White in a jam as Hampshire cruise into final

Yorkshire 197-9 Hampshire 199-2 Hampshire win by eight wickets

The match came the day after Yorkshire had finished one of the toughest Roses matches in a long time at Old Trafford and it culminated in a heavy defeat at the hands of Hampshire with more than 10 overs to spare in the C&G Trophy semi-final.

White said: "It is not fair that we had to come straight down off the back of a four-day match to play in this semi-final. The ECB has to have a good look at that. We have to have at least two clear days of preparation for a semi-final.

"We had just had four days in one of the most intense games I have played in in a long while. It was full-on first class cricket. It went to half-five on the final day. Then we had to travel here. It's just not on. That should not happen to any county."

Yorkshire's day began badly with their team coach unable to leave for the Rose Bowl at the time they wanted. This was because the driver is prohibited by law from getting back behind the wheel less than nine hours after finishing his previous duties.

Since they arrived at their hotel at only 12.20am, having left Old Trafford at 6.45pm on Friday and then endured a near six-hour journey in slow, heavy traffic, the driver was unable to ferry the team the two miles from hotel to ground until 9.20am. Unfortunately the team was not informed of this important fact and had assembled at 8.30.

Once they had ascertained the problem the kit was loaded on to a gardening truck with two players on board to keep an eye on it. Others scrounged lifts from Yorkshire supporters staying at the same hotel.

The scorer, John Potter, and the team's media man hitched a lift on the hotel greenkeeper's vehicle and joined a huge traffic jam on the way to the ground. It was from this vantage point that they saw White jogging past them.

The Yorkshire captain, who had initially got into a car to head for the ground, explained: "The traffic was horrendous, so at the roundabout near the hotel I thought I would get out and just jog up to the ground and have a word with the umpires, let them know we were running a little bit late.

"I didn't think we were too far from the ground, but it turned out to be a couple of miles. It's the furthest I've run in a long time. So I was knackered before we started, and my shoes are worn out."

Knackered or not, White played magnificently, scoring an unbeaten 40 in a cause that was already lost. And when it was Hampshire's turn, Zimbabwe's Sean Ervine smashed a maiden limited overs hundred and Nic Pothas an unbeaten 73 to take Shane Warne's side to their first Lord's final for 13 years.

* Duncan Fletcher will have the total backing of his fellow selectors if he withdraws England's players from the C&G Trophy Final between Hampshire and Warwickshire at Lord's on 3 September. The toll of this summer's Ashes seriesprompted Fletcher, the England coach, to withdraw players from last weekend's semi-finals and he is now considering doing the same for the final. He told the News of the World: "My focus is on how we are going to beat the Aussies. As far as I'm concerned that's a lot more important."