Yorkshire Vikings v Nottinghamshire Outlaws
Vitality Blast, North Group
Friday July 19, 2024, 7pm
Headingley
Toss: Yorkshire won it and elected to bowl.
Vikings: Adam Lyth, Will Luxton, James Wharton, Shan Masood c, George Hill, Donovan Ferreira w, Jordan Thompson, Dom Bess, Jafer Chohan, Ben Cliff, Dan Moriarty.
Outlaws: Joe Clarke c, Freddie McCann, Jack Haynes, Sammy King, Tom Moores w, Lyndon James, Liam Patterson-White, Calvin Harrison, Olly Stone, Luke Fletcher, Fazalhaq Farooqi.
Match Summary: Yorkshire missed out on quarter-final qualification in the Vitality Blast as they were beaten at home by Nottinghamshire Outlaws, winners by 28 runs.
The Vikings fell short of facing a daunting 210 target after the Outlaws had posted 209-9 in excellent batting conditions. Seamers Ben Cliff and Jordan Thompson shared seven wickets, with the former finishing with a career best 4-31.
Thompson had an impressive night – a bittersweet occasion given he hit 50 not out off 29 balls towards the end of a chase which was realistically done by the time he got going.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Jordan Thompson celebrates bowing Liam Patterson-White. Our all-rounder had a good night which went unrewarded.
James Wharton’s 52 off 46 balls unfortunately wasn’t enough. Had Nottinghamshire’s total been reeled in, it would have been Yorkshire’s highest successful chase in Blast history.
Jack Haynes top-scored with a blistering 50 off 21 balls for an Outlaws who won for the third time but remained bottom of the North Group. Debutants Freddie McCann and Sammy King hit 44 and 48 respectively. McCann was playing his maiden first-team game, King his first in T20.
Yorkshire finished this campaign with six wins and seven defeats from 14 games.
Report: Whisper it quietly, but there was double frustration. Had Yorkshire won, they would have gone through. All the other results which needed to go in their favour did do.
Frustratingly, the one that didn’t was the most important one.
Yorkshire missed England star Dawid Malan due to a side strain suffered whilst batting in the nets, but they started this game well as Cliff bowled visiting captain Joe Clarke in the second over – 6-1.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Ben Cliff is congratulated on dismissing Joe Clarke. It was the first of a career best four wickets.
However, Nottinghamshire debutants Freddie McCann and Sammy King advanced, sharing a fearless 87 for the second wicket. Both ultimately fell short of fifties. McCann, playing his first first-team match at 19, hit 44 and King on T20 debut bettered him with 48.
England Under 19s left-hander McCann hit successive sixes – one uppercut and the other over long-on – and a four off Jordan Thompson in the fifth over to take the score to 46-1.
King also hit Jafer Chohan’s leg-spin for three sixes in as many balls straight and over wide long-on as 22 came off the ninth over.
However, both King and then McCann holed out in the deep trying to clear the boundary ropes to reach their maiden fifties. King drilled a Thompson full toss to long-on before McCann was caught at long-on off Chohan early in the 13th – 125-3.
Haynes reached his fifty off 20 balls and, like McCann and King had earlier, took a bowler for successive sixes. Spinner Dan Moriarty was the victim as the freewheeling Outlaws honed in on 200.
They actually looked on course for many more, 220 perhaps.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Nottinghamshire Freddie McCann was excellent on his first-team debut.
But Haynes and Tom Moores, for 30, were amongst six wickets to fall in the final 25 balls as Yorkshire impressively stemmed the tide, including two for Cliff in the last over added to a run out.
However, the target was still a stiff one. As it proved, too stiff.
Openers Will Luxton and Adam Lyth, plus captain Shan Masood, all fell caught off miscues, leaving the chase in choppy waters at 31-3 in the fourth over.
In that fourth over, veteran seamer Luke Fletcher struck twice in as many balls to get Lyth caught at deep square-leg and Masood at point.
Wharton tried his best to recover things. He viciously pulled Olly Stone for six over midwicket, but he lost George Hill bowled by leg-spinner Calvin Harrison en-route to 88-4 after 10 overs.
James Wharton found a partner in Donovan Ferreira, but the South Africa didn’t stay for long enough.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. James Wharton was one of two fifty-makers for Yorkshire.
He hoisted a couple of sixes in 22 before falling caught at long-on off Harrison, who was the pick of the Nottinghamshire bowlers with 2-19.
At 105-5 in the 12th over, it felt like Yorkshire’s task was too tall. And that’s the way it worked out.
Wharton reached his fifty off 41 balls before chipping Fazalhaq Farooqi to cover – 132-6 in the 16th over.
Thompson tried his best to recover things and clobbered four sixes in his first fifty since Finals Day 2022 – against Lancashire in the semi-final at Edgbaston.
He reached his fifty off 29 balls and didn’t face another as Fletcher successfully defended 34 off the last over.
Magic moment: Three wickets fell in the final over of the Nottinghamshire innings, two to Ben Cliff, added to a run out. The last one, Calvin Harrison caught at deep mid-wicket, was a brilliant effort by Jordan Thompson as he just managed to keep himself inside the boundary rope.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Will Luxton takes a catch in the deep to dismiss Freddie McCann.
Turning point: The departures of Adam Lyth and Shan Masood in the space of as many balls to Luke Fletcher in the fourth over left the Vikings 31-3 and with their backs firmly against the wall. It was, unfortunately, an insurmountable task.
Stat of the match: Yorkshire’s record chase remains the 208 against Durham here in June 2022. Adam Lyth hit 77 that night and David Willey 75 not out.
What they said – Yorkshire coach Ottis Gibson: “Another year of frustration, another year of nearlys. We could have got there. Tonight, we spoke about it, you can’t give up 200 in every game and expect to win. We did a lot of good things, but not enough.
“I don’t think we bowled well and applied enough of the things we’ve learned over the season. Bowling here at Headingley especially, bowling to the long boundary – stuff like that.
“Once we allowed them to get 200, it was an uphill task. The last game we chased 200, but that was on the back of a great innings by Malan. No Malan tonight. Somebody else needed to stand up, and nobody could quite do it.
“I thought they were 20 too many when we bowled, and we lost by around that. That’s the story of the game, and it’s another frustrating season.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Ottis Gibson spoke to the media after tonight’s defeat.
“We’ve done some good things. We’ve seen Wharton get a good run, and I think he’s going to be a terrific T20 player because he’s got all the shots.
I also thought Cliffy bowled well tonight.
“They’re two young guys who are going to play a lot of cricket for Yorkshire going forwards.”
What’s next: Yorkshire turn their attention to preparations for the Metro Bank One-Day Cup. They travel to Wellington CC in Telford on Sunday to face Shropshire (11am) in the National Counties Showcase friendly.
