Yorkshire 256 for 9 (Lyth 88, Coles 3-39) beat Kent 245 (Stevens 54, Blake 50, Plunkett 4-52, Willey 3-34) by 11 runsScorecardThere is an old cricketing saw that if you want to know how good a pitch is, you need to wait until both sides have batted on it. Like most proverbs, this is a useful saying only when used carefully; trotted out uncritically, it is tripe. This close and noble match, which ended with Yorkshire looking forward to a home semi-final against Surrey, illustrated the point.Between the two innings, as a St Lawrence ground which had brimmed with afternoon sunshine gave itself over to the gentler grace of evening, Kents supporters had reason to be optimistic. A Yorkshire side containing seven Test cricketers had managed no more than 256 in their 50 overs, a good score to be sure but self-evidently not the 300-plus the home fans may have feared.Kent skipper, Sam Northeast, may even have half toyed with notions of a Lords final. That would have capped a great season for the still youthful-looking Northeast, who has scored runs for the fun of doing so in the Championship. He has also been appointed club captain in succession to the slightly aldermanic figure of Rob Key. Sam Weller has taken over from Mr Pickwick.Eighteen overs into their innings the mood in the home dressing room was probably considerably less sanguine. Although 64 runs had been scored, four prime wickets had been lost, including that of Daniel Bell-Drummond, leg before to a David Willey yorker in the second over and Sam Billings, lbw on the front foot to Steve Patterson when he had made a mere single. Sandwiched between these dismissals, Northeast had gone, too, when he chipped a catch to Gary Ballance at midwicket.Thus did one Old Harrovian send another packing, although this very posh dismissal was moderated a little by the involvement of the bowler, Liam Plunkett, he of Nunthorpe Comprehensive. Maybe we should have known then that it would be Plunketts night, just as it had been against Essex at the same stage of the same competition a year earlier. Faced with Kents grim situation, Darren Stevens and Alex Blake resolved to die with their boots on and their magazines empty, if necessary. The fifth-wicket pair took 61 runs off the next seven overs, most of the damage being done to the spinners, Adil Rashid and Azeem Rafiq, both of whom were lifted for sixes into the crowd sitting in front of the mustard-coloured crane on the Old Dover Road side of the ground.The pair had added 86 in 13 overs when Blake was caught behind by Jonny Bairstow for 50 when attempting to pull a bouncer from Plunkett but only edging a catch. Nevertheless, the later Kent batsmen took their cue from this stand and it needed some outstanding cricket from Plunkett to prevent them winning the game.Northeasts men needed 109 off 20 overs when Blake was out and the rate was not to drop much above or below five an over for the rest of the innings. Crucially, of course, though, wickets were to fall, the first of them that of Stevens, whose leading edge was clutched one-handed with supreme athleticism by the diving Plunkett. Will Gidman gave the same bowler a much easier return catch two overs later but Kent battled on and the crowd warmed to themMatt Coles took a four and two sixes off a Rafiq over before being stumped off a Rashid googly - his foot raised just for an instant, but exposed by Bairstows fast work.Charlie Hartley and James Tredwell maintained a rate of five an over and 37 were needed off the last 48 balls. Yorkshires bowlers became nervous, then irritated. But with only 16 needed, Hartley was leg before to Rashid and his 29-run stand with the calm Tredwell was ended. Then a borderline lbw for Willey finally killed Kents chances when 12 runs were required, 13 balls were left and most in the 6000 capacity crowd were beginning to think that, just for once, hope was not going to betray them.All this floodlit tension followed a Yorkshire innings which had been dominated more by accumulation than the artillery which Blake and Coles favoured. Although Adam Lyth hit two fours and a straight six in his first 15 balls, the boundaries were not to flow with comparable frequency until the final over of the innings, when Rashid drove successive balls from Mitch Claydon to the Nackington Road for four and over midwicket for six. Claydon had been the early sufferer, too, when he pitched the ball up rather too far to Lyth, who rarely passes up such pleasant opportunities, especially when the deep field is as empty as a gamblers wallet.But this early fun more or less marked the end of the visitors big shots. After Alex Lees had pulled Claydon straight to Blake on the square leg boundary, Lyth and Joe Root added 90 for the second wicket in 19 overs by pushing the ball into gaps, working it around and scampering twos.Roots innings exemplified the few problems Yorkshires batsmen encountered on this pitch. Englands finest batsman is so well balanced at the crease that he is almost incapable of inelegance, yet the accuracy of the Kent attack and the apparent slowness of the wicket prevented him playing any of his straight drives or signature back-foot forces. Instead he and Lyth were content for the most part to milk Tredwell, the off-spinner conceding 52 runs off his ten overs.Root and Lyths partnership was by far the best of Yorkshires innings. Three other pairs added 27 runs apiece, a statistic which itself rather reveals the absence of rhythm in the visitors innings. The batsmens problems were caused - some would say merely exacerbated - by the accuracy of Kents bowling. The pick of the attack was the medium-pacer, Hartley, who was playing just his fourth List A game and will dine out on his removal of Root, well caught at deep midwicket by Blake for 45, and Bairstow, who