Yorkshire v Derbyshire T20 Blast

Yorkshire v Derbyshire T20 Blast at Headingley June 20th

Neil Whitaker reports

YORKSHIRE Vikings beat Derbyshire Falcons by 39 runs with an over to spare with Dom Bess taking Vitality Blast T20 best figures of three for 21 in his four overs.

Bess said: “I didn’t know that.  I haven’t played a lot of first-team T20. When I was at Somerset, it was mostly in the second team. It’s nice to get the opportunity and contribute to a really strong win. It was great fun.

There’s still a long way to go in the group. We know that when you get on runs, you can do what we’re doing now - tick along. But, visa versa, when things aren’t going your way. 

It’s really important we keep this momentum going, and it’s a big game against Worcester here on Wednesday.

“We’ve had Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid and Dave Willey out, but it shows the strength we have in the squad that people have come in and done a job.

“It was nice to nice have Rooty back. Rooty just played like Rooty does. It’s absolute gold dust to have him around.”

His three wickets ripped the stuffing out of the Falcons lower order as they went from 49 for three to 87 for six in five overs.  His first victim was Leus Du Ploy who gave a simple return catch to Bess.  Matt Critchley drove him off his toes but found Harry  Brook on the long on boundary who had to dive forward to take a low catch. His last victim was Brooke Guest drove him off his toes straight to Lyth on the long off boundary.

Root captaining  the Vikings for the first time in white ball cricket top scored but fell one short off his fifty.  He shared in a fifth wicket partnership of 57 in six overs with Brook who also failed to reach fifty and was unbeaten on 48 when  the Vikings innings closed.

He got off the mark with a boundary off Van Beek. Root swept Alex  Thomson to the fine leg boundary and cut Critchley to the third man boundary.  Root enjoyed sweeping as he swept Critchley again  in his next over to the square leg boundary.
and flat batted George Scrimshaw straight for another boundary.

Brook dropped kicked Van Beek over the mid wicket boundary for a six and then thundered him to the long off boundary.  The Falcons nearly broke the partnership when Scrimshaw bowled a wide down the legside to Root and Brook set off for a single, was sent back by Root. Brook should have been run out but Scrimshaw couldn’t find the ball.  Two balls later the Falcons did  break  the partnership when Root took a couple of steps down the wicket and drove it straight to Thomson at mid on, his 49 came from 36 balls with six fours.

Brook used the long handle to hit Conner McKerr for a huge six over long off to bring up the Vikings 150. Will Fraine top edged a cut off Scrimshaw but found McKerr running in from the point boundary.

Jordan Thompson got off the mark with a flat batted boundary off Scrimshaw. He hit Finn Hudson Prentice for a straight six off the toe off his bat. But the bowler got his revenge off the next ball when he yorked him. Matthew Waite got off the mark with a straight six over long on.

Put into bat by Falcons the Vikings lost their first wicket in the first over when Van Beek knocked Lyth’s off stump out of the ground after hitting the previous two balls to the boundary.

Thomson got his first wicket for the Falcons when Tom Kohler-Cadmore backed away from Thomson to give him some room to drive him to the boundary and was bowled.

Gary Ballance picked Scrimshaw off his feet but didn’t hit it sweetly and found. Leus  Du Ploy on the deep mid wicket boundary.

With only two runs coming from the Falcons  first over the Vikings opened the bowling at the Emerald stand end with Root and he had immediate success when Luis Reece top edged a drive to Thompson at point.  After taking that wicket Root preserved with spin at the Emerald stand end by bringing on off spinner Lyth.

After 14 came from the first four overs Thompson conceded two boundaries in two balls the first,  a mistake by Ferguson on the boundary edge and the second a drive to  the long off boundary by Harry Came.

The Falcons lost their second wicket when Came backed away from Ferguson and lost his leg stump.  Next to go was skipper Billy Godleman when he flicked Matthew Waite off his legs straight to Bess on the backward square leg boundary.

Hudson-Prentice and Thomson offered some resistance with a seventh wicket stand off in overs. The partnership was broken when Hudson-Prentice got too far under a drive off Thompson and found Brook on the long on boundary.  Thomson chipped the next ball in the air and Thompson had to run to take the return catch.

Thomson pulled Ferguson over mid wicket boundary for a six.  Ferguson wrapped the match by bowling Van Beek and George Scrimshaw with Yorkers.

Falcons T20 head coach Dominic Cork said: “That’s our poorest performance of the season. We lacked a bit of a quality in our bowling. In Yorkshire’s innings, we got ourselves in a good position. 

“I don’t want to harp on about it, but we were up against three internationals. They are facts, and I don’t want to make excuses.  I don’t know what was wrong with us - whether it was playing at Headingley or playing against Yorkshire or playing against J Root! 

We’ve won only two games, and it would take a magnificent effort for us to qualify. But if we get on a roll, you never know.  I hate losing, and anybody who has followed my career knows that. But any side can have some disastrous days. I’ve played in good teams like Lancashire and Hampshire and have been rolled over for 70 the season we won the competition.  We’ve had a meeting, and we’ve all been honest. All I can ask of the players is that when they come off the field, they have left everything on it.”

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