Hussain's majestic century mauls Yorkshire

Yorkshire 237-9 Essex 239-3 Essex win by seven wickets

Nasser Hussain, the England captain, may not play many games for his beloved county this summer but the Essex faithful will be delighted he turned up at the County Ground yesterday. His magnificent 136 not out off only 144 balls was his highest score in one-day cricket and steered Essex to the most comfortable of seven- wicket victories over Yorkshire with five overs still remaining in their Benson and Hedges Cup quarter-final here.

Hussain's century, in which his driving down the ground was majestic, deservedly won him the Gold Award and took Essex into the semi-finals, where they will have a home tie against Worcestershire. It was his third in this competition and his second for Essex, the other being for Combined Universities in 1989. During it, and on the back of two good fifties in the first Test, he not only showed what wonderful form he is in, but also how well he can play when the pressures of captaincy are taken away.

Essex's "part-timer", as he was referred to by his county captain, Ronnie Irani, was particularly severe on his England colleague Matthew Hoggard. Hussain hit the England opening bowler out of the attack at the start of Essex's reply, before taking 14 off his last over when rain threatened to take the game into a second day. Having criticised England's bowlers for their lack of discipline during the first Test, it appeared he wanted to prove a point to Hoggard by smashing anything loose, of which there was too much, to the boundary.

Hussain, who received good support from each of the Essex batsmen, made Yorkshire's respectable total of 237 look paltry. It had been based around two contrasting partnerships. The first of 77 was an explosive affair, ignited from the unlikely source of Chris Silverwood's bat. Coming in as a pinch-hitter to partner Matthew Wood, he initially looked out of his depth.

However, in Irani's fifth over, Silverwood turned from fumbler to flogger and twice hit the medium-pacer for six. Not content with that, he then turned his attention to Cowan, who had been impressive until then, and smashed him for 16 in his sixth over.

From this start, 84 for 1 in the 15th over, Yorkshire would have hoped to post a total well in excess of 250, but after Silverwood's departure for a career-best 56 off 42 balls their innings fell apart until Darren Lehmann was joined at the crease by Richard Blakey.

These two put on a careful 75 in 18 overs and helped to steady Yorkshire's tottering ship after the loss of Anthony McGrath and Gary Fellows in the 30th over. James Dakin was the bowler and, at that stage, the visitors were perilously placed at 149 for 6. Dakin was the most successful of the Essex attack, but it was the 10 overs of left-arm spin from Paul Grayson that did most to check the Yorkshire score.

BENSON AND HEDGES CUP Semi-finals (6 June): Essex v Worcestershire. (7 June): Lancashire v Warwickshire.