Yorkshire v Somerset T20 Blast at Headingley July 15th

Neil whitaker reports

PLAYER of the match Craig Overton hit an unbeaten 79 off 30 balls to send defending Champions Somerset to their 12th finals day after they beat Yorkshire at Headingley by two wickets with one ball to spare. 

His 79 was the highest score by a number nine in T20 history.  Overton said: “I got a couple away then it was all momentum.  We knew if I got a couple away early in the last over it would put pressure on Matty Revis.  We pride ourselves on being very good  T 20 side and we believed that we could win it.  It was a bit of a gamble to take a single of the last ball of the 19th over to get 22 of the last over.” 

His captain Lewis Gregory said: “I don’t know how he did it. I know that we’ve got winners throughout the side but when he gets on a role its unbelievable.  We thought at the halfway stage if we needed 50 three overs we had a bit of a chance but not with eight wickets down.”

Yorkshire captain Jony Bairstow said: “Fair play to Craig.  I thought we used the pitch really  well then we went full and took the pitch out of the equation. It wasn’t our day but we didn’t bat as well as we should have, it was our lowest score of the season. For 90% of the game we are ahead.” 

 Overton hit five sixes and eight fours and shared in a ninth wicket partnership of 80 in nine overs with Riley Meredith who only scored six of them. 

Needing only 163 to win Somerset opener Sam Smeed pulled the last ball of the first over from Hassan Ali for a six.  Four days after scoring 75 in their powerplay there was to be no repeat for the openers  as Thomas Rew drove the first ball of the second over from George Hill to Logan Van Beek at mid-off.  

Tom Bantom edged a drive off AJ Tye and Adam Lyth at slip took a comfortable catch.   Yorkshire got their third wicket in the powerplay when James Rew chipped Hassan Ali to mid-wicket where former Somerset player Dom Bess  leapt to his and caught the ball one handed in his left hand. Smeed edged a drive off Hill and found Moeen Ali at short third man at the edge of the circle. 

Somerset found themselves 38 for five when Van Beek angled one in at former Yorkshire player Tom Kohler-Cadmore and it rattled into his middle stump. 

Lewis Goldsworthy, after receiving treatment when he was hit on his helmet,  turned Revis for  a six over square leg but he was back in the hutch when he sliced Revis to Hill on the point boundary.  Daniel Sams tried to drive Van Beek but got too far under it and Tye at mid-off took a simple catch. 

Gregory top-edged a pull off Hassan Ali, and Tye took another catch, this time coming in from the square-leg boundary. Yorkshire looked set for Finals Day, but then came the Overton show. He clipped Tye off his legs just beyond Will Luxton’s fingertips on the square-leg boundary to get going. 

After winning the toss and deciding to bat Yorkshire lost three wickets in their powerplay.  For the third consecutive match Yorkshire opted not to open with Bairstow.  This time Lyth’s opening partner was Moeen Ali  but he only faced one ball.  He wafted at a wideish ball from  Overton and Thomas Rew took the first of his four catches.

In the fourth over Luxton gloved a legside ball from Jake  Ball to give Thomas Rew his second catch.  Bairstow was bowled by Meredith with one that came back and hit the top of his off stump.

Lyth clipped Overton off his toes for a big six over backward square leg.  He was joined by Hill and the runs flowed with their fifty partnership coming in five overs. But when Sams and Ball bowled in tandem the boundaries dried, Hill tried to force the pace.  He swung at Sams but got and inside edge to Thomas Rew. 

Yorkshire’s Mr Reliable, Lyth top scored with 61 but nobody else got more than 19. He hit three sixes but when he  tried to pull Overton he   got a top edge to it and the ball flew over Thomas Rew’s head and Meredith ran from short third man to take the catch.

Desperate for a boundary because they hadn’t hit one for five overs Bess flat batted Ball and Overton ran from the long-on boundary to take the catch.

Revis give the long handle to Sams and again Overton took the catch at long-on. Finally, Yorkshire got a boundary when Tye pushed his first  ball just over Overton for a six. Tye hit a full toss from Meredith for another six.  But that was  that from Tye. He became Ball’s third victim when he had a big swing at Ball got a thick bottom edge and Thomas Rew took another catch.

After watching Ven Beek hit consecutive fours off Ball, Hassan Ali hit a massive six. Van Beek tried to hit a six but found Smeed coming from the boundary.

 

 

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