Adam Lyth has bemoaned Yorkshire’s inability to put a full T20 performance together and has declared tomorrow’s Vitality Blast clash with Birmingham Bears at Emerald Headingley (2.30pm) as a must win.
Lyth top-scored with 68 in the Vikings’ 177-7 in last night’s defeat against Worcestershire at Headingley, which the visitors chased down with five wickets and 15 balls to spare.
It was Yorkshire’s third defeat in six North Group games as they chase a top four finish and the quarter-finals.
While the White Rose sit seventh with one win and two No Results, Birmingham are fifth with two wins and two losses from five outings.
They were beaten by 71 runs against Nottinghamshire last night.
Opening batsman Lyth shared 104 for the first wicket inside 12 overs with Tom Kohler-Cadmore (40), only for the innings to stutter from there.
“We were probably 10 short with the bat maybe,” he said.
“I thought we had a decent score on that pitch. We had a decent power play without being great with the ball. Then, after six overs, we were very, very poor.
“There were too many wides, and it was a shocking display in the field.
“To be fair to Riki Wessels (91 off 51 balls), he did play well. But we probably fed him 40 or 50 runs into his slot. We know he’s strong on the leg-side, and we fed him all night.
“You’re not going to win many games bowling and fielding like that.
“We need to get on a roll and do it fast. That starts against Birmingham. It’s a must win game. And the next four or five games, we probably need to win all of them to be honest.”
Lyth continued: “With the bat, we were pretty good. Maybe 185-190 would have been more defendable. But the way we bowled and fielded, we needed 200.
“It was quite a tricky pitch early on, but what we spoke about at the halfway point we didn’t do.
“They bowled quite well. After 10 overs, it was hard to hit boundaries.
“Against Lancs with the bat, we should have chased that down. But we were better with the bat here and not good with the ball. In the field, we were very below par.
“Unfortunately, we just can’t get a full game together. That’s why we’re not getting many wins. Hopefully we can put it right against Birmingham.
“It’s going to be a tough game, but we’re at home and can hopefully turn it around. There’s eight games left, and we can still get on a run with the team we’ve got.”
Lyth posted his second fifty of the competition last night, and earlier in the competition moved to become Yorkshire’s all-time leading T20 run-scorer.
He added: “I played quite nicely, and it was disappointing not to go on and get 80 or 90. But I would have taken that at the start of the day.
“I feel like I’m playing really well in this format and in the Championship. I just hope there’s some more big scores around the corner.”
