Yorkshire suffered a second Vitality Blast defeat in two nights as champions Nottinghamshire defended a target of 213 at Trent Bridge to win by 63 runs and keep their own quarter-final hopes alive.
The Outlaws moved level on 12 points with the Vikings after as many games and have gone above them to fourth place on net run-rate.
It means the Vikings, who lost to Lancashire on last night, are likely to have to win their final two fixtures to qualify, against Northamptonshire away next Thursday and Notts at home on Friday.
Jake Libby and Tom Moores posted career bests of 58 off 33 balls and 80 not out off 49 and shared a century stand for the third-wicket to underpin a commanding 212-5.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore’s 72 off 50 balls marked his third fifty of the competition and was the standout innings in the chase.
But Yorkshire struggled for momentum and fell comfortably short on a pitch which gripped, finishing on 149-7.
Yorkshire were without injured captain Steve Patterson (finger), handing David Willey leadership duties.
Having lost the toss, Willey could not prevent the Outlaws from surpassing 200 thanks in the main to third-wicket pair Libby and Moores, who shared 112 inside 11 overs to advance from 43-2 in the sixth.
After conceding 34-1 off the first three overs, Yorkshire dragged things back as they only conceded 19 off the next four and removed England’s Alex Hales caught low down at cover by Kane Williamson off Jack Brooks, who was the pick of the bowlers with 1-22.
Libby and Moores were quite happy to accumulate in the early stages of their partnership.
The hosts reached halfway at 85-2, but they really put their foot down afterwards.
Libby, promoted up to three for this game, reached his maiden fifty off 25 balls before Moores followed him off 35 balls.
Following Libby’s departure – bowled by Jordan Thompson – Outlaws captain Dan Christian hit three fours and a six off the first four balls of the 18th over from Matthew Fisher, who then forced him to chop on with the fifth.
The hosts scored 72 off the last five overs, but Adam Lyth made the ideal start to the chase by sweeping Samit Patel’s left-arm spin for six with the first ball.
Unfortunately, however, he miscued Christian’s seamers high to cover in the fourth as the score fell to 27-1.
Yorkshire reached the end of the power play at 47-1, just ahead of where Notts were at the same stage and with Kohler-Cadmore settled.
He reached a 35-ball fifty with the last ball of the 10th over (86-1), and from there Yorkshire needed 127 more.
But, a couple of overs later, the required rate had escalated above 14s as pace off the ball proved hard to get away.
The pair shared 74 inside 10 overs for the second wicket before Willey holed out to long-off against Patel – 101-2 in the 13th.
Kohler-Cadmore launched New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi over long-on for six and was parried over the rope at long-off next ball at the start of the 15th. However, he miscued to short third-man next ball as the score slipped to 127-3.
From there, Yorkshire never looked like getting home as Harry Gurney (3-24 from four) and Luke Fletcher (1-23) enjoyed success at the death.
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Yorkshire director of cricket Martyn Moxon says Yorkshire’s bowling cost them the chance of victory over Notts, while he has also revealed two bits of worrying injury news.
Captain Steve Patterson suffered a broken left fore finger in defeat against Lancashire last night, and he could now be sidelined for the next four to five weeks.
New Zealand overseas batsman Kane Williamson is also due for an x-ray on Monday after he took a bang on his left ringer finger whilst taking a superb low catch to dismiss Alex Hales.
“It’s frustrating,” said Moxon, of the result.
“The captain getting injured yesterday didn’t help. It’s another thing hampering us.
“Patto’s got a broken finger and will be out for four to five weeks, possibly.
“Dave Willey’s going to continue doing it for the next couple of games (captaincy), and we’ll assess the Championship in due course.
“Kane’s also got a bang on the finger.
“He’s having an x-ray on Monday to check that out. We’ll have to see on that one.”
On the performance, Moxon said: “If you get your lines and lengths wrong in T20, you get punished, and I think that’s what happened tonight.
“There were more extras than we’d like as well. There were 30-odd runs from the extra balls. I think they showed us how to defend the dimensions on this ground. They did it very well.”
“We’re now aiming to win the last two games (against Northants and Notts in order to qualify for the quarter-finals), and we have to be a bit better in all departments.
“With the ball, we didn’t quite get it right often enough. We weren’t terrible, just a little bit off.”
