By Graham Hardcastle and Paul Dyson
Jordan Thompson had only one word to describe Saturday’s Vitality Blast clash with Derbyshire. “Bittersweet”.
Yorkshire were beaten at Chesterfield, a game in which all-rounder Thompson smashed 50 off 27 balls – his maiden first-team fifty in any format.
The 22-year-old helped the Vikings recover from 77-6 to 164-8 by hitting five sixes. Then, bowling the penultimate over with Derbyshire needing 19, he conceded 15.
Still, he and the rest of the Vikings camp are refusing to get too down about the defeat, which came hot on the heels of Friday’s No Result against Nottinghamshire at Emerald Headingley, and they are in confident mood ahead of a key three days in their North Group campaign.
Tomorrow, they visit Grace Road to tackle Leicestershire Foxes (6.30pm) and then host Roses rivals Lancashire Lightning in a sold out fixture at Headingley on Thursday.
“They are two massive games. It’s T20 and they can go either way,” said Thompson. “But we are very confident in our skills and ability to get two points from both of those games.
“There were some positives, but we know we missed an opportunity.
“We’ll come back on Tuesday night and look to fire.
“Thursday will be a great night with a massive crowd, as it always is. Tuesday night’s first though. We’ll get the job done there and move on.”
On Saturday’s game, he said: “We got ourselves into a bit of a rut but came out on the other side of it and felt at halfway like we’d have enough.
“They got off to a flyer and we dragged it back again.
“Being honest with myself, that penultimate over, I probably miss-executed my skills having done well in the middle overs.
“I’m always hard on myself. I’d always rather come out with two points and a win than get 50 off 27 balls. That’s the way I’ll always be.
“You have to be hard on yourself if you want to improve as a cricketer and also, as a team, if you want to go far in this tournament.
“We’ve got 12 games to make a big effort to get into the knockout stages and then to Finals Day.
“It was a disappointing result, but we’re not panicking by any stretch.
“If you’re panicking at this stage, you won’t go very far in the whole tournament.
“It didn’t help that we lost Matthew Fisher to a dislocated shoulder, especially on that pitch. The spinners bowled very well to be fair, but for seamers it was sticking in if you hit the pitch.
“I’m absolutely gutted for Fish.
“I said to him in the changing room afterwards, ‘You must have done something bad in a past life to be as unlucky as you are’.
“Every time he gets back, something else happens. And they’re freak injuries. They are things that happen only once in a while – diving to save a boundary and his shoulder pops out.”
Thompson’s knock, with help from Jonny Tattersall (39), gave Yorkshire a good chance of beating Derbyshire, and he added: “I was really pleased with how I played.
“It kind of led on from a second-team game last week (Warwickshire at Headingley) when I played a similar knock, 68 off 34 balls.
“I found myself at the crease a bit earlier than we’d have liked, but it was a matter of staying there with Tatts and running them ragged before taking them down.”
Leicestershire have also had a No Result and a defeat, the latter to Birmingham, so far.
Team news
Leg-spinner Josh Poysden sustained a head injury during cricket practice yesterday (Monday). He has undergone initial tests in hospital and requires ongoing monitoring. The Club’s medical team will monitor his progress and recovery going forward. Off-spinner Jack Shutt comes in as a replacement for tonight’s Vitality Blast fixture against Leicestershire Foxes.
Seamer Matthew Fisher sustained an AC Joint dislocation of his right shoulder on Saturday at Derbyshire. After consultation with the Club’s shoulder consultant, he requires a period of conservative treatment and rehabilitation. It is anticipated that his recovery will take 4-6 weeks before he can return to play. Unfortunately, he also picked up a fracture to his left thumb in the same game which will also require further consultation with a specialist on Thursday.
James Logan remains sidelined with a lower back issue. The Club’s medical team will continue to monitor and assess the injury, but a time-scale is still unknown.
Having been made available by England from July 25, Adil Rashid has requested a further period of rest – which the club has agreed to. The leg-spinning all-rounder will now be available from the week commencing July 29.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore continues to captain the side with Club captain Steven Patterson continuing his pre-planned period of rest.
Milestones
Potential batting milestones in Leicestershire v Yorkshire on 23rd Jul 2019
- PJ Horton needs 23 runs to reach 1500 runs in Twenty20 matches
- N Pooran needs 56 runs to reach 2000 runs in Twenty20 matches
- CN Ackermann needs 105 runs to reach 2000 runs in Twenty20 matches
Potential bowling milestones in Leicestershire v Yorkshire on 23rd Jul 2019
- AM Lilley needs 10 wickets to reach 50 wickets in Twenty20 matches
Match preview
- Yorkshire have not won a T20 match away to Leicestershire since 2012.
- Each team has passed 200 once in T20 matches between these two counties and both occurrences were at Headingley.
- In 2004 Darren Maddy scored 111 at Headingley and this remains the highest innings in a T20 match for any opponent against Yorkshire.
