Derbyshire v Yorkshire Vikings T20 Blast at Chesterfield July 7th

Neil Whitaker reports

DERBYSHIRE Falcons beat Yorkshire Vikings by seven wickets with five overs to spare at Chesterfield for their seventh consecutive T 20 victory over the Vikings at Chesterfield.

Vikings captain Shan Masood said: “My report of the game is, and it’s my feedback to the match officials, that it was a game of two halves. It was completely different to when we were batting and completely different to when they were batting.

“My point was that if it’s rained so close to the game, the pitch has been under cover and we saw it during the four-day game last week. There was quite a lot of grass, so when there’s covers it absorbs a lot of moisture in it. 

That game should never have been a 20-over game. They should have given it more time to dry out, because the team batting second has all the advantage. And I don’t think that’s a fair T20.”

The result was never in doubt after the Vikings had been  26 for five in six overs.  Put into bat the Vikings slumped to 10 for four in the  second over. Dawid Malan top edged an attempt to flat bat off-spinner Alex Thomson to Luis Reece at backward point for the first of his three catches.  Adam Lyth pushed Thomson to Samit  Patel at short extra cover.  Shan Masood took a couple of steps down the pitch to  the next ball and missed it and  gave stumper Brooke Guest an easy stumping.

David Lloyd said: “The way he went about it, getting those three wickets put us on the front foot, that’s what we wished for.  It was special and it was amazing for him to do that today.”

Mohammad Amir got his first wicket for the Falcons with an inswinger which hit James Wharton on his boot.

Donavan Ferreira top scored for the Vikings with 44.  He must have wondered what his teammates had been playing at because he kept finding the boundary rope with ease including a massive six off Thomson into the sponsors tent.  But the Vikings wicket keeper and finisher fell six short off his 50 when he late cut Reece to Wayne Madsen at backward point.

He should have been back in the hutch earlier when he  bottom edged a pull of Zak Chappell and looked to be walking back to the hutch but David  Lloyd couldn’t take the catch at short fine leg.  21 for four became 21 for five when George  Hill spooned Falcons captain Samit Patel into the covers and Chappell stuck out his left hand and plucked the ball out of the air.

After sharing in a sixth wicket partnership of 55 with Ferreira in eight overs Matt  Revis launched Madsen over long-on for a six.  Jordan Thompson finished Madsen’s only  over with a straight six.

On 29, Revis top edged Mohammad Amir and Guest made a spectacular effort to take the catch leaping to his right.  Four balls later he pulled Mohammad Amir straight to Madsen who didn’t have to move at fine leg.

Dom Bess hit  Chappell for a big six over the deep mid wicket boundary but after missing two short balls he top edged the third  to  Reece on the  square leg boundary.

Thompson hit two sixes in his 23 but got a thick outside edge to Pat Brown and the ball looped to Reece at backward point  who took his third catch of the innings.

The Falcons were never troubled in their chase. Lloyd and Madsen added 76 in 10 overs to put the Falcons on the cusp of victory. The pair  carried on in the same vein, as openers  Aneurin Donald and Reece. Lloyd gently flicked Thompson off his legs for a six over square leg as  Thompson’s first over cost him 17 runs.  By the time the partnership was broken  the Falcons only needed another five with six overs left.

Lloyd added: “The two lads upfront gave us the platform to give us a bit if time to get in. We wanted to take it as close  as we could without taking many risks.”

He  pulled Thompson to the square leg boundary to bring up his second Vitality T20 50 of the season.  This one came from 40 balls with two sixes and six fours. But  Lloyd wasn’t able to be there at the end because he was bowled by an inswinger from Thompson without adding to his score.

Donald looked to be  in a hurry to complete the Falcons chase by  hitting consecutive fours off Bess’ first over.  When he tried to blast Bess for a third he didn’t time it and it didn’t clear Shan Masood at mid-off who went for it one handed and couldn’t take the catch.  In Revis’ first over Donald just managed to clear Bess at mid-on but when he repeated the shot to the next ball he couldn’t clear Bess.

Reece hit Revis’ first ball for a straight four and  blasted the next ball for a six over mid wicket.  He pulled Ben Cliff over square leg for a six.  After hitting 23 off nine balls he went for another big time but his luck ran out when Vikings  captain Shan Masood took a running catch with the ball coming over his left shoulder.

Madsen hit the winning runs when he  pushed Hill to the extra cover boundary and was unbeaten on 30. The victory for the Falcons was their second victory in 24 hours after they beat Leicestershire Foxes by four wickets while for the Vikings   it was their second defeat in 48 hours.

Lloyd said: “We needed two wins to keep our place in this competition, so it’s been a really good weekend and hopefully we can keep it going next week.

After a tough week in the four-day game to come back here and get a result for the fans was really special.  It’s a great place to play cricket and  the atmosphere has been incredible.”

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