Will Luxton’s superb 83 added to an impressive all-round contribution from George Hill helped Yorkshire get their Metro Bank One-Day Cup campaign up and running with a commanding win over Surrey at the Kia Oval.
Yorkshire had much the better of a rain-affected fixture which saw a trio of interruptions in the visiting innings, each reducing the allocation of overs to 49 overs per side, then to 36 apiece and finally to a 33-over contest.
The Vikings posted a challenging 240-6 from their 33 overs in good batting conditions, a target increased to 248 on Duckworth Lewis Stern. Hill added 51 off 38 balls and Matthew Revis 36 not out off 15. He crashed four sixes in the final over of the innings.
Opener Luxton paced his innings beautifully for 12 fours in 79 balls. Hill and Revis lent valuable support before the former added 3-41 from seven overs of seam as Surrey finished on 222-9. The Vikings won by 25 runs on DLS against a Surrey side missing 15 players because of international duty and the Hundred to Yorkshire’s seven.
Leg-spinner Cam Steel was the victim of Revis’s assault on an unsettled day south of the Thames – the floodlights were on all day – having earlier took a brilliant one-handed diving catch at short fine-leg to help dismiss James Wharton.
Wharton later took three catches of his own, including two stunners.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. James Wharton claimed two stunning catches in today’s win at the Kia Oval.
The first was the day’s best effort out on the deep cover boundary to help Hill remove Ben Geddes as Surrey’s chase fell to 53-2 after 10 overs.
Having initially misjudged a well struck drive on the up and come in a step or two too far, Wharton flung himself backwards and took the catch in his right hand.
It was an effort which evoked memories of the catch Ben Stokes took on this ground in the early stages of the 2019 World Cup when he helped Adil Rashid remove Andile Phehlukwayo. You know the one, the catch which prompted Nasser Hussain to exclaim, “Ben Stokes, you cannot do that!”.
Later, Wharton helped Hill remove Rory Burns with a catch at deep mid-wicket – one of those where he caught it, threw it up before stepping over the rope and caught it again having stepped back inside.
Having been inserted, Yorkshire’s innings advanced confidently around the trio of rain breaks, the first one of 15 minutes from 11.25am, the second of an-hour-and-three-quarters from 12.45pm and the third of 35 minutes from 2.45pm.
Luxton, who reached his fifty in 38 balls, was strong on both sides of the wicket to indicate just why the West Indies Test attack struggled to bowl at the 21-year-old, who has had an impressive summer of second-team cricket.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. George Hill was excellent with runs and wickets as the Vikings got their 50-over campaign off to the ideal start.
Luxton was particularly dominant through the covers, off front foot and back, and dominated a 97-run second-wicket partnership with captain Shan Masood, who came to the crease after seamer James Taylor had Fin Bean caught behind off the inside edge early on (7-1).
Luxton and Masood both could have been run out following a mix-up, with wicketkeeper Josh Blake unaware that Luxton was out of his ground having slipped at the non-striker’s end as he took a throw from the deep and threw to the non-striker’s end where the Vikings captain was scrambling to make his ground.
Masood did fall when caught behind down leg pulling at recent Yorkshire loanee Conor McKerr before Wharton scooped Yousef Majid’s left-arm spin to short fine-leg, where Steel look a brilliant catch, leaving the visitors at 138-3 in the 22nd over.
Almost immediately afterwards came that second rain break, the longest one of almost two hours.
Hill scooped and flicked a couple of his eight boundaries added to a six over long-on. He reached his fifty off 36 balls but fell two balls later caught at long-off trying to attack Steel’s leg-spin.
With Luxton having previously miscued Matt Dunn’s seam to mid-off, Yorkshire were 199-5 in the 31st over. Dom Bess followed shortly afterwards, caught behind off Steel, before the leg-spinner was taken to task by Revis in the final over.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Ben Coad was miserly with the new ball.
Revis had demonstrated his power with a late assault in Sunday’s friendly at Shropshire, and he continued in the same vein here as he found the stands three times over deep mid-wicket and once arrow straight.
Twenty six runs came from the final over, and it felt like a defining moment. Surrey’s task of chasing had gone from a challenging one to an unlikely one.
That proved so, as Yorkshire were excellent with the ball and in the field, even with Wharton dropping one catch.
The first one he took was the simplest as opener Dom Sibley chipped a drive to him at cover off Dom Leech – 12-1 in the second over.
Geddes followed to Wharton’s one-hander off Hill before the excellent Ben Coad bowled Ryan Patel, leaving Surrey at 65-3 in the 13th over. Burns then followed to the Hill and Wharton combination (73-4 in the 16th).
Coad and Hill were the pick of Yorkshire’s bowlers.
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. Matthew Revis on the charge with the bat.
Coad bowled his seven overs straight through with the new ball from the Vauxhall End for 1-25, while Hill chipped away at the wickets to ensure Surrey just couldn’t break free.
Following the departure of captain Burns, Yorkshire had the game all but wrapped up.
Steel and Ben Foakes did steady things for Surrey. But they had been left too much to do, and their 68-run stand for the fifth wicket proved nothing more than consolatory.
At 127-4 after 33 overs, they needed 121 more from the final 10.
It was therefore no surprise that when Steel fell, caught at short fine-leg for 37 to hand Hill a third wicket – 141-5 in the 26th over, it came having top-edged a heave across the line in pursuit of quick runs.
Foakes, for 40, followed soon afterwards – caught at deep mid-wicket off Bess (163-6 in the 27th). By that stage, the two points had long been secured by the Vikings.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Will Luxton hit his third List A fifty today, setting the tone for Yorkshire’s opening Group B win.
Revis claimed Surrey’s seventh wicket and Leech (career best 3-48 from six overs) their eighth and ninth as the i’s were dotted and the t’s crossed.
Wicketkeeper Josh Blake, Majid and McKerr all holed out in the deep.
Yorkshire travel to Welbeck Colliery on Sunday to face Nottinghamshire in their next Group B fixture.
