Tim Bresnan became the latest in Yorkshire Phoenix's conveyor belt of young fast bowlers to make the headlines when he dismissed Leicestershire Foxes' destructive hitter Shahid Afridi with his first delivery with the new ball in front of a stunned Grace Road crowd yesterday.
But it was another Yorkshireman, Scott Boswell, from Fulford, who had the home fans cheering in the end as he and James Ormond seized the game from Yorkshire's grasp in a last wicket stand of 36 from 33 deliveries.
The match went right down to the wire with the Norwich Union League Division One leaders winning by one wicket under the Duckworth-Lewis system for calculating rain-hit matches with just one ball to spare.
Alfridi, who has blasted 21 sixes in his first six one-day innings for Leicestershire, found his match in 16-year-old Bresnan whom he drove low to mid-on where Matthew Wood took a fine sprawling catch.
Bresnan also snuffed out the dangerous Darren Stevens in a fine six-over spell as Leicestershire chased a revised target of 178 from 42 overs and Ryan Sidebottom caused further damage by grabbing two wickets in three balls, Richard Blakey first flinging himself to his right to catch Vince Wells and then far to his left to hold on to an edge from Iain Sutcliffe.
Darren Lehmann helped tighten Yorkshire's grip even further by taking two wickets and conceding only 18 runs in eight overs of mean left-arm spin and with Gary Fellows and Richard Dawson each getting in on the act the game seemed all over.
The last threat appeared to have been extinguished when Sidebottom speared one in to york Neil Burns to bring in last man Boswell who is known as a bit of a rabbit with the bat.
It was when the target had been brought down to 19 off two overs that Yorkshire started to feel uneasy and even more so when Boswell belted Sidebottom high over long on for six in a penultimate over which produced 11 runs.
England all-rounder Craig White had to bowl the final over with eight wanted and his first delivery to Boswell was edged to the third man boundary. Four consecutive singles followed, the last one cooking Yorkshire's goose as Ormond drove to Bresnan at mid-on and his desperate throw missed the stumps.
It was a stunning defeat for Yorkshire after three consecutive victories and it left them too near the relegation zone for comfort after they had appeared to be heading for the comfort of a mid-table place.
Winning the toss, Yorkshire lost White to a direct hit on the stumps by Stevens in the second over and it was while Matthew Wood and Anthony McGrath were staging a recovery with a second wicket stand of 53 that rain caused an interruption which brought the game down to 37 overs a side.
Wood, having made 28, became the first of four victims for captain Vince Wells in his benefit match, and Yorkshire struggled to a final 176 for eight in the face of some testing bowling, despite being given 21 runs in wides.
Yorkshire closed on 176 for eight and Leicestershire's revised target meant they had to score 178 which against all the odds they managed.
Updated: 09:23 Monday, August 20, 2001
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