Yorkshire Vikings v Northamptonshire Steelbacks
Vitality Blast, North Group
Tuesday June 20, 2023, 6.30pm
Headingley
Toss: Northamptonshire won it and elected to bat.
Teams – Yorkshire: Adam Lyth, Dawid Malan, Shan Masood c, James Wharton, Matthew Revis, Jonny Tattersall w, Jordan Thompson, David Wiese, Dom Bess, Ben Mike, Jafer Chohan.
Northamptonshire: Emilio Gay, Ricardo Vasconcelos, Saif Zaib, David Willey c, Justin Broad, Lewis McManus w, Chris Lynn, Tom Taylor, AJ Tye, Ben Sanderson, Freddie Heldreich.
Match summary: Yorkshire’s bowling late on and then batting caught them out for the second game running, with them ultimately failing to chase 181 against Northamptonshire at Headingley and suffering a significant setback in their hopes of quarter-final qualification. The Vikings lost their fifth game in 11 and their second on the bounce, bowled out for 102 inside 16 overs to lose by 78 as seamer Tom Taylor claimed a superb career best 5-28.
Report: Yorkshire were bowled out for a record low 68 in pursuit of 213 against Derbyshire at Chesterfield on Sunday. Whilst things weren’t that bad, it was still the same outcome.
Former Vikings captain David Willey had a productive return to the club he left at the end of last summer. He was skippering the Steelbacks and hit 28 off 18 balls down the order and claimed two new ball wickets.
But 28-year-old Taylor was their star, including getting the wicket of Dawid Malan for an innings-high 34.
Northamptonshire posted 180-6 on a sluggish pitch, including South African-born German international Justin Broad’s 47 not out off 32 balls – one of a number of useful contributions. Jafer Chohan was superb for a career best 1-13 from four overs of leg-spin in his 11th senior appearance.
Their innings was not so much a tale of two halves, more a tale of three thirds. They had a good start and finish but stumbled in the middle.
Ricardo Vasconcelos underpinned a 55-1 powerplay with 37, including an early reverse scooped four and a heaved six. But he miscued Jordan Thompson high to cover, where Malan took a good catch.
Chohan was then outstanding in four miserly overs, getting Chris Lynn well caught for three by Adam Lyth running around towards square-leg (70-2 in the ninth).
Yorkshire caught and fielded very well, with Shan Masood at the heart of it. He caught Gay off Thompson at mid-off and ran out Saif Zaib with a direct hit from short third.
That left the Steelbacks 94-4 in the 13th before Broad and Willey (28) shared 60 inside five overs, the former mixing power with invention.
Two further run outs came, including Willey coming back for three, but the visitors got themselves to a competitive score on an unusually slowish pitch.
Unfortunately, not only was it competitive but it was a winning total too. And it was settled quickly as the Vikings slipped to 7-2 in the third over and 22-4 in the sixth.
Ben Sanderson had Lyth skying to short third, where Zaib took a good catch on the run over his shoulder, and then Willey had James Wharton caught behind.
Willey later bowled Masood as he gave himself room to play through the off-side before Matthew Revis was bowled by another former Yorkshire bowler Sanderson in the next over as the hosts lost wicket number four.
More damage was on its way as Jonny Tattersall got a leading edge to third off seamer Taylor, who bowled David Wiese next ball – 49-6 in the ninth.
Taylor later returned to bowl Mike and Malan and get Thompson caught at wide mid-off. Australian Tye finished things off by bowling Chohan.
Magic moment: There was a lot going on in the run out of David Willey for 28, leaving the Steelbacks at 144-5 in the 18th over. Justin Broad whipped Matthew Revis out to deep mid-wicket, where Dom Bess on the run prevented a six before Ben Mike kicked the ball back to stop it going for four. He then arrowed a throw over the stumps for Jonny Tattersall to whip the bails off as Willey returned for a third run.
Turning point: Yorkshire slipped to 7-2 inside 15 balls of their chase, and achieving a target of 181 already looked a tall order. Unfortunately, so it proved.
Stat of the match: It’s the statistic that matters in the North Group. Yorkshire are likely to need two wins from their remaining three games to have any chance of reaching the quarter-finals.
What they said – Captain Shan Masood: “It feels like deja vu from Chesterfield. Losses are always going to happen, but what we have to work on is the manner of the losses – that goes for both the batting and bowling departments.
“I’ll keep going back. We had Birmingham 50-4 against us, Derby 49-3. Both teams got 200. Then when teams have gone through our top order, they’ve gone through the whole batting line-up even though we bat until 11.
“Two sides, Derby and the Steelbacks, have shown us that once you get that momentum you have to go through with it.
“If we win all three games, we’re qualifying for sure. If we win two out of three, we’re in the hunt. But we haven’t let net run-rate go in our favour. The target is 16 points. I think that will be good to take us through. Look, three good days and we’ll forget about these two days.”
What’s next: Yorkshire are back at Headingley on Thursday evening to tackle Birmingham Bears (6.30pm). It’s 12th fixture in the North Group and our final home game.
