Picture by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images. Jordan Thompson celebrates a Roses wicket at Emirates Old Trafford last Friday.
Jordan Thompson says completing the T20 double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in a Yorkshire shirt would be “a lovely way to finish off” his time with the county.
All-rounder Thompson, 28, is moving down to Warwickshire at the end of this summer, describing the prospect of leaving his home club as “emotional”.
There is still plenty to do before he leaves, chiefly advancing the White Rose cause in the Rothesay County Championship.
But this evening, in Yorkshire’s final Vitality Blast fixture of 2025 – against Leicestershire at the Grace Road, Thompson can achieve an impressive personal milestone.
He is just three away from 100 wickets for Yorkshire in T20 having already passed 1,000 runs earlier in the North Group campaign.
Should he get there at the Uptonsteel County Ground, starting at 6.30pm, Thompson would become only the second Yorkshire player to achieve that feat.
The first was Tim Bresnan (1,208 runs and 118 wickets).
Bresnan played 118 matches for Yorkshire between 2003 and 2019, while Thompson has played 85 since debuting in 2018.
“I’ll be trying my best to take a few wickets, and hopefully I can reduce them to a half-decent score for us to chase or hopefully defend,” said Thompson.
“It would be a lovely way to finish off, and if I hadn’t been injured for six games (earlier in the campaign) I’d have probably got it at a canter. But that’s the way it is.
“Look, you never know what happens in the future. I might be back here when I’m 38 and they’re rolling me down that hill.
“Obviously, it would be a nice target to finish on, but we’ll see how it pans out.”
T20 cricket has been Thompson’s most consistent format down the years.
He continued: “There have been times where I’ve been expensive with the ball, but I think I take that on the chin. With the role I play, sometimes you’re going to get hit.
“Against Lancashire, I’ve gone for two runs in that last over against one of the best hitters in the world in Jos Buttler. It’s just about being clear on the night.
“If I go for 20-odd and Jos gets a hundred, we’re chasing 200 instead of 175.
“Consistency. I’ve obviously taken wickets at just over one a game. I’m proud of it.”
Thompson continued with a smile: “Hey, we’re talking like I’m retiring here. I’ve got another 10 years in me, and hopefully that 100 wickets for Yorkshire will be 100 wickets for Warwickshire.”
Saying that, come 2026, Yorkshire fans will be hoping he’s spraying it all over the place in T20 when he returns to Headingley as a Bear.
He said: “I’ll be coming back here, and I’ll be shaking in front of that Western Terrace, going at 12 or 15 runs per over. No, seriously, it will be good. I’m looking forward to coming back here in the future and playing in front of the fans again.”
Whilst being consistent, Thompson has produced some special moments in a T20 shirt.
In June 2021, he united with Harry Brook to share 141 in 56 balls against Worcestershire at Headingley, helping the White Rose recover from 50-5 to 191-5. It was a winning total, of which he smashed 66.
He and Brook shared in the highest sixth-wicket partnership in the history of the Blast and the second highest-ever in the world for that wicket.
In July of the following year, in the quarter-final against Surrey at the Kia Oval, he remarkably defended just five runs off the last over to take Yorkshire to Finals Day.
“They were the best moments of my career so far,” he added.
“It would have been nice to top them off, especially reaching Finals Day in 2022 and losing the semi-final to Lancashire.
“We were just not quite up to standard in terms of the quality of our squad.
“But I’m pretty sure, moving forwards, that these boys will do well in the future.”
While second-bottom Yorkshire, having won four of 13 games so far, are aiming to avoid finishing bottom of the group, Leicestershire can still qualify for the quarter-finals.
They sit sixth in the table and must win and hope fourth-placed Bears lose at Derbyshire. That combination would see them through. They could also qualify with a win and a Durham defeat to Northamptonshire at the Riverside. But that would require a huge net run-rate swing.
The Foxes will field former Yorkshire captain Shan Masood as one of their two overseas players alongside Netherlands fast bowler Logan van Beek.
This fixture is the second part of a Blast double header day. Yorkshire’s women face Leicestershire from 2.30pm.
Picture by Alex Davidson/Getty Images. Jordan Thompson celebrates after his stunning final over in the last-eight win at Surrey in 2022.
