Yorkshire Vikings v Durham Cricket

Neil Whitaker reports from Headingley

YORKSHIRE Vikings bounced back after two consecutive defeats to chase down a record score beating the 196 against Derbyshire in 2015.

They beat Durham by six wickets with 14 balls to spare.  The victory was sealed when skipper David Willey hit Liam Trevaskis for a six over the long on boundary but foundation’s of the Vikings victory were laid by Willey and Adam Lyth who added 70 in six overs.  Lyth made 77 and Willey was unbeaten on 75.

Willey said: “To comeback after a dissapointing result against Derbyshire was brilliant. It was a great pitch and we pulled it back in their innings..  We went a little bit flat at the beginning of their innings but once we realised it was going to be a high scoring game we came back into it.  Our chase was as close  as you can get to a perfect chase.  We have to expect that every team is a good team and if you at]re not on your game then you are going to get beaten.”

Needing a record chase to win the Vikings soon reached 39 midway through the third over. When Fin Allen on debut pulled   Brydon  Carse out of the ground.  Later he picked up a full toss from Andrew Tye for another six but his innings soon came to an end when he got too far under a ball and Trevaskis ran round from mid off to take the catch.

Lyth despatched George Drissell,a slow off spinner playing his second T20 match and bowling the last over of the powerplay, to the mid wicket boundary and cut his second ball to the point boundary.  His first over cost 14 runs.

He drilled Carse through the covers to bring up his fifty off 23 balls with eight fours and a six. Lyth helped the next ball to the fine leg boundary for another six.  In the next over he drilled  Paul Coughlin for another six as he made the Yorkshire chase look too simple and to rub salt in the Durham wounds he drilled the next ball to the extra cover boundary.

Travaskas took his second catch  of the Yorkshire innings when Lyth went down the wicket to Ben Raine and clipped him to Trevaskis running round from mid on.

After the departure of Lyth, Willey came into his own by clipping Carse and dispatching  him for the biggest six of the match out of the ground and two balls later he drilled Carse to the long on boundary.  He welcomed Trevaskis to the attack by drilling him over long on for a six and to the long off boundary off the next ball.

Raine got his second wicket when Harry Brook pulled him to Jones at deep square leg.  Brook had travelled from Lord’s to Headingley for four runs.

Will Fraine on five top edged a sweep off Trevaskis and it looked to be a dolly for the bowler but after waiting an age for it to fall, Trevaskis dropped it with Fraine standing beside him. Fraine tried to drill Tye to long off boundary but got an outside edge to  Ned Eckersley who took a steepling catch at point.

After winning the toss and deciding to bat on a beautiful night Durham posted their highest score against  the Vikings of 207 for eight in their 20 overs, their eighth total of 200.

Opener Graham Clarke top scored with 65, his second fifty of the season, he received support from  Ollie Robinson who made 56 his second fifty in 28 games. They added 92 for the second wicket, a record second wicket for Durham beating the 76 made  by Phil Mustard and Scott Borthwick.

They both had lives:  Robinson bottom edged Dominic Drakes and the ball spiralled out of the reach of Matt Revis at short third man and ran to the boundary. Clarke, who  brutally pulled Revis to the mid wicket boundary, had an escape on 49 when Robinson played Dom Bess to the legside and set off for a single but stopped and sent Clarke back when he saw that Bess had fielded the ball but his throw missed the stumps.

Clarke’s second fifty of the season came from 27  balls with eight fours.   Two balls later he smeared Adil Rashid over cow corner for his first six.

Robinson launched Bes into the second level of the Howard stand and he top edged Drakes over the point boundary for a six. He brought up his fifty, which came from 29 balls with two sixes and four fours, when he edged Willey through the vacant slip area for a four.

The partnership was  broken when Clarke cut Drakes to Jordan  Thompson on the point boundary. 

David Bedingham came in and was soon back in the hutch.  He started a  Rashid over by picking him  and launching him over cow corner for a six but Rashid had the last laugh by trapping leg before to the last ball when he played across the ball.

After that dismissal the  Durham innings  lost its drive and despite the runs still coming they weren't coming as fast and they kept losing wickets. Robinson moved across his stumps to Thompson and was bowled.

Robinson said: “It was a tough one to lose. We played nicely and got a good score but not a brilliant score. Then, all their blokes played beautifully. Lyth got them off to a flyer, Allen and Willey as well. Sometimes you have to take your hats off to that. 

I got out at a poor time and Clark as well. I tried to keep it  going because of what we had behind us - we bat down to 10 or 11. But, in hindsight, I should have batted for longer, taken it deeper to give us a chance to go harder at the back end.  Hopefully we learn from that and go again on Sunday against  Northamptonshire at home.”

Carse smashed Revis into the top tier of the Howard stand and was caught by a spectator.  Coughlin drilled Thompson to the extra cover boundary but he  fell to trap set by Drakes and Willey when Coughlin glanced Drakes off his  legs to Revis at short fine leg.

Revis took another catch to dismiss Carse, who  bottom edged a drive off Thompson to Revis on the cover boundary.

Trevaskis edged a drive off Thompson and Drakes at short third man took a diving catch. After guiding Durham to their highest score against the Vikings with a six off Thompson, Eckeerskey moved around his stumps and played on.

SCORECARD

June 5, 2022 12:40 pm

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