YORKSHIRE coach Jason Gillespie blamed a “lack of energy” in the field after they slumped to defeat by 15 runs in the Royal London One Day Cup against Durham at Chester-le-Street.

Victory would have secured their second quarter-final berth in three days but now Yorkshire must beat Warwickshire at Headingley today to guarantee their qualification and remain on course for a possible treble.

Their win at Northampton on Friday booked a NatWest Blast T20 quarter-final trip to Cardiff, while they remain in the hunt for a third successive county championship title and lie 25 points adrift of leaders Middlesex with a game in hand.

Given their superior run-rate on their rivals, Yorkshire may qualify for the next stage of the Royal London One Day Cup even without victory, but for now they are intent on improving on their performance at Durham.

Having won the toss and decided to bat first, Durham’s slow start appeared to have counted against them, but adding 97 in the last 10 overs and 50 in the final four powered them to a commanding 281-7.

By contrast, Yorkshire were on course for victory, reaching the last ten overs needing 82 on 200-5, but were restricted to only 66 runs and scored only two boundaries during that period.

“We pride ourselves on being quite aggressive in the field and we probably weren’t that aggressive,” said Gillespie.

“We needed a little more energy in the field. I’m not saying we had a terrible game as a fielding side, but we certainly could have been a bit better.”

Durham’s match-winning total was set up by leg-spinning all-rounder Scott Borthwick, who hit a determined 84 off 102 balls, including nine fours, after being dropped on 28 by Jack Leaning.

When he fell in the 41st over, drilling left-arm spinner Karl Carver to mid on, the momentum appeared to be with Yorkshire but instead Ryan Pringle hit 27 off 20 balls and then Stuart Poynter struck an unbeaten 27 off 13 balls.

It had been in stark contrast to the start to their innings when impressive new ball bursts from Tim Bresnan and David Willey restricted Durham to 14 off their first six overs and they did not record a boundary until the seventh over.

Yorkshire, seeking their sixth successive victory in 50-overs cricket, started very differently with Willey and Adam Lyth quickly finding boundaries and playing with great confidence.

The partnership was broken by Chris Rushworth, but created by the extra pace of Mark Wood – making only his second Durham one-day appearance since two operations on his ankle – who shook up Willey with a 91mph bouncer that disturbed his helmet.

Next over, Willey edged behind and was quickly followed by Alex Lees playing on to Wood while Travis Head fell one short of his half century after offering a return catch to Borthwick.

It was left to former England all-rounder Bresnan to take Yorkshire as close as they did. Arriving at the crease on 111-4, he hit 92 off 97 balls, including five fours and three sixes.

It followed his match-winning 95 not out – a career best List A score – to help beat Nottinghamshire at Scarborough last week in the same competition.

Where Bresnan – and Yorkshire – struggled was finding boundaries as the innings drew to its climax. He hit two in the 36th over but was unable to do so again until the 48th, after which he holed out into the deep with the game almost lost.