Steve Patterson is targeting two wins from Yorkshire’s remaining three North Group games in order to secure quarter-final qualification in the Vitality Blast.
The Vikings were beaten by Roses rivals Lancashire at Emerald Headingley last night as they failed to defend a target of 182, losing by six wickets with 14 balls to spare.
Unfortunately, they slipped from a position of strength with the bat having been 102-1 at halfway and later 130-1 before finishing on 181-9.
Lancashire jumped over them in the table to go third on 13 points from 11 games.
Yorkshire have 12 from 11 in fourth, while Birmingham (11 points) and Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire (both 10) are still in the hunt heading into the final week of qualification.
The Vikings pursuit of an all important top four finish continues against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge tonight (6.30pm).
While the champions are still in the hunt, they have been inconsistent so far this campaign.
“Notts are a strong and dangerous side. They haven’t had the performances they’re capable of, so I’m sure they’ll try to put it right,” said captain Patterson after last night’s game.
“But we know if we perform we can beat them. Then we have two more tough games next week. We’ll regroup and go again.
“I thought coming into this game (Lancashire), if we could win two from four, we would be in a strong position to qualify. Now it’s two from three.
“You’re not going to win every game in this comp. We have to move on and be better tomorrow.
“We know we need to do. I don’t want to be reliant on other results. I want to be in control of our destiny.”
Reflecting on the Lancashire game, Patterson, who was nursing a sore finger having attempted to take an early catch, said: “It was disappointing.
“I thought the first 10 overs with the bat was excellent. To lose a wicket with the second ball and to have scored only six off the first two overs, to be over 100 after 10, we were in such a strong position.
“We didn’t capitalise how we should have. 195-200 would have been a score we were capable of at that stage, but it didn’t happen.
“Then, they took the momentum they had in our second 10 overs into their batting and came out really positively.
“Unfortunately, we were a bit slow to react with the ball. They got away from us, and we never clawed it back.”
David Willey smashed 80 off 43 balls and later took a sparkling diving catch at deep mid-wicket as well as affecting a run out, with Patterson saying: “Dave’s just a quality player. That’s why he’s an international player and went to the IPL. He got us into an unbelievable position after 10 overs.”
He added: “I think they won the game (rather than us losing it).
“After 10 overs of our batting, they could easily have buried their heads and us got 220. They didn’t and fought their way back. They outplayed us and deserved to win.
“We weren’t at our best, and we paid the price.”
Team News
Andrew Gale and Steve Patterson have named an unchanged squad from last night’s Roses clash.
The Vikings will choose from: Patterson c, Ballance, Bresnan, Brook, Brooks, Fisher, Kohler-Cadmore, Leaning, Lyth, Rafiq, Tattersall w, Thompson, Williamson, Willey.
Match Statistics
- Yorkshire have won only one of their last five T20 matches at Trent Bridge.
- The total of 16 T20 matches which Yorkshire have lost against Nottinghamshire represents their worst record against any county.
- The 2017 T20 match at Trent Bridge between these two counties produced both Nottinghamshire’s (225 for five) and Yorkshire’s (223 for five) highest innings in this series on that ground.
- Despite the high scoring in T20 matches between these two counties (nine scores of 200 or over) only Alex Hales (101 for Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in 2017) has made an individual century.
- Two Yorkshire bowlers (Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Adil Rashid) have each taken four wickets in a T20 match
Vitality Blast statistics
Vitality Blast standings
The opposition – Notts Outlaws
T20 record – Defending champions after winning the tournament in 2017, runners-up in 2005 and beaten semi-finalists in 2010 and 2016. On nine occasions they have advanced to the knockout stages of the competition.
Last season – Won the North Group, then defeated Somerset in the quarters, Hampshire in the semis and Birmingham Bears in the final.
Captain – Dan Christian returns to Trent Bridge for the fourth consecutive season and resumes as captain after lifting the trophy last year – a simple act that went wrong and resulted in the sharp edges of the silverware cutting his eyebrow.
Overseas Players – Christian and New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi reunite at Trent Bridge to try and emulate last year’s outstanding success.
