Emphatic:

Former South African international, turned Kolpaker Jacques Rudolph took 115 balls to destroy a lacklustre Middlesex. The Panthers were outplayed with ball and bat. Led by England’s fast-bowler Ajmal Shahzad with his best ever figures in competitive List A cricket 4 for 34, Yorkshire contained a lacklustre Middlesex effort, restricting the hosts to 183 for 9 from their 40 overs.

Led by a magnificent unbeaten 86 from the left-handed opening bat Rudolph, who has not played for his country for four years, the unbeaten CB Pro40 group leaders produced an emphatic 8 wicket win with three overs remaining. “It’s not my first time [playing at Lord’s],” says Rudolph. “I’ve been privileged to play a Test and a one-day international here, so first game for Yorkshire and it’s special to do well for Yorkshire. I pride myself on trying to bat through and be the backbone for the team and fortunately I got the chance to do that and it worked out for me.”

Rudolph hit the only six of the match, along with seven fours, but this was not his best innings in the CB40. “No, I got a hundred this year,” he said. Rudolph brought up his personal half-century and and his team’s hundred in the same over, but his opening partner Andrew Gale was dismissed by Tom Scollay for 39, having been enticed so far out of his crease that the stumping looked like a run out by wicket-keeper John Simpson.

Adam Lyth took up the cudgels, falling to a return catch to Pedro Collins for 34 with the end in sight. Only 18 were required. Rudolph was not concerned about missing out on a hundred at Lord’s. “ I don’t know about that; they [Andrew Gale and Adam Lyth] were scoring free, so I don’t think so,” he said. He had played for his country before, but this was his first visit for his county and most successful too.

Rudolph burst onto the international stage with a double century on début in 2003 against Bangladesh – one of only five double centuries made in a first Test Match. Only England’s Reg Foster made more – 287 against Australia in 1903 – in their first Test. His last match for his country was four years ago, but his contributions are greatly appreciated by team-mates including Shahzad.

“Oh massive,” the Yorkshire and England fast-bowler said of Rudolph’s importance. “Very beneficial to us. He can bat all day. He’s been superb, especially in situations; he’s been getting us vital runs and it was just good to see him out there until the end getting the runs. His form for Yorkshire’s been superb. It’s good to see him going about his business and doing well for us.”

But what about the Middlesex attack? “Middlesex’s bowlers – they’ve got a lot of medium-pace, apart from Collins obviously,” he said, “so their bowlers should have been more effective on a slow wicket, but again, our batsmen did a superb job, getting ones and twos rather than going for big shots and the boundaries and it was great platform. The opening partnership was a hundred and if you’re going to do that regularly you’re going to win games.”

Dismal:

Having staved off defeat at Uxbridge yesterday thanks to the batting prowess of England pair Eoin Morgan and Steven Finn, the Middlesex Panthers lined up against the table-topping Yorkshire Carnegie, who have yet to lose a match in the CB Pro40 competition, without them, England captain Andrew Strauss and the injured Iain O’Brien. Weeks earlier Middlesex’s most impressive batsman of the season Dawid Malan gave us an interview. “Our best chance of success is definitely in the CB Pro40,” he said.

It is now the only chance. Rooted to the bottom of Division Two in the county championship and out of the t20 league on run-rate, the CB Pro40 is all that is realistically left of Middlesex’s season. Despite this a combination of poor play from the hosts and superb performances by England’s Ajmal Shahzad and South Africa’s Jacques Rudolph with ball and bat made it a totally one-sided contest.

Shahzad is the only member of England’s 12-man squad for the first Test against Pakistan that starts next week at Trent Bridge to play today. He had an excellent warm-up, taking 4 for 34 from his ten overs. He started the rot by dismissing Scott Newman for a single and returned to mop up the tail, which included young prospect Tom Scollay for 32 – the second best effort from a Middlesex batsman.

David Wainwright picked up a brace and so did Tim Bresnan, although both his victims, Owais Shah and Neil Dexter contributed to their own downfall by poor shot-selection. Wainwright removed danger-man Malan and Berg too for 28 and 40 respectively, again to ill-judged shots. Scollay was the only Middlesex batsman that was not caught – he was bowled by Shahzad chasing runs. Tom Smith and Shaun Udal completed Shahzad’s list of victims. Smith was caught by Wainwright for 18 and Shahzad needed no assistance to snaffle Udal for 6 to a return catch.

Was Shahzad surprised by how Middlesex struggled with the bat?  I think it’s tough to say. Obviously we bowled well and pressure gets you wickets in the end, but I think there were a few rash shots played on an indifferent wicket shall we say, but the indifferent shots came from the pressure that we bowled tight.”

Gulf:

The gulf in class was obvious. Middlesex are just in contention in the CB Pro40 competition – Yorkshire unbeaten. They are top of the First Division in the County Championship while Middlesex are rooted to the bottom of the Second Division. “To be honest we’ve not really played against Middlesex,” Shahzad told us. “In North and South Divisions we rarely get a chance to play against them, but on the surface they’ve got a superb batting line-up.”

The absences told. Three Middlesex players were on England duty – Yorkshire had just one and he played. You could be forgiven for wondering which team dominated two competitions and which was struggling to save their season.

“They’ve got the likes of Owais Shah,” Shahzad said. “Eoin Morgan’s not playing today, Dawid Malan and [Gareth] Berg at the top as well and [Neil] Dexter – very strong batters and the wicket was a good wicket, but I think the lads played tremendously well. Me and Bresy [Tim Bresnan started, then Wainey [David Wainwright], [Steven] Patterson and [Adil] Rashid came on and did a job that was superb to see. With Yorkshire bowling, we do – they love playing like that for quite a while now and in the championship. It’s good to see that. It’s just working as a unit trying to get wickets, putting other sides on the back foot.”

Middlesex limped to a meagre total of 185 for 9 from their 40 overs. The injured, Gareth Berg, top-scored with 40, made from 78 balls with just two fours. He contributed to his own downfall, but 40 was never enough to anchor an innings.

“We churned out the wickets and kept them down to a lowish total,” said Shahzad. Was he surprised at Middlesex’s bowling? “I’m not too sure on the word surprise because I’ve not seen much of their bowlers,” he said. “I’ve not seen much of their bowlers. I’ve seen them on TV. They hit the pitch hard with the new ball. As you saw the pitch was very slow today, which increases the pressure. Then we had a great innings from Jacques [Rudolph] and Galey [Andrew Gale]. We kind of established ourselves.”

Ambitions:

So what are Yorkshire’s priorities? “ Every competition is, not just the Championship, but it’s got a bit more respect,” Rudolph said. “We are trying to win as many as possible. Let’s see if we can keep our form going and get ourselves a trophy.”

Shahzad wants more. “We’re top of the Championship, so that’s one of our priorities and we’re top of the Clydesdale Bank Pro 40, so obviously we’re looking to win both competitions,” he said. “The way we’ve gone about our business we should be up there in the semi-finals and finals and if we keep playing the way we’re playing – the kind of cricket we’ve been playing is superb – hopefully we should be able to win both competitions.”