Gale and Gough gain revenge for Yorkshire

10:44pm Monday 5th May 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

Another superb knock from Andrew Gale steered Yorkshire to a five-wicket victory over Durham at Headingley and revenge for their opening-day defeat in the Friends Provident Trophy.

The former Cleckheaton player plundered 68 runs from 60 balls as Yorkshire recovered from a slight wobble to romp home with just under 15 overs to spare and take a big step towards the semi-finals.

Gale said: "I've tried to play aggressively throughout the campaign. I just wanted to go out and give the team a good start. I'm happy to be out there getting stuck in."

Darren Gough announced his return to full fitness with three big wickets and Gale is delighted to have his skipper back.

"He really came to the show," he said. "We needed him out there and he's put in a really good performance."

Earlier, Carnegie won the toss and threw the Dynamos in to bat on an overcast morning.

The home side were excellent in the field in restricting the current champions to 185 by bowling them out with five overs left.

Tim Bresnan repeated the trick of removing Michael Di Venuto before he could reach double figures. After bowling him for two last month, he trapped him lbw this time, the Australian making just eight.

South African Neil Mckenzie did the lion's share of the damage when Yorkshire lost in the North-East but Carnegie had learned from that and when he was caught well by Jacques Rudolph in the slips for one, a low score looked on the cards.

Only Kyle Coetzer showed any real resistance with 61 before he was bowled by Richard Pyrah, the visitors collapsing from a relatively strong position at 134 for four.

Gale was the hero in reply, although Anthony McGrath deserved huge credit for his unbeaten 45 that dragged the game away from the Dynamos after a mini-collapse saw the home side slip from 152 for three to 152 for five, Steve Harmison taking two wickets in two balls.

Once again, Michael Vaughan failed to convince with the bat, making just 22 in his last innings before England face New Zealand in the first Test at Lord's a week on Thursday.

In the end, it was left to McGrath and Bresnan to bring home the win that sees Carnegie move to within one point of top spot in the division.

They sit just below both Lancashire and Derbyshire but with a crucial game in hand over both.

Lancashire top the table but they slumped to an embarrassing two-run defeat to Scotland today.

They appeared set for a comfortable victory after restricting their visitors to 155 for nine, Andrew Flintoff taking two for 18.

But the home side crashed to 44 for seven and only came close to a dramatic victory thanks to Kyle Hogg's heroic 66 not out as they finished on 153 for nine, Flintoff making just eight.