Yorkshire Vikings v Lancashire Lightning
Vitality Blast, North Group
Thursday June 1, 2023, 7pm
Headingley
Toss: Lancashire won it and elected to bowl.
Teams – 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.
Lancashire: Phil Salt, Jos Buttler w, Luke Wells, Steven Croft, Daryl Mitchell, Liam Livingstone c, Colin de Grandhomme, Tom Hartley, Luke Wood, Tom Bailey, Matthew Parkinson.
Match summary: Yorkshire claimed a stunning 15-run Roses win over Lancashire, and there was a certain inevitability about the whole thing. Dawid Malan celebrated his 300th career T20 appearance with a brilliant unbeaten 83 as Yorkshire made 195-6 before Lancashire replied with 180-8, including David Wiese and Ben Mike each claiming 2-31.
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. Dawid Malan.
Report: In the build-up to this fixture, all you heard was that Lancashire were star-studded and were coming up against a Yorkshire team on a wretched run. The result was a foregone conclusion.
But what people didn’t account for was that this Yorkshire team, despite results, also has significant quality and heart in bucketfuls. Also, there’s the sheer beauty of sport.
And, make no mistake, this was beautiful.
Yorkshire flew out of the blocks with 17 off the first over, including four boundaries in four balls for Adam Lyth off Luke Wood. And Lyth went on to share 88 inside 10 overs for the first wicket with Malan.
Immediately after the first over, Malan took on the bulk of the scoring, hitting two leg-side sixes off Wood and later leg-spinner Matthew Parkinson.
The Vikings took 59 off the six-over powerplay before Lyth hoisted Colin de Grandhomme’s first ball of medium pace to deep mid-wicket at the start of the 10th over, ending an 88-run stand with Malan.
Lancashire dragged things back either side of the wicket, though Malan was reprieved on 63 when Parkinson spilled him at short fine-leg off de Grandhomme, who then had Will Luxton caught at deep square-leg next ball for four – 106-2 in the 12th.
Malan, having previously reached his fifty off 33 balls, continued on, hitting a couple more sixes as the Vikings regained some momentum.
But he fell to Liam Livingstone’s spin, caught at long-off, as Yorkshire fell to 134-3 in the 15th.
De Grandhomme struck again to get Shan Masood caught in the deep, while Matthew Revis’s brisk 24 not out was key in getting the Vikings up near 200, as was Jordan Thompson’s similar style 18.
Thompson was one of two wickets to fall to De Grandhomme’s fellow New Zealand all-rounder Daryl Mitchell in the last over.
Yorkshire then set about defending their target, and they did so with significant success.
That started with Buttler miscuing Bess’s first ball to mid-off as the score fell to 4-1 in the second over.
Steven Croft and Luke Wells played aggressive cameos – 22 and 21 respectively – inside the powerplay to keep Lancashire hopes alive.
But they both holed out to Jordan Thompson and Mike, the seamer who also had Phil Salt caught and bowled as the score fell to 64-4 in the seventh.
Despite wickets tumbling, this game was nowhere near over given Lancashire’s seven-strong international contingent in this fixture. Mitchell and captain Livingstone were still huge dangers.
Mitchell holed out to long-on off fledgling leg-spinner Jafer Chohan in the 12th over, and Lancashire still needed 99 at 97-5 in the 12th over.
But when Livingstone top-edged David Wiese behind in the next, falling for 15 – 101-6 in the 13th – it really did feel like game over. So it proved.
A career best 39 off 21 balls from Hartley threatened that theory briefly, but Yorkshire held their nerve as Wiese struck again, Hartley was run out and Thompson defended 34 off the last over.
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. Ben Mike.
Magic moment: You could write a whole piece of magic moments.
Despite Malan’s brilliant 83, the wicket of Jos Buttler for one – caught at mid-off against Dom Bess’s first ball at the start of the second over of the chase – felt like a huge moment as Lancashire fell to 4-1. Had the England captain got going, this chase could have been over very quickly.
Turning point: Yorkshire striking four times with the ball inside the first seven overs of the Lancashire chase, leaving them reeling at 64-4.
Stat of the match: This was Yorkshire’s second Roses Blast win since the start of 2018.
What they said – Captain Shan Masood: “I tried not to overplay the occasion, but the boys have been brilliant. Yes it’s an important game, and yes the atmosphere was amazing. Playing against a Lancs side who could be an international side, we were good in all facets of the game.
“We delivered the blueprint of how we want to play, and the boys delivered in every stage of the game.
“The biggest lesson for us is that you’re never down and out. There’s always a way back. It shows the quality of our side. If we can beat Notts at Trent Bridge and Lancs here, we’ve got something in our ranks.
“If you look at the Notts performance (win, Tuesday) and the Worcestershire performance (defeat last Friday), they were identical. It was just the result which was different.
“More often than not, if you put in performances like that then you’ll end up winning.
“I’d like the boys to look at themselves like that and take it forward into the competition.”
What’s next: Yorkshire return to Headingley on Sunday when they face Derbyshire Falcons at 11.30am, as part of a T20 double header with the Northern Diamonds, who face Southern Vipers in the Charlotte Edwards Cup (3.30pm).
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. David Wiese.
