Yorkshire Phoenix overcame grim conditions and a spiced up pitch to beat Derbyshire Scorpions by one wicket off the last ball of the game in their opening Twenty20 Cup match at Derby last night.

Chasing a revised target of 108 in 15 overs under the Duckworth-Lewis system after a break for rain, Matthew Hoggard faced up to the final delivery from Australian Jon Moss with the scores level.

Hoggard drove straight to Hassan Adnan at mid-off and charged down the pitch, the fielder's throw narrowly missing the stumps from only a few yards away.

Six fiercely struck boundaries by Matthew Wood got Yorkshire's innings off to a rousing start after Derbyshire had made 133-8 in their 20 overs after winning the toss.

But at 28 in the fourth over, Andrew Gale carved Mohammad Ali straight Adnan at third man and in the next over Wood was pinned lbw by Moss.

Michael Lumb fell in identical manner to Gale to leave Yorkshire on 39 for three when thick drizzle turned into heavy rain and drove the players off the field.

Had the game ended at that stage the result would have been a tie, but it resumed 20 minutes later with the pitch considerably freshened.

Phil Jaques went steadily about his work for a while but wickets toppled at the other end.

Chris Silverwood hit three consecutive boundaries, whittling it down to 11 from the final over. He was run out going for a second off the first ball and the next was clouted high over long on for six by Jaques.

There was no run off the third delivery and Richard Dawson was run out of the fourth, last man Hoggard coming in to take strike for the last two balls.

He scampered two byes off the first as wicketkeeper Luke Sutton missed with his throw at the stumps and he leapt into the air in joy when he raced the winning run.

Updated: 10:09 Saturday, July 03, 2004