Yorkshire Phoenix had victory snatched from their grasp by a brutal innings of 91 from former England all-rounder Mark Ealham as Nottinghamshire Outlaws raced to their 208 target with one ball to spare at Trent Bridge last night.

Samit Patel's winning boundary saw them finish on 210-7, which was the biggest successful run chase in Twenty-20 Cup cricket.

Yorkshire looked nailed on to clinch their second consecutive victory in the competition when Notts slumped to 56-4 in nine overs after Matthew Wood had carried his bat to make a sparkling 96 for the Tykes.

But Ealham suddenly launched a ferocious assault which lasted for just 35 balls and brought him nine towering sixes and five fours.

Ealham warmed up with a couple of sixes off Chris Silverwood before giving Anthony McGrath a rude welcome back from England's ranks by lashing him for two consecutive legside sixes.

Another Ealham six, this time off Tim Bresnan, was brilliantly caught by a boy on the other side of the boundary fence.

Worse was to follow for McGrath who Ealham then smashed for three sixes in a row on his way to a half-century off 23 balls with five sixes and three fours but there was some consolation in the same over when Chris Read was caught by Michael Lumb at cover to end an 87 stand in six overs.

Vic Craven entered the attack to be flogged for two sixes by Ealham in a solitary over which cost him 23 runs and it was the 19th over before Ealham swung once too often and was calmly caught by Bresnan at deep backward square leg as three fielders converged on the ball.

Notts were 187 for seven but Richard Logan kept the momentum going for them with two boundaries off Dawson before surviving a sharp low catch to Steve Kirby at backward square leg.

McGrath was recalled for the final over with ten wanted and Patel hit his first and fifth balls for boundaries to end an astonishing match.

Put in to bat, Yorkshire charged to 207 for seven, the third biggest score ever recorded, and they had to thank Wood for getting there.

Wood never gave a chance while plundering four sixes and eight fours off the 62 balls he received to make Yorkshire's highest individual score. Having slammed the penultimate ball of the innings for six off former colleague, Ryan Sidebottom, he needed another one to complete what would have been a rousing century but he could only manage a two.

The game contained 17 sixes and 39 fours and was the biggest aggregate of runs ever made.

Updated: 09:28 Thursday, July 08, 2004