A swashbuckling 76 from Andrew Gale wasn’t enough for victory at Trent Bridge tonight as Samit Patel and Ryan Sidebottom squeezed the life out of Yorkshire’s reply late on to throw the Twenty20 Cup North Division wide open.

Gale showed his intent from ball one when he flicked Sidebottom to the fine-leg fence as he exploded to his half-century from just 35 balls with the Tykes chasing 166 to win.

Rana Naved opened opposite him and launched Andre Adams for a six straight down the ground at the start of a second over that would go for 19 as Yorkshire flew out of the blocks after a brief rain break between the innings.

The visitors were favourites at 42 for nought after four overs but Rana went to the first ball of the fifth from Mark Ealham when he clubbed the medium pacer to Will Jefferson at cover for nine.

Michael Vaughan was out lbw trying a reverse sweep for ten and Jacques Rudolph was run out for just two to firmly put the brakes on the Tykes but Gerard Brophy’s 26 from 22 balls kept it interesting.

Yorkshire needed 68 from the final eight overs but if they were still in the driving seat then, it was undoubtedly advantage Nottinghamshire when a Gale skier was held comfortably by the back-peddling Kevin O’Brien at midwicket.

Samit Patel restricted the Tykes to just two runs in the 15th over and Sidebottom exploited growing anxiety soon after when he bowled Brophy and Ajmal Shahzad in consecutive deliveries.

Yorkshire were left needing 24 from the final over and fell 11 runs short despite back-to-back Adil Rashid boundaries.

Earlier, Deon Kruis got the Tykes off to the perfect start when he bowled Chris Read for a second-ball duck with a fast, straight yorker that left Nottinghamshire nought for one in the first over.

Matthew Wood exploded into action with four boundaries in his first ten balls and found Ali Brown eager to help hit the hosts back into the ascendancy when he racked up 14 runs from three balls in the third over.

Hours after he was named in England’s provisional Ashes squad, Adil Rashid was brought into the attack to stem the flow but went for 29 in two overs without taking a wicket.

Brown made 66 and Wood 45 in a stand of 109 that helped Nottinghamshire to their winning total of 165.