Yorkshire Vikings v Worcestershire Rapids
Vitality Blast, North Group
Wednesday May 25, 2022, 6.30pm
Headingley
Toss: Worcestershire won it and elected to bat
Teams: Yorkshire – Lyth, Malan, Kohler-Cadmore w, Root c, Brook, Khan, Thompson, Revis, Bess, Rashid, Rauf.
Worcestershire – Pollock, D’Oliveira, Haynes, Libby, Cox c&w, Barnard, Roderick, Baker, Pennington, Morris, Brown.
Match summary: Harry Brook’s unbeaten 60 off 27 balls was the key contribution for Yorkshire as they made a winning start to their Vitality Blast campaign, entertaining a 4,717 crowd to win by seven wickets with 11 balls to spare.
Chasing 173, Brook came to the crease at 88-3 in the 11th over and shared an unbeaten 87 with Joe Root (35 not out).
Earlier, Worcestershire had slipped from 142-3 in the 16th over to post only 172-9, including three wickets for Jordan Thompson, who fought back superbly from conceding 22 in his first over to finish with 3-35.
Report: Yorkshire are off and running, and in some style. This win wasn’t without issues in both innings, but in the end a first North Group success of 2022 was secured with a great deal of comfort.
Worcestershire’s Jack Haynes, batting at three, hit a superb 61 to get his side off to a flyer, and they were going at more than 10 an over in the first half of their innings.
After the first two overs of the match went for seven, including a Dom Bess wicket, the next four went for a whopping 63 as 21-year-old Haynes struck the ball crisply.
He had come off the back of three Championship hundreds in as many innings. Harry Brook like form, you might say!
But he pulled Matthew Revis to deep mid-wicket as the score fell to 123-3 after 12, and from there the innings subsided amidst a flurry of wickets, including Thompson’s three and two run outs.
Haris Rauf (1-32 from four overs) claimed a wicket and affected a run out, while Shadab Khan claimed a catch and finished with 0-26 from three overs on debut.
In reply, Dawid Malan (33) shared a 70-run opening partnership with Adam Lyth (40) to get the innings moving quickly. But they departed, alongside returning Tom Kohler-Cadmore, as the score fell to 88-3 in the 11th.
But Brook continued his stunning start to the season with his ninth score of fifty or more, while Root was at his busy best.
England newcomer Brook quickly found his range. He punched Ed Barnard over wide long-off for six and uppercut Pat Brown over backward point, reaching his fifty off 23 balls.
At that stage, the score was 157-3 in the 17th over and the game all but over.
Magic moment: In the early stages of Yorkshire’s chase, Dawid Malan hoisted left-arm spinner Josh Baker over wide long-off for six as the score moved to 20-0. It was a glorious shot which would have graced any format of the game.
Turning point: Worcestershire were motoring at 142-3 in the 16th over, with 200 not out of the question. But they lost six wickets for the addition of only 30 runs. Jordan Thompson struck three times, including twice in the 16th.
Stat of the match: Harry Brook scored his ninth fifty in 10 innings across both T20 and Championship cricket this season.
What they said: Harry Brook – “We said in the huddle at the start that we want to stamp our foot down and show everybody what we’re about, and I think we did that tonight. It was a really good start.
“The boys at the end bowled unbelievably, Jordan Thompson especially. He had a tough first over, and his last three overs went for 13.
“If you have two world-class spinners bowling through the middle, you can’t ask for much better. Rash and Shadab, eight overs and they’re not going to go for many runs. Then there’s Haris at the death. At the minute, we’ve got a good side.
“The wickets have been better this year, so I’ve been able to hit through the line a bit better. I’ve enjoyed it so far this season, and long may it continue.
“I think we were going to bowl first and back our batting (to chase anything) because we have Adil Rashid coming in at 10 and he’s got 10 first-class hundreds. Luckily it came off
“We’ve always played well in the power play. We like to take it on. First ball going for four proved that, and we kicked on from there.”
What’s next: It’s the big one, Lancashire v Yorkshire at Emirates Old Trafford on Friday in front of the Sky Sports cameras (6.30pm).
It will be the Lightning’s first game, and they are expected to have Liam Livingstone and Singapore-born Australian batter Tim David, their overseas player, available after IPL duty.
