Yorkshire were hurt by the loss of seven wickets for 22 runs in only 16 balls as Nottinghamshire chased down 191 to win today’s Vitality Blast clash at Trent Bridge by six wickets with four balls to spare.
The Vikings would have hoped for more than their 190 all out, including Joe Root’s silky 65 off 43 balls and Adam Lyth’s belligerent 53 off 29.
But experienced seamer Luke Fletcher finished with 5-43 and bowled expertly at the death as Yorkshire slipped from 168-3 in the 18th over.
Ben Duckett then led a chase which had stumbled to 16-2 early on with a brilliant unbeaten 86 off 53 balls with 10 fours and two sixes.
Just like in victory over Derbyshire 24 hours earlier, Lyth and Root underpinned Yorkshire’s total.
After the early loss of captain Tom Kohler-Cadmore, the pair imposed themselves on a home side who took time to find their feet.
Lyth made the early running again on an excellent pitch, pulling and sweeping sixes on the way to a 27-ball fifty, reached at the start of the eighth over as the Vikings moved to 81-1.
The left-handed opener then fell to a replica of his dismissal in the victory over Derby, caught at deep mid-wicket sweeping – medium pacer Steven Mullaney with the wicket as Yorkshire fell to 83-2 in the ninth.
Root shared in partnerships of 54 with Lyth for the second wicket and then 64 for the third with Harry Brook, who impressed for a 39 in similarly smooth manner to how the England Test captain played.
Root hit nine boundaries in his 65, reaching his fifth fifty in his last seven T20 innings for Yorkshire – dating back to mid 2015 – off 35 balls.
Unfortunately though, the Vikings’ innings subsided somewhat late on as seamer Fletcher claimed the wickets of Root, Mat Pillans and George Hill in the last over.
The Vikings were then given a major boost inside the first two overs of their defence as Notts slipped to 16-2.
England discard Alex Hales (4) drilled the fifth ball of the innings from Lyth to Kohler-Cadmore at mid-off before Joe Clarke was caught at cover by Lyth off Matthew Fisher.
Notts reached 50-2 after six overs of powerplay before Chris Nash (51) and Duckett really brought their side back into the contest, with 33 coming off the eighth and ninth overs from expensive pair Josh Poysden and Pillans (90-2).
Nash pulled successive sixes off Pillans in the ninth and brought up his fifty off 30 balls shortly afterwards.
The third-wicket pair shared 85, a partnership ended when Jordan Thompson trapped Nash lbw in the 11th over (101-3).
Inventive Duckett then reached his fifty off 34 balls in the 13th over, by which time Notts were motoring at 124-3.
Thompson removed Notts’ Australian skipper Dan Christian for 21 (143-4 in the 15th over), but Duckett’s presence at the crease was crucial.
Notts needed 30 off the last three overs with Duckett (64) and Tom Moores (21 not out) together and then 19 off two.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Moores, with his particularly fast hands, also found the boundary to help out his fellow left-hander, with Fisher conceding 14 off the penultimate over.
Duckett then hit the winning runs off Pillans early in the final over.
Yorkshire, with a No Result, a win and a loss from three games, host Leicestershire at Emerald Headingley on Wednesday (6.30pm).
