior.

The hosts will have South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn available as their overseas for both this and Wednesday’s pink ball Specsavers County Championship clash between the two sides at the same venue.