Yorkshire Vikings v Durham T20 Blast May 28th

Neil Whitaker reports

YORKSHIRE Vikings losing run in this year’s Vitality Blast T20 continues as they lost by 28 runs to Durham at Headingley.

During the damage for Durham was former  Yorkshire Viking captain Alex Lees who  hit his highest T20 score of 90 and helped Durham reach 217, their highest T20 score at Headingley.


With Ollie  Robinson they added 111 for the third wicket, a Durham T20 third wicket partnership.  Lees made a slow start but got going in fourth over with three fours, the first he hit straight, he pulled the next ball and dug the last ball of the cover out to the cover boundary.  He pulled Matt Revis’ first ball into the Western Stand.

Lees   pulled Dom Bess for consecutive sixes into  the West stand, the second brought up his 50 off 29 balls.  On 73 he chipped David Wiese to Adam Lyth at mid off but he dropped, the next ball was a full toss which Leed guided over the fine leg boundary. Lees clipped a full toss from Ben Mike off his legs and Jafer Chohan  took a great catch at third man. Lees said:  “I hit it beautifully but I needed more height on it but it’s nice to contribute to a win.”


Vikings captain Sham Masood said: “This was a game where we  made mistakes and let them get ahead of the game, Durham showed that if you apply your skills under pressure you can win.  We had some fielding lapses. Up to the 12th over we were up with them but we lost two quick wickets.  

Today we have to accept that we wern’t good enough. We have to look at the things we have done right and the results will go in our favour.  The teams we have played so far didn’t have mega stars but just good players. We have to keep believing, we have 12 games left and if we get the results we can go further.”



After being told to bat on an overcast morning Durham made the worst possible start.  Following his unbeaten century on Friday,  Graham Clark went after the first legal ball of the match when he top edged it and stumper Jonny Tattersall took a simple catch.


Jafer Chohan the teenager leg spinner, didn’t concede a boundary till his third over when Robinson went down on one knee and drove him for a six.  He cheekily  clipped Jordan  Thompson off his toes for a six.  He then  top edged a pull for a six off Thompson to take Durham to their highest T20 score at Headingley.  

 Michael Jones hit the first six of the match when he gently eased Matthew Fisher straight then  he pulled a short ball over the mid wicket boundary.  sliced a drive off Bess and found Lyth at long off. With Lees they added 85 in 10 overs.

Chasing their highest T20 score at Headingley to win a match, Lyth got the Vikings chase off to a brilliant start by hitting three fours and a six off the first over by Bas  De Leede.  He clipped  Brandon Glover off his over the fine leg boundary.  Lyth eagness for big hitting proved his downfall going for another six but hit straight up in the air and started to walk back to the hutch.  Robinson called for  it and ran  to short mid wicket to take the catch.

Vikings skipper  Shan Masood clipped De Leede to Ashton Turner at short mid wicket and the  Vikings were looking at another defeat.

Dawid Malan clipped De Leede off his legs for a six over fine leg.  He lofted Nathan  Sowter through the covers and Clark running around the cover boundary took the catch.

After two dot balls from Liam  Trevaskis, Tattersall pushed him into the covers and set off for a single but Revis was slow in setting off and couldn’t beat Lees’ throw

Tattersall swept Sowter for a six over mid wicket but he was soon back in the hutch. Ben Raine cramped him for room as Tattersall pulled him and Ashton Turner at fine leg took a sprawling catch. With Thompson, Tattersall added 45 in five overs and gave the Vikings fans some hope,

Thompson pulled Glover over the mid wicket boundary for a six. When he tried to glance Raine off his legs he was adjudged leg before.

After hitting Raine for two consecutive sixes in the final over, Weise tried for another but found Trevaskis running from the mid wicket boundary.

 Lees added: “It was a good performance, we put a total on the board and our bowling was top drawer.  We have started the competition well but we need to keep it moving. When you’ve posted a score of nearly 220 you need good bowlers at the death and Raines' performance of 3 for 27  was match winning.”

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