Yorkshire secured an action-packed but dominant 80-run victory over Northamptonshire at Emerald Headingley in their final Vitality Blast home game of the season, with four-wicket seamer David Willey starring against his former county.
The Vikings defended a target of 188 oh so comfortably to secure their third win from 13 North Group games – their first at home – as they at least jumped off bottom spot in the North Group.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore’s side will now hope to end their campaign as a whole with another win against Birmingham Bears at Edgbaston tomorrow (6.30pm, FRIDAY).
Yorkshire amassed 187-7 thanks to fifties for captain Kohler-Cadmore and opening partner Adam Lyth, who made 51 and 50 respectively, and then a breezy 38 off 16 balls from Harry Brook late on.
Brook also claimed four catches, a joint White Rose record in a T20 fixture.
Richard Levi took 19 off Lyth at the start of the Northants chase, but the visitors slipped badly as Willey and Tim Bresnan both picked up a wicket with their first balls in the second and third over. Willey finished with 4-18 from four overs as Northants were bowled out for 107 after 18 overs.
Yorkshire’s innings was not without incident.
Kohler-Cadmore and Lyth shared 88 inside 10 overs, with the Vikings reaching halfway at 91-1.
Their progress was then slowed to 122-3 after 15 as wily left-arm spinner Graeme White finished with an excellent 2-18 from four overs, including the wickets of Lyth and Willey.
But Brook’s blast, including a straight six onto the top tier of the Emerald Stand of Rob Keogh’s off-spin, got things going again, with 65 coming off the last five overs. Jack Leaning also struck the ball well in 18 off nine balls.
Both Lyth and then Kohler-Cadmore holed out off the next ball they faced after reaching 50, while Northants skipper Josh Cobb utilised eight bowlers, including himself.
The visitors then got off to a flying start in their chase, with Levi hitting the first three balls of the innings from Lyth for four before planting the fifth ball over mid-wicket for six into the Western Terrace, the same stand Ben Stokes peppered in Sunday’s Ashes heist.
But he slapped Willey straight to mid-wicket with the first ball of the second over.
Excellent Tim Bresnan bowled Adam Rossington with the first ball of the third and Willey struck again with the first ball of the fourth when he had Cobb caught at deep backward square-leg before getting Dwaine Pretorius brilliantly caught by Will Fraine running back from point later in the over (30-4).
Alex Wakely then holed out to deep square-leg off Willey, ending a miserable power play at 43-5, before Bresnan struck again in the sixth to get Ashraf caught at mid-on with only two runs added to the total.
It was then only a matter of when Yorkshire secured their first home victory in the Blast this season and not if.
South African left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj bowled Keogh early in the eleventh over as the score slipped to 68-7 before off-spinner Jack Shutt had White and Nathan Buck caught at long-on (81-9 in the 14th).
Tom Sole played a lone hand for 41 not out before Lyth had Blessing Muzarabani caught behind to wrap things up.
What they said…
Yorkshire secured an action-packed but dominant 80-run victory over Northamptonshire at Emerald Headingley in their final Vitality Blast home game of the season, with four-wicket seamer David Willey starring against his former county.
The Vikings defended a target of 188 oh so comfortably to secure their third win from 13 North Group games – their first at home – as they at least jumped off bottom spot in the North Group.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore’s side will now hope to end their campaign as a whole with another win against Birmingham Bears at Edgbaston tomorrow (6.30pm, FRIDAY).
Yorkshire amassed 187-7 thanks to fifties for captain Kohler-Cadmore and opening partner Adam Lyth, who made 51 and 50 respectively, and then a breezy 38 off 16 balls from Harry Brook late on.
Brook also claimed four catches, a joint White Rose record in a T20 fixture.
Richard Levi took 19 off Lyth at the start of the Northants chase, but the visitors slipped badly as Willey and Tim Bresnan both picked up a wicket with their first balls in the second and third over. Willey finished with 4-18 from four overs as Northants were bowled out for 107 after 18 overs.
Yorkshire’s innings was not without incident.
Kohler-Cadmore and Lyth shared 88 inside 10 overs, with the Vikings reaching halfway at 91-1.
Their progress was then slowed to 122-3 after 15 as wily left-arm spinner Graeme White finished with an excellent 2-18 from four overs, including the wickets of Lyth and Willey.
But Brook’s blast, including a straight six onto the top tier of the Emerald Stand of Rob Keogh’s off-spin, got things going again, with 65 coming off the last five overs. Jack Leaning also struck the ball well in 18 off nine balls.
Both Lyth and then Kohler-Cadmore holed out off the next ball they faced after reaching 50, while Northants skipper Josh Cobb utilised eight bowlers, including himself.
The visitors then got off to a flying start in their chase, with Levi hitting the first three balls of the innings from Lyth for four before planting the fifth ball over mid-wicket for six into the Western Terrace, the same stand Ben Stokes peppered in Sunday’s Ashes heist.
But he slapped Willey straight to mid-wicket with the first ball of the second over.
Excellent Tim Bresnan bowled Adam Rossington with the first ball of the third and Willey struck again with the first ball of the fourth when he had Cobb caught at deep backward square-leg before getting Dwaine Pretorius brilliantly caught by Will Fraine running back from point later in the over (30-4).
Alex Wakely then holed out to deep square-leg off Willey, ending a miserable power play at 43-5, before Bresnan struck again in the sixth to get Ashraf caught at mid-on with only two runs added to the total.
It was then only a matter of when Yorkshire secured their first home victory in the Blast this season and not if.
South African left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj bowled Keogh early in the eleventh over as the score slipped to 68-7 before off-spinner Jack Shutt had White and Nathan Buck caught at long-on (81-9 in the 14th).
Tom Sole played a lone hand for 41 not out before Lyth had Blessing Muzarabani caught behind to wrap things up.
What they said…
Yorkshire’s David Willey
“That was very typical of the way we’ve played in the last few years. We either blow teams out of the water or lose. There’s no getting across the line in tight games. That’s where we’ve got to be better. If we get across the line in tight ones, we might have qualified.
“It’s nice for the fans who’ve come to our last home game that we’ve put on a show. But, ultimately, it’s disappointing that we’re out of the competition. It was a dead rubber after we’ve not played very well throughout.
“It’s been a while for me (wickets). I lost it a bit after I got out. I’ve been poor with the bat this year and have probably not bowled as well as I’d have liked either. So I came out more fired up than I usually am, and I seemed to get a bit out of the pitch bowling shorter than my usual length. They tried to hit to the short side and couldn’t get hold of it. I got some reward. That’s T20 cricket.”
Northants coach David Ripley
“We didn’t field well, we didn’t bowl well, we didn’t bat well. When that happens, you’ll struggle to make an impact on a game of cricket.
“It was a low point. We’ve had a few of them in the competition, and we haven’t played particularly well. This feels particularly disappointing.
“The good news is that it’s not our last game. If we turn around tomorrow and play better than that, we’ll offer the supporters something better than we did to anyone who made the trip here.
“We dropped three catches. We held a couple of good ones, but dropping three catches is too many.
“We got 19 off the first over and were out of the blocks very quickly, but four or five overs later the game was over. Losing five or six quick wickets, you’re never going to take down a score of 180 plus.
“We didn’t make Yorkshire work hard enough for their runs, either. There were too many square boundaries and too many boundaries the batsman’s not had to work hard to find.
“We were just poor, and the players are disappointed.”
