Yorkshire suffered a damaging defeat to Derbyshire Falcons in the Friends Life t20.

In a thrilling encounter at Headingley last night, the Tykes ended up being beaten by only 12 runs.

A victory would have taken them third in the North Division table and the fact they are not celebrating a fourth win in five games in the tournament is down to a poor batting display.

Set only 153 to win, it eventually came down to the final over in front of a disappointing crowd of 3,812.

However, 26 runs were needed from it and despite impressive innings from both Gary Ballance and Joe Root the Tykes were unable to force a dramatic win.

“I thought 150 was a gettable target,” admitted Tykes captain Andrew Gale. “Par score at Headingley is normally about 160 or 170, so it is disappointing to have lost the match.”

His frustration was understandable as Yorkshire looked in control of the game at the half-way stage.

Although the visitors added 42 runs from their final three overs to close on 152-4, a disciplined display in the field had looked like laying the foundations of an attainable run-chase.

Things went wrong from the first over though, when Gale was stumped off a wide for only two.

The Tykes skipper has been the county’s stand-out performer with the bat recently, and his departure seemed to unsettle Yorkshire in the face of some accurate bowling.

Adam Lyth soon cut straight to cover for 17, before Anthony McGrath was run-out for only six to leave the white rose on 38-3.

Jonny Bairstow soon came and went for 16, after being caught at mid-off by Wayne Durston off Chesney Hughes, before Ballance and Root began rebuilding.

Together, they moved the score on to 114-3 with 18 balls left, until a terrific 17th over from Steffan Jones swung the game Derbyshire’s way.

His heroics left Yorkshire needing 35 off the last two overs, before Ballance was eventually out for 46 to all but end the game as a contest.

By the time he had gone the Tykes needed 18 off the final two balls, while Root was unbeaten on 46 when Yorkshire closed on 140-5.

“Gary and Joe played well,” added Gale. “They got the momentum back, but maybe did not put their foot on the gas early enough.”

“To end up losing when we still had six wickets remaining is disappointing.”

It was certainly a fine display with the ball from the Falcons though, while Madsen had earlier been the star with the bat.

He closed on 61 not out, with Hughes making 32 and Garry Park hitting a quick-fire 31.

Their efforts helped Derbyshire rescue themselves from 54-2 after ten overs to eventually post 152-4 at the change of innings.

Yorkshire will now hope for a better outcome in their next fixture against Warwickshire tomorrow.