Yorkshire were visibly deflated after the home side, batting first after winning the toss, plundered 101 runs from their final ten overs. Six-hitting danger man Graham Napier started the acceleration with 61 from 34 balls, including six sixes, adding to an excellent 95 from opener Alastair Cook as Essex posted a formidable total of 285. Despite a decent start from the opening batsman and a patient half century from Anthony McGrath, Yorkshire were all out for 198 – handing Essex victory by 87 runs, and a Lord's final date against Kent in August.

Napier's hefty hitting spoiled the economy rates of Yorkshire's pace attack, in particular Matthew Hoggard – the England pace man conceded 41 from his six overs, without taking a wicket, with an economy rate of 6.83 per over. Gough took on his archetypal role of bowling at the death conceding 56 from his ten overs, but he too failed to make inroads into the Essex batting line up. This was left to returning quickie Rana Naved, the accurate Richard Pyrah and recipient of an England call-up Tim Bresnan, who all claimed two wickets apiece as the home side finished on 285-8.

Recognised for his accurate bowling and explosive hitting, but not so much his fielding, Bresnan also claimed two run outs with deadly accurate direct hits – first, Jason Gallian attempted a quick single to Bresnan at mid-on and departed for 28. Then, with a century seemingly beckoning, Cook smashed a fierce cut shot straight at backward point. Pyrah deflected the ball into Bresnan's path at third man, and Cook was looking for a second run when Bresnan's bullet arm broke the wicket. The verdict from the third umpire confirmed Cook was well short of his ground, bringing to an end a beautifully timed innings encompassing ten exquisite boundaries.

It was clear that for Yorkshire to emerge from Chelmsford victorious, then one of their top-order batsmen would have to play a similar innings to Cook and bat through. Left-hander Andrew Gale appeared to have volunteered the responsibility, reaching a patient half-century before a mistake that was characteristic of Yorkshire saw him heading back to the pavilion. Gale defended a good length ball, McGrath called him through for the single, and then decided to send the opener back – leaving Gale stranded in the middle of the pitch as the bails were removed by ten Doeschate, ending his patient innings of 64.

The comedy of errors was almost a metaphor for Yorkshire's continued failure to capitalise on opportunities in these competitions, with only a handful of semi-final appearances in the six years since they won this competition. Evidently, the mix-up affected McGrath mentally as the former England man continued to play defensively, even as the required run rate crept up after every dot ball. In particular, spinner Danish Kaneria was a handful for the Yorkshire batsmen – the Pakistani effectively took the game away from the visitors with a spell of tight bowling that built up pressure.

After McGrath reached his half century, and scored his 6000th one-day run, he attempted to smash Kaneria down the ground but succeeded in top-edging to ten Doeschate, who clung on to the ball at the third attempt. From there, Yorkshire collapsed from 152-3 to 152-5 after both Brophy and Rashid were dismissed in quick succession – wicket-keeper Brophy was lbw to ten Doeschate for a first-ball duck, and Rashid soon followed after a superb catch standing up by Brophy's opposite number James Foster. When Dutch international ten Doeschate removed Jacques Rudolph, Yorkshire's last remaining established batsman, the task was almost impossible and when Gough arrived at the crease, Yorkshire were 197-9.

As much as his career has been compared to a fairytale, no-one could realistically envisage Gough and Hoggard chasing down the 89 runs needed for victory - and so it proved, as the Barnsley-born captain was last man out lbw to Kaneria for 1. The presentation for the man of the match, awarded to Napier for his boundary-hitting exploits, had to be delayed while Gough locked his men in the away team dressing room and lambasted them for what was undoubtedly an under-par performance by the Tykes, who have set a high standard for themselves to follow with their performances this season.
"We've done well to get this far, but we didn't do ourselves justice today," Gough said. "I thought we bowled beautifully for 36 overs, but Napier struck it well. We could have probably bowled a little better in the final 10.

"I think we left ourselves with too much to do against Danish Kaneria. We should have been more assertive against their medium-pacers."

The defeat means that Gough's career will end without making an appearance for his home county at the home of cricket, Lord's. However the two losing semi-finalists, Yorkshire and Durham, meet tonight in the quarter-final of the Twenty20 cup and, with the Tykes also joint-top of the LV County Championship, it would take a brave man to bet against Darren Gough bowing out of cricket with a bang.


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