Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. Will Sutherland en-route to a 58 which included six sixes. He hit four of them in one over.
Yorkshire v Northamptonshire Steelbacks
Vitality Blast, North Group
Friday May 30, 2025, 6.30pm
Headingley
Toss: Yorkshire won it and elected to bowl.
Teams – Yorkshire: Dawid Malan c, Adam Lyth, Will Luxton, James Wharton, Harry Duke w, Will Sutherland, Matthew Revis, Dom Bess, Matt Milnes, Jafer Chohan, Will O’Rourke.
Northamptonshire: Matthew Breetzke, Ricardo Vasconcelos, David Willey c, Ravi Bopara, Saif Zaib, Lewis McManus w, Justin Broad, Liam Guthrie, Lloyd Pope, Ben Sanderson, George Scrimshaw.
Match summary: Yorkshire were narrowly beaten in one of Headingley’s most memorable T20 fixtures, the county almost chasing down 238 having been 9-3 after five balls of their chase.
A bowler’s nightmare of a night, Yorkshire finished on 224-9. Two batters on each side, including Yorkshire’s James Wharton and Will Sutherland with 58 apiece, posted fifties.
Ultimately, Northamptonshire captain David Willey’s 54 off 24 balls with six sixes and 3-42 from four overs, including two wickets in the first over, decided this contest. Yorkshire, in reply to 237-4, lost by 13 runs.
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. David Willey starred with bat and ball against the county he used to captain.
Match Report: Northamptonshire posted their highest ever total in this format.
Justin Broad top-scored with a career best 67 off 32 balls.
He shared a third-wicket stand of 85 inside six overs with David Willey during the second half of the innings for last year’s quarter-finalists.
Later, James Wharton and Will Sutherland smashed 58 apiece, the latter hitting four of his six sixes in one over against Liam Guthrie. The Australian all-rounder faced 30 balls.
Ricardo Vasconcelos shared an opening 73 inside six overs with South African Matthew Breetzke after the Steelbacks had been inserted.
The latter contributed 36 with three sixes – one of which was pulled out of the ground over backward square-leg against under-fire New Zealand quick Will O’Rourke.
Off-spinner Dom Bess bowled Breetzke in his first over, but the Steelbacks maintained the momentum through more measured Vasconcelos and Broad, who took the score to 105-1 after 10 overs on a batting paradise of a pitch.
Bess struck again to bowl Vasconcelos for 48 – 116-1 in the 12th – but that brought Willey in.
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. Dawid Malan won his first toss as Yorkshire’s captain.
He reached his fifty off 20 balls after Broad’s had come up in 23. The former was brutal in favouring the leg-side.
Broad, particularly strong against spin in his 20th career appearance, hit five of 17 sixes in an innings which saw debutant O’Rourke return figures of nought for 67 from four overs.
Yorkshire’s hopes of reeling in what would have been their highest successful run chase in Blast history were then hurt badly inside five balls.
New captain Dawid Malan hoisted Willey out to deep mid-wicket before Will Luxton edged the next ball to slip.
A wide ball followed before Adam Lyth was run out at the striker’s end coming back for three to deep mid-wicket, leaving Yorkshire 9-3.
Northamptonshire had taken three wickets in three legal deliveries.
But fourth-wicket pair Harry Duke, batting for the first time in his sixth T20 appearance, and Wharton then threatened a revival with a scintillating 81-run partnership inside six overs.
Duke hit four sixes in an 18-ball 37 before being bowled sweeping at Australian leg-spinner Lloyd Pope’s third ball.
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. James Wharton scoops on a batter’s night at Headingley.
Wharton continued on and reached 50 off 27 balls before playing on pulling at Willey, leaving Yorkshire 141-5 in the 12th over.
Sutherland then clattered compatriot Liam Guthrie – 0-68 from three overs – for four sixes in the 13th to reach 50 off 26 balls before falling caught at long-off against Pope in the next – 174-6.
Yorkshire continued to stay in the game, taking the target to 30 off the last two overs and 22 off the last. But George Scrimshaw got his side over the line.
On a night which the bowlers will want to forget, Bess and Northamptonshire’s ex-Yorkshire seamer Ben Sanderson both impressed with 2-29 from four overs.
A total of 31 sixes were hit in the match.
Magic Moment: The 81-run fourth-wicket partnership between Harry Duke and James Wharton, which recovered Yorkshire from 9-3 in the opening over and gave the county renewed hope.
They played some scintillating shots to give the Steelbacks something to think about.
Turning point: There was one in either innings. The first, when David Willey strode to the crease at 116-2 in the 12th over. He caused mayhem for the next few overs.
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. Harry Duke impressed in his maiden first-team T20 innings. He helped Yorkshire recover from 9-3 chasing 238.
In the second, Yorkshire slipping to 9-3 after five balls of their chase. As well as they recovered, it was just too much to do. A lack of wickets in hand cost them dear.
Stat of the match: This was Harry Duke’s sixth career T20 match since debuting in 2021, but he had never batted before in his five previous outings.
What they said – Will Sutherland: “They got 20-25 too many, I think. We were probably a little bit sloppy with the fielding, and we’d have liked to take a few balls back bowling wise and have them again.
“There were positives for our batting group. It’s always nice to post 220 first game, win or lose.
“We’ll take those positives and try and fix a few things up bowling wise with a quick turnaround coming now to Sunday (Worcestershire away).
“I haven’t played since mid-March, so it was nice to get some time in the middle. To bat with some of the guys I’ve been hanging around with for the last week was a lot of fun.
“Tricky as it was bowling, it was nice to be out there with a shorter boundary one side and hit a few sixes that might have been caught back in Australia.”
What’s next: Yorkshire face Worcestershire Rapids at Visit Worcestershire New Road on Sunday (2.30pm). The Rapids lost their opening game to Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford last night.
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. Dom Bess was superb with the ball, striking twice.
