Three wickets in nine balls at a cost of two runs for Stuart Meaker tore the heart out of Yorkshire's batting at Headingley and sent Surrey through to the final of the Royal London One-Day Cup at Lord's on September 17.

A century for man-of-the-match Steven Davies and 90 from Ben Foakes left Yorkshire Vikings chasing a 256 target and although they recovered well after Meaker's dramatic intervention, thanks to a brave 68 from Tim Bresnan, the task was just beyond them and they were bowled out for 236 to lose by 19 runs with seven balls remaining.

Surrey now have the chance to avenge last season's Final defeat by Gloucestershire but for Yorkshire it was the second consecutive year that they have stumbled at the last-four stage.

It also continued a depressing run of semi-final reverses in List A cricket for Yorkshire who have now lost 17 times out of 20 on such occasions since 1979.

Yorkshire lost Adam Lyth to Jade Dernbach in their third over and after skipper, Alex Lees, had played some solid strokes in reaching 26 he was bowled driving at his opposite number, Gareth Batty.

At 74 for two in 19 overs, however, Yorkshire were still handily placed until Meaker, bowling from the football end, began his lethal burst. Jonny Bairstow, released by England for the match, drove gently to Dominic Sibley at mid-wicket; Gary Ballance was caught behind trying to flick over the top of the slips and Jack Leaning dragged into his leg-stump.

The slide to 81 for five was halted by Bresnan and 20-year-old all-rounder, Matthew Waite, who enjoyed a fine match in which he earlier captured three wickets and then scored 38 in an enterprising stand of 80 in 16 overs with his senior partner.

Waite survived a confident appeal for a catch off Batty's bowling but in the next over from Sam Curran he drove into Batty's hands at mid-on. Bresnan and Will Rhodes kept the hopes of the 4,836 crowd alive with a busy stand of 46 which ended at 207 in the 45th over when Rhodes played to backward point and set off for a single but was beaten by Tom Curran's direct hit on the stumps at the bowler's end.

Bresnan and Azeem Rafiq continued to battle hard but when Tom Curran sent back both Rafiq and Steven Patterson in the 48th over to make it 236 for nine the task was just beyond Yorkshire and the match ended when Bresnan drove Dernbach to Sibley at long-off, his 68 coming off 82 balls with two fours and a six.

Put in to bat, Surrey found themselves on eight for two by the third over, with Kumar Sangakkara one of the wickets to fall, but the early setbacks did not unsettle Davies whose 104 followed consecutive Championship scores of 117, 52 and 56 against Yorkshire this season.

Jack Brooks, in his first List A match of the summer, struck in the day's second over as Dibley shaped to play to leg but missed and was lbw. Sangakkara was quick of the mark, cutting Bresnan for four, but in the same over the Sri Lankan drove loosely to Rafiq in the covers.

Davies, however, made smooth progress with some splendidly timed shots through the covers, taking boundaries off consecutive balls from Brooks, and he hit 34 of the first 48 runs scored.

But at 61 for two in 14 overs, Waite joined the attack and his first delivery was flicked casually to long leg by Burns for Patterson to hold a good catch dropping to his knees.

It should have been an even more memorable over for Waite but three balls later Davies, on 43, drove back past the bowler's hands and the chance went begging.

Had Davies gone then, Surrey would have been in big trouble but they were rescued by Davies' and Foakes' partnership of 130, the visitors' highest for the fourth wicket in List A cricket against Yorkshire and beating the 110 by Monte Lynch and Andy Needham at Bradford in 1985.

Davies, having reached his half-century from 57 deliveries, continued to time the ball to perfection, hooking Bresnan for four and on-driving Rafiq for six while Foakes moved smartly to his own 50 from 51 balls, the stand entering three figures in 21 overs.

A single to Davies off Patterson took him to his century off 112 balls with ten fours and a six, but four runs later he hit a low full toss from Waite straight to Rhodes on the mid-wicket boundary.

Surrey were 191 for four in the 39th over and they lost much of their momentum in the last dozen overs or so, Sam Curran going for 16 when he was bowled by Waite in a futile and ungainly attempt to scoop the ball round the corner.

Waite's figures of three for 48 were Yorkshire's best of the day and at the end of his stint he received warm and prolonged applause from the appreciative crowd.

Foakes struck Bresnan high over long on for six but was denied a century when a ramp shot went wrong and he was caught by Brooks for 90 from 100 balls with seven fours to go alongside his big hit.

Surrey debutant, Ollie Pope, was run out for 20 off the last ball of an innings which never quite blossomed as much as it might of done, although it may never have bloomed at all but for Davies and Foakes.

Yorkshire's Alex Lees said: "I think we are all gutted to lose because we have played some great white ball cricket this season but when it has mattered in two semi-finals over the past week we have not been good enough. I thought it was a reachable target and we needed some contributions from the top five and this didn't happen but all credit to the Surrey bowlers who kept going."

Lees praised Bresnan and said: "He has won three or four games single-handed for us and has been exceptional both with the bat and ball. His big contribution almost got us there. When we look back it will have been a positive season but you still don't want to lose two semi-finals."

Gareth Batty said: "At the half-way stage I thought we may be a bit light and would have like 270 or so but we still did well to get the runs on the board. It was tough knowing how to use our overs when we bowled but we got a bit lucky and they didn't get away from us too much. I thought the partnership between Davies and Foakes was a real game changer on a good old fashioned pitch."

Man-of-the-match, Davies, said: "It was not easy at 8-2 with Kumar Sangakkara gone but he has scored a lot of runs for us and it was nice for the rest of us to be able to contribute. I thought Ben Foakes played really well in our partnership. I felt it was hard work for the first ten overs on a pitch which had been under cover. It was difficult to say what a good total should be and we were probably slightly under par at the half-way stage."

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