Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Jordan Thompson is not ruling out a turnaround in fortunes and qualification for the quarter-finals of the Vitality Blast.
Jordan Thompson knows all too well that Yorkshire have a mountain to climb in their pursuit of a Vitality Blast quarter-final place, but the all-rounder is by no means ruling out a turnaround in fortunes during the final six games of the North Group.
“I’m pretty sure it’s been done before,” said the all-rounder. “There are teams who will have come back from the bottom of the table and gone through and qualified.
“We’ve put ourselves under immense pressure, really, and now we have to stand up and try and win. But, in T20 cricket, it can happen.”
Yorkshire sit second from bottom in the North Group having won two of their first eight games. They have six to go and are 12 points adrift of the top four places for quarter-final qualification.
Next up are Worcestershire Rapids at Headingley tomorrow (6.30pm).
They are seventh in the table on 12 points, four points and a place better off than the White Rose.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Blast captain Dawid Malan in action with the bat earlier in the campaign.
“Maybe five wins out of six might do it, but I think we have to go in with the mentality that we’ve got to win every game,” said Thompson. “So that starts now.
“Hopefully we put a big total on the board and defend it, or whichever way it goes around. If we can get a bit of momentum, we can take it into Sunday and then get on a roll.”
That momentum which Thompson spoke about, Yorkshire haven’t been able to get any of it so far.
“I just don’t think that we’ve gone well in both departments. It’s been a bit of a mixed bag,” he reflected. “We’ve had a few injuries. Myself and Jonny (Bairstow) are two, and it’s not helped.
“Obviously, we lost the first three and then went back-to-back, including a good win at Notts. Then we lost to Birmingham at home and went to York to face Durham on a pitch where I think we went into it with a bit of a mentality that we needed to score 200.
“But, batting first was quite tricky, and it proved that maybe 140 or 150 might have been a winning total.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Jonny Bairstow will be key to Yorkshire’s bid to kick-start their T20 campaign.
“Looking at the fixtures we have left, they’re tough. But why not?
“We have Lancashire twice at the back end, and I think having two Roses games then is pretty bad scheduling because you really want them both, or at least one, in the first block when it’s on TV, the fans are piling in and there’s definitely something on it.
“Touch wood, we can still qualify come the time we play those.”
The start of Thompson’s campaign was delayed by a side injury, and he has only played in the last two games – both defeats to Durham before the recent fortnight-long break for a pair of Rothesay County Championship fixtures to be played.
He has been Yorkshire’s outright leading wicket-taker in the last three seasons, including 20 in each of the last two campaigns, and was their joint leading wicket-taker in 2020 and again in 2021.
“I feel like I’ve not played any cricket in recent weeks, and it’s been frustrating,” he said. “I’m not used to being on the sideline and staring at gym walls instead of playing cricket. It’s not particularly my forte.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Jordan Thompson celebrates the wicket of Lancashire’s Chris Green at Headingley in last year’s Roses win. Ideally, he would like to see clashes with Lancashire scheduled for earlier in the competition.
“I want to be out there trying to help us get to the quarter-finals and Finals Day.
“It’s all formats. I’m desperate to get back out there with the lads and try and put things right because we’re not really in the positions we want to be in going into the second half of the season.”
It is now known that this will be 28-year-old Thompson’s last season with his home county ahead of a move to Warwickshire in the winter on a three-year deal.
He added: “I’ll miss playing with the lads that I’ve grown up playing with, massively, the coaching staff and playing at Headingley in front of a Yorkshire crowd.
“But the opportunity now to go at 28 in the peak of my career and start a new chapter and play some cricket elsewhere is a big opportunity. It’s no secret that I wanted to stay, but it didn’t turn out like that.
“Warwickshire is a great place to play cricket, and obviously Yorkshire being my home it was a tough decision. But I’m looking forward to the future.”
Picture by Dan Istitene/Getty Images. Australian left-arm seamer Ben Dwarshuis (second from right) low fives Adam Hose after taking one of 11 wickets. He is Worcestershire’s leading wicket-taker in 2025, while Hose is their leading run-scorer with 266.
Worcestershire, who will be a local rival for Thompson from 2026 onwards, beat Yorkshire at New Road in the early stages of this season’s Blast.
They were beaten by the Bears by one wicket at Edgbaston last time out.
Australian all-rounder Will Sutherland is available to Yorkshire for the remainder of group campaign, while New Zealand fast bowler Will O’Rourke plays tomorrow and against Derbyshire at Chesterfield on Sunday.
He will then be replaced by Pakistani batter Abdullah Shafique for the final four games.
