Nottinghamshire Outlaws v Yorkshire Vikings
Vitality Blast, North Group
Friday July 9 2021, 6.30pm
Trent Bridge
Toss: Yorkshire won it and opted to bat first.
Teams:
Nottinghamshire – Hales, Slater, Trego, Moores w, Patel, Mullaney c, James, Fletcher, Harrison, Carter. Paterson.
Yorkshire – Lyth c, Northeast, Thompson, Ballance, Brook, Hill, Waite, Duke w, Fisher, Bess, Poysden.
Match summary: Yorkshire lost a rain-affected Vitality Blast game by 10 wickets against champions Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, and they will go into the final weekend of the North Group with quarter-final qualification still to be secured.
Notts easily chased down a target of 61 in a revised seven-over game to strengthen their position at the top of the table and secure a home quarter-final next month. Yorkshire need one more point to join them in the last eight.
Report: Yorkshire posted 60-3 in seven overs having won the toss before rain arrived to delay a start from 6.30pm to 8.45pm.
And it just wasn’t enough as Notts reeled in the target thanks to some fireworks from openers Peter Trego and Alex Hales.
Yorkshire remain second in the North Group table with 15 points from 12 games and are still well placed for a top-four finish and quarter-final qualification with two games remaining.
They need one point from their final two fixtures against Lancashire and Derbyshire next weekend.
The Vikings were unable to break the shackles of a tidy Outlaws bowling display led by the wily left-arm spin of Samit Patel, who had form man Harry Brook stumped for a duck in the first over and finished with 1-7 from two overs.
Yorkshire did accelerate in the latter stages of their innings, with Jordan Thompson top-scoring with 28 and Adam Lyth hitting 26.
The pair shared 54 for the second wicket and hit a six apiece.
Nineteen runs came off Luke Fletcher in the sixth over, but it was key that Notts bowled four overs which went for four, eight, three and five runs respectively.
South African seamer Dane Paterson removed both Lyth and Thompson caught in the final over of the innings.
Trego then hit three fours off former Somerset team-mate Dom Bess as 18 came off the first over of the home chase, and it was a mountainous task from there for the Vikings.
Trego led the way as he and Hales brought up their 50 partnership in only 22 balls, and he finished with 29 not out off 13 balls.
But Hales clobbered four sixes, including two off Josh Poysden in the fourth and final over, to overtake him to 33 not out off 10 balls.
Yorkshire were hurt by the absence of New Zealand overseas fast bowler Lockie Ferguson with a side strain.
Turning point: Yorkshire were unable to get out of the traps quick enough, scoring 12-1 after the 2.1 overs of power play. Unfortunately, despite acceleration, they were left with too much to do.
Magic moment: They were few and far between for Yorkshire, unfortunately. But, at the start of the sixth over that went for 19, Jordan Thompson muscled a six over long-off against Luke Fletcher.
It was a shot which demonstrated the power and confidence the Vikings all-rounder possesses.
Stat: Yorkshire’s last win in the Blast against Nottinghamshire came at Emerald Headingley in 2017. Since then, they have lost six, including this, and had two games rained off.
What they said: Andrew Gale – “It would have been nice had it rained for another half hour!
“To have the toss and decide to bat, we thought we might get a shower or two but not rain for that long.
“It was a tacky pitch, and it’s hard to know what a good score is. We were at least 20 short.
“We had to get off to a good start with the ball, and we didn’t. The game was done.
“Everything’s more magnified in a shortened game because every ball is massive. If you have a couple of dot balls, you feel you have to get four or a six.
“We were guilty of trying to overhit. When you do, you lose your shape, hit it up in the air and get caught. Then you have to start again. It’s a vicious circle.
“We’re still confident. We have played some good cricket and a lot of games with a lot of players missing. If we find that one win, I’d back us in the quarter-finals with some players back. You never know what can happen from there.
“We’ve bounced back before.
“We’ll assess Lockie (Ferguson) next week. He hasn’t bowled since the Roses match last Friday when he felt his side.
“We were hoping it would settle down quickly, but it didn’t. He had a scan, and it’s showed a little strain. It wasn’t significant, although enough to keep him out of tonight.
“Hopefully it will settle down early next week and we can get him back on the park because we know how valuable he is to our team.
“I’m hoping Rooty will be available for the last two games. I’ll have to check that because the goalposts have changed a bit with the Covid situation.
“But I’m led to believe the England players are out of isolation on Wednesday, so I’ll certainly be making a call.”
What’s next: Yorkshire have five days of Roses cricket from Sunday through to Saturday.
First up it is the LV= Insurance County Championship game at Emerald Headingley on Sunday (11am).
Then it is the return leg of the Roses Blast game at Emirates Old Trafford on Saturday (5pm). As well as securing quarter-final qualification, the Vikings are also aiming to complete the double after last Friday’s Headingley triumph.
