Will Luxton was delighted with his own performance in victory over Surrey at the Kia Oval today, but the opening batter praised the contributions of a number of team-mates.
Luxton’s excellent 83 at the top of the order set the tone for a commanding 25-run win on Duckworth Lewis Stern in Group B of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup.
But it wasn’t the only performance. George Hill impressed with 51 and three wickets, Matthew Revis crashed 36 not out and claimed a wicket, James Wharton took three catches, Ben Coad was superb with the new ball and Dom Leech claimed a career best three-for.
The Vikings’ day could have hardly gone better, which bodes well for the next seven games and hopefully more in the knockout stages.
Luxton said: “Everyone chipped in.
“In the middle order, Shan and Wharts got going. Rev at the end, and Hilly – we know what he can do. Coady with the new ball was unplayable.
“It was a nice all-round team performance.
“It’s what we’ve spoken about in the last few days leading up to this – we wanted to start well.
“Playing against Surrey at the Oval is a big occasion for most of us, and hopefully this really sets the tone for the competition.”
Luxton only just missed out on a maiden first-team century. Perhaps he would have got there had Yorkshire’s innings not been interrupted because of three rain breaks of varying lengths.
“It was frustrating with the rain,” he said. “We missed 17 overs, which is a lot of batting.
“When you go out with six overs left, it can go either way. But I’m really happy and grateful to have an opportunity opening the batting.”
Luxton came out swinging at the back end of Yorkshire’s innings when the rain disappeared.
Asked whether he was frustrated to miss out on a century, he smiled: “A little bit. It would have been nice to get a hundred at the Oval, but I had to do what the team needed.
“When you’ve got six overs left and seven wickets in hand, it’s almost about trying to hit every ball for four or six. Luckily it paid off for Rev at the end.
“He did really well at the end and got us to a good score.”
The way he played today, that century may just come at Nottinghamshire on Sunday.
