An unbeaten 61 from Derbyshire’s Wayne Madsen helped the Falcons achieve an innings total of 152-4. Yorkshire could only manage 140-5 in reply.
The evening started well for Yorkshire after Derbyshire won the toss and elected to bat first. Azeem Rafiq ran out opener Martin Guptill for one in only his second delivery.
The other opener, Wes Durston, followed shortly, after he was bowled lbw, by Ajmal Shahzad, scoring five runs in just eight deliveries.
Chesney Hughes was next to go, leaving the Falcons on 68-3 after he was bowled out by Rafiq for a respectable 32.
Derbyshire’s fifth wicket partnership between Madsen and Garry Park produced a memorable 44 until the erratic Park was bowled out by Steven Patterson for 31.
His replacement, Ross Whiteley, made best use of the final two overs and ended the innings on an unbeaten 17.
The Yorkshire batters took the game to the visitors but suffered from the early losses of captain Andrew Gale, Adam Lyth and Tony McGrath, who all went early with scores under 20.
When Jonathan Barstow was caught by Durston on 16 it was left to the sixth wicket partnership of Gary Ballance and Joe Root to steady the ship and pile on the runs. Each got a decent 46.
The Derbyshire fielding oscillated between moments of brilliance and ineptitude but slowly got the measure of Yorkshire’s batting. Appropriately Ballance was caught by Steffan Jones in the final over leaving Yorkshire stranded on 135-5 with four balls remaining.
Yorkshire now lie seventh in the Northern Group of the T20 standing and will be hoping their play-off hopes are not dealt a blow as they embark on an extended run of T20 matches. Their next game will be on Friday against Warwickshire.
· Despite drawing against Durham last Saturday the Tyke’s County Championship campaign is becoming one to forget. Only the luckless Hampshire, with two games in hand, keep Yorkshire off the bottom. Their next game will be against Worcestershire at the Scarborough Festival of Cricket on July 11
· Yorkshire currently lie fifth in the Clydesdale Bank 40 Group A after a seven wicket victory against Worcestershire on May 22. The Tykes Clydesdale Bank 40 campaign will resume on July 17 against Middlesex.
Richard McAllister