YORKSHIRE’S hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Friends Provident Trophy were extinguished by Sussex yesterday, although Michael Vaughan recorded his second half-century of the Group C campaign.

Yorkshire, needing to win their two remaining games to qualify for a quarter final spot, were beaten by 60 runs as they were bowled out for 209 with 15 balls to spare in their pursuit of 270.

Vaughan hit 66 off 85 balls, sharing in a third wicket stand of 102 with captain Anthony McGrath, who recorded 53 off 77 balls.

With the Tykes at 124-2 at the end of the 30th over, they needed 146 off 20 with eight wickets left.

A run-rate north of seven was tough, and within eight overs they collapsed to 149-6.

McGrath, Vaughan, Adam Lyth and Rana Naved-ul- Hasan were all soon back in the pavilion.

Pakistan bowler Yasir Arafat had whipped out Joe Sayers and Jacques Rudolph to leave the visitors 22-2 in the seventh over, but Vaughan and McGrath recorded their milestones off 67 and 72 balls.

Nash later claimed two more wickets to finish with a career best 4-40 from 9.3 overs.

“It’s fair to say that our batting has been disappointing throughout the tournament - and after winning our first two games, going out in this manner is very disappointing,”

said captain McGrath.

“Having said that we have bowled well throughout, but I don’t think that we bowled as well as we could have done here.”

Sussex won the toss at Hove and elected to bat, and it was soon evident that anything above 250 would provide a testing chase on a slowish track.

Yardy, who finished with bowling figures of 1-40 from ten overs, hit 68 off 82 balls to help his side to a daunting 269- 7. Opener Ed Joyce, like Yardy a former England one-day international, recorded 47.

Rich Pyrah continued his fine form with the ball by taking three wickets, but conceded 65 runs off his ten.

“At half-time we were pretty content,’’ admitted Mc- Grath. “We thought that we could chase it down. We got a decent partnership between Michael and myself, but lost four quick wickets. You just can’t do that at this level.”

Vaughan’s return to bolster the batting after a hamstring twinge came at the expense of leg-spinner Adil Rashid. Having seen seven wickets fall to spin, and four of them to a part-timer, it may be a decision Martyn Moxon and Mc- Grath now regret.

Sussex have qualified for the knockout stages, rendering Yorkshire’s match against Surrey at the Oval tomorrow a dead rubber.

Scoreboard

Sussex v Yorkshire At Hove

Sussex

E C Joyce c Wainwright b Pyrah ...........47

J S Gatting lbw b Kruis ................11

C D Nash b Wainwright ........................29

M W Goodwin b Pyrah .................29

M H Yardy b Pyrah .........................68

R J Hamilton-Brown c Rudolph b Wainwright .....17

Yasir Arafat c Wainwright b Patterson ....17

R S Martin-Jenkins not out ...................19

B C Brown not out ..........................18

Extras (b1 lb2 w7 nb4 pens 0) ....14

Total 7 wkts (50 overs)...........269

Fall: 1-45 2-90 3-101 4-161 5-186 6-210 7- 240

Bowling: Kruis 8-0-32-1. Naved-ul-Hasan 10- 0-56-0. Pyrah 10-0-65-3. Patterson 9-0-50-1.

Wainwright 10-0-47-2. Vaughan 3-0-16-0.

Yorkshire

J A Rudolph b Yasir Arafat ....................12

J J Sayers b Yasir Arafat ................... 4

M P Vaughan c Goodwin b Nash ..........66

A McGrath c B C Brown b Yardy ...........53

A Lyth c B C Brown b Nash ................... 1

G L Brophy c Gatting b Kirtley ...............22

Naved ul-Hasan lbw b Martin-Jenkins ... 1

R M Pyrah lbw b Nash ...........................16

D J Wainwright b Nash .........................15

G J Kruis b Yasir Arafat ............ 1

S A Patterson not out .....................14

Extras (lb2 w2 pens 0)................. 4

Total (47.3 overs) ........................ 209

Fall: 1-7 2-22 3-124 4-127 5-142 6-149 7-168 8-184 9-187

Bowling: Yasir Arafat 10-2-44-3. Kirtley 8-0- 40-1. Martin-Jenkins 5-0-20-1. Beer 5-0-23- 0. Yardy 10-0-40-1. Nash 9.3-1-40-4.

Sussex beat Yorkshire by 60 runs.