Vitality Blast Derbyshire beat Yorkshire by 55 runs

Neil Whitaker reports

FOR the sixth consecutive time the Derbyshire Falcons beat the Yorkshire Vikings in the Vitality T20  Blast.

This time the margin was most convincing by 55 runs with 17 balls to spare.  After been put in by the Vikings the Falcons reached 207 for five in their 20 overs thanks to a third wicket partnership of 87 in seven overs between Wayne Madsen and Leus Du Plooy.

Falcons T 20 Head coach Dominic Cork said: “It was the perfect performance, we’ve been waiting to do that all season.  Today we’ve come up against a strong Yorkshire side at Fortress Headingley. As a coach I am proud of the guys and this win gets us back in the competition.  In this competition it’s all about momentum, the sides that do well in this competition are the ones that come good at the end.”

Du Plooy equalled the record for the fastest 50 for the Falcons in any form of cricket, 20 balls joining Wes Durston whose 50 was scored against Warwickshire at Derby in 2014 also a T20 match.

He took a liking to Duanne Olivier.  On 22, he tried to work Olivier off his legs but skied the ball and it looked to be an easy catch for Shutt at fine leg but he wasn’t able to take the catch as the ball swirlled in the wind.  

Olivier’s next over cost him 32 runs.  First, Du Plooy clubbed an above waiste height ball, which was called a no ball, for a six and smashed the next ball for a six over cow corner.  That six was the the Falcons’ 600th six in T20 cricket.Three balls later he pulled Olivier for another six this time over fine leg and finished the over with a straight drive to the long off boundary. 

Cork added: “ The way Du Plooy went about Olivier was fantastic.  Du Plooy is a young batsman who is still learning his game. He’s been a fantastic assert to this club.”

The partnership between Du Plooy and Madsen was broken when Du Plooy missed a leg stump yorker from David  Willey and was leg before.

Madsen carried on and brought his fifty up with a delicate chip off Willey over Tattersall’s head to the boundary.  His fifty was much slower than Du Plooy, 11 balls slower. He flat batted Tim Bresnan into the Emerald stand for a straight six but t Bresnan got his revenge with his next ball when he trapped Madsen leg before.

Bresnan got his second wicket two balls later when Matt  Critchley toe ended a drive to Willey on the cover boundary who dived forward to take a low catch.

The Vikings were to chase down the 208 it would have been the highest chase against the Falcons in T20 cricket.  But their chase got off to a bad start. They lost their first wicket in the first over when skipper Tom Kohler-Cadmore drove Logan Van Beek to Madsen at point.

After hitting Ravi  Rampaul for consecutive fours Adam  Lyth pulled the next ball for a six over mid wicket to get the  Vikings fans cheering wildly. They were in dreamland when Willey clipped Van Beek off his legs over fine leg for the biggest six of the match but his demise wasn’t far away.  He advanced down the wicket to Van Beek and edged his drive to Alex Hughes on the third man boundary.

Lyth edged a drive off Rampaul to stumpe Daryn Smit and the Vikings looked out of the match but Jack Leaning and Jonny Tattersall added 35 in four overs before Tattersall fell leg before to  Critchley.

 Critchley was instrumental in the next wicket when Jack Leaning drove him to Billy Godleman in the covers and set off for a single but his partner   Bresnan couldn’t beat Godleman’s direct hit.

Leaning was joined by young Jordan Thompson who pulled his first ball from Critchley for a six over square leg.  Leaning then clipped Boyd Rankin off his legs into the East stand for a six.

Could Leaning and Thompson see the  Vikings home, after adding 45 with Leaning, Thompson top edged a drive off Van Beek and Godleman took a tumbling catch at cover falling backwards.  Van Beek ended the over with his third wicket when Leaning top edged a pull and Smit took a great catch diving to his right.

Godleman took his third catch when Dom Bess chipped Luis Reece to him at cover.  Godleman, falling backwards caught the ball one handed, throw the ball up in the air and caught on the rebound.

Cork added: “We’re calling him Derek Randall,  now.”

 Vikings skipper Kohler-Cadmore said: “It started off ok for us, but they got away in the middle of their innings. We had a poor period with the ball. I felt we were sloppy in the field. We didn’t bowl to our plans.  We didn’t do ourselves justice today. I think it’s been our worst performance yet, it’s really disappointing. We had a period through the middle of their innings when five overs went for around 80 runs, and anything like that can cost you a game.

“With the bat, we lost myself in the first over and three wickets up top almost straightaway.  We were always up with the rate, but we kept on losing wickets. If someone had batted through and got 80 or 90, we’d have had a good chance of chasing that down.” Reply Reply All Forward