Nottinghamshire Outlaws v Yorkshire Vikings
Vitality Blast, North Group
Tuesday May 30, 2023, 6.30pm
Trent Bridge
Toss: Yorkshire won it and elected to bat.
Teams – Nottinghamshire: Joe Clarke, Alex Hales, Colin Munro, Matt Montgomery, Steven Mullaney c, Tom Moores w, Lyndon James, Samit Patel, Shaheen Afridi, Matt Carter, Jack Brooks.
Yorkshire: Adam Lyth, Dawid Malan, Shan Masood c, Will Luxton, Jonny Tattersall w, Matthew Revis, Jordan Thompson, David Wiese, Dom Bess, Ben Mike, Jafer Chohan.
Match summary: Yorkshire tasted victory for the first time this season, in fact since August 21 last year, by beating Nottinghamshire in an enthralling Vitality Blast clash. Dawid Malan’s brilliant 95 not out led the way to 182-7 before an on-point bowling and fielding display limited the hosts to 174-4 and ensured an eight-run win.
Report: This was Yorkshire’s first victory of any kind since August 21 last year, with Jordan Thompson closing things out by defending 20 off the last over after Alex Hales had top-scored for Notts with 53 to help build a platform during the first part of their innings.
Yorkshire’s innings – their path to 183 – maintained a good pace all the way through, with Malan at the heart of things thanks to his 56-ball effort including four leg-side sixes.
He shared 50 for the third wicket with captain Shan Masood, who dominated that passage of play with a couple of slog-swept sixes in 34 as they advanced from 41-2 after six overs.
Unfortunately debutant Will Luxton, in after a fine run of second-team form, miscued a whip at Brook high to mid-wicket, falling for a three-ball duck.
Brooks had earlier got Lyth and later added the wickets of all-rounders Matthew Revis and Ben Mike.
The latter hit a very useful 15 off six balls late in the innings, including two of his three boundaries off Pakistan star quick Shaheen Shah Afridi in the 19th over.
While Malan showed flashes of his class through the off-side, the main feature of this innings was his power through the leg-side. He slog swept and pulled well on the way to his best T20 score in Yorkshire colours (21 matches).
Yorkshire made a useful start to the defence of 183 when David Wiese (2-32 from four overs) forced Joe Clarke to sky a top-edge to Jonny Tattersall who ran around from behind the stumps to take the catch – 15-1 in the second over.
Hales and New Zealander Colin Munro then settled for the Outlaws, taking them to 48-1 after the six-over powerplay.
The hosts reached 10 overs at 78-1, needing 105 more to win with Hales unbeaten on 45.
Hales reached his fifty off 30 balls shortly afterwards. But he miscued a cut at Wiese to point in the 13th over, leaving the score at 99-2.
Matt Montgomery started brightly, and with six overs to go Notts were 120-2 needing 63 more.
Munro had struggled for momentum in his first 30 runs, and Thompson got him caught at long-on for 46 – 134-4 in the 16th, 49 more needed.
That target became 48 off four overs, 38 from three and 29 from two – at 154-3.
Yorkshire to date had bowled well to their field in preventing a powerful batting line-up from breaking free, and it paid dividends.
Mike got Montgomery caught at cover in the penultimate for 28 before Thompson closed things out without drama, despite a Lyndon James six over long-on.
Magic moment: Three words. That winning feeling. It is something the county has not tasted since beating Derbyshire by one wicket at Chesterfield last August in the Royal London Cup.
Turning point: The wicket of Hales was a huge one after he had built a platform with a brisk half-century. He miscued a cut to backward point off Wiese to fall for 53, leaving Notts at 99-2 in the 13th over. Yorkshire were able to close things out from there.
Stat of the match: Jack Brooks, debuting for Notts this evening as part of a short-term loan from Somerset, just missed out on his second career five-wicket haul. His first came for Yorkshire against Leicestershire at Headingley in 2013, 5-21 in a seven-wicket win.
What they said – Ottis Gibson: “There were times when we’d lost games, even at the back end of last year, and I’d said to you, ‘We’re not far away’. Every game, we’d got a little bit closer apart from Sunday when we were awful to be fair. Today, it all came together.
“We talked about somebody batting deep into the innings, and we got 52 I think off the last four overs because Mala was in.
“I’m really pleased for the boys because of course when you lose, confidence is eroded. But we’ve kept going. The win will do a lot for our confidence going forwards.
“It was nice to see Mala get his runs, he played beautifully. And everyone else chipped in. Benny Mike came in and played a little gem of an innings. That injection of 15 runs was really good for us at that time.
“Then, when we bowled, we held our nerve. Bowling to Alex Hales, Colin Munro and Joe Clarke, who are three really good white ball players, we were able to contain them.
“Dom Bess executed his role in the powerplay beautifully, and Shan shuffled his bowlers through the middle overs. Revis I thought had a good night, Benny Mike and Tommo.
“It sets us up for another big game, a Roses game, on Thursday night.”
What’s next: It’s the best night of the summer. It’s the Roses clash. It’s Yorkshire v Lancashire on Thursday (7pm) in front of the Sky Sports cameras.