drove too soon and chipped a catch to Bell-Drummond when he had only 9 to his name.Although Gidman later removed Tim Bresnan and Willey in the same over, the latter departing to a contentious leg-side catch by Billings when the ball appeared to have hit only the pad, the most successful Kent bowler was Coles. Like Chaucers Miller, a stout carl for the nones Coles has plenty of pace and perhaps more variations than is sometimes assumed. Ful byg…of brawn, and eek of bones he may be but there is craft there, too, and in this game, it was sufficient to account for Lyth for 88 when edging a drive and both Plunkett and Rafiq late in the piece. Coles finished with 3 for 39 and maybe he, too, was pondering spending a September Saturday in St Johns Wood as he ate his tea.Instead it will be Yorkshires players who have that chance when they play Surrey in a semi-final at Headingley a week on Sunday. Having set up one semi-final Lees and his players can now travel to Edgbaston to play in another. Kents players were left with deep disappointment and the ink-blue glory of a Canterbury night.David Ospina Colombia Jersey . Tests earlier this week revealed a Grade 2 left hamstring strain for Sabathia, who was hurt in last Fridays start against San Francisco. Its an injury that will require about eight weeks to heal. He finished a disappointing campaign just 14-13 with a career-worst 4. Fredy Guarin Jersey . Tests earlier this week revealed a Grade 2 left hamstring strain for Sabathia, who was hurt in last Fridays start against San Francisco. Its an injury that will require about eight weeks to heal. He finished a disappointing campaign just 14-13 with a career-worst 4. http://www.nationalcolombiafootball.com/fredy-guarin-colombia-jersey/ . The visitors took a deserved lead in the 16th minute with midfielder Yohan Cabaye curling the ball beyond Adrian from inside the penalty area. Frank Fabra Colombia Jersey . There was no hesitation from the 40th-ranked Pospisil, from Vernon, B.C., who admitted that he cut back on his training sessions over the last few days to conserve energy as the long ATP season finishes next week at the Paris Masters. James Rodriguez Jersey . After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91.The Indian womens hockey team dished out a disappointing performance to suffer a 1-6 loss against Australia in their third fixture at the Rio Olympics on Wednesday.The Indians, who were playing in the Olympics after a gap of 36 years, were simply outplayed by the higher-ranked Australians who exposed the defensive frailties of their opponents with a comprehensive win in a lop-sided match.Jodie Kenny struck twice (43rd and 46th minute) while Kathryn Slattery (5th), Georgina Morgan (9th), Jane Claxton (35th) and Georgina Parker (36th) scored once each to route the Indians.For India, Thokchom Anuradha scored the lone goal with just 8.3 seconds left on the clock.The Australians, who were the losing finalists at the 2014 World Cup, laid seize of the Indian 25-yard with waves of attacking runs and forced seven penalty corners from which they scored four times.India, on the other hand, got just one penalty corner which they failed to convert. They could barely string a goal-bound attack in the whole match as they suffered their second consecutive loss.The Indian forwards could not make any opening and Rani Rampal was fielded for very less time. The margin of loss would have been bigger for India had goalkeeper Savita Punia not come up with some fine saves in the match.They play their next match against USA at 4.00 am IST on Friday.With Wednesdays loss, India are at the bottom of Pool B with just one point. which they earned from the drawn match against Japan in their opening match. They had lost to Great Britain 0-3 in their previous match.India have two matches to play in the six-team Pool B -- against higher ranked Argentina and United States. Only the top four finishers will advance to the quarterfinals.Australia took a 2-0 lead at the end of the first quarter of 15 minutes before the Indians denied them any goal in the second quarter.dddddddddddd They scored three goals in the third quarter before pumping in another one in the final quarter to win the one-sided match.The Australians went into the attacking mode as soon as the match began and with better trapping and faster movement, they surged ahead in the fifth minute itself with Kathryn sounding the board from the first penalty corner they got.Two minutes later, Preeti Dubey earned the only penalty corner for India in the match. However, her deflected shot from a penalty corner variation went wide. Australia scored their second goal in the ninth minute with Georgina Morgan sounding the board from the second penalty corner they earned.In the 20th minute, Anuradha got a rare chance to shoot at the Australian goal but her effort went over the bar. Next minute, Australia got a penalty corner but the Indian was up to the task. The Indians put up a better performance in the second quarter and denied them a goal. The Indian resistance in the second quarter did not last long as Australia scored in the fifth minute of the third quarter with Jane Claxton scoring a field goal.Georgina Parker scored another field goal barely one minute later to make it 4-0 for Australia. Jodie Kenny struck her double late into the match, one from a penalty stroke after Indian captain Sushila Chanu was hit on her foot just in front of the goal following a penalty corner.In the final quarter, Kenny got the sixth goal for Australia from the penalty corner to complete the rout. India scored the consolation goal through Anuradha with barely nine seconds left in the match as she volleyed a high ball into the Australian goal. It was Indias first goal from open play in the tournament. ' ' '