Yorkshire Vikings v Notinghamshire Outlaws T20 Blast June 6th

Neil Whitaker reports from Headingley

YORKSHIRE Vikings beat the Nottinghamshire Outlaws by 23 runs to get their first victory over the Outlaws in Vitality Blast T20 since 2017.

Put into bat the Vikings reached 202 for five in their 20 overs with Jonny Tattersall hitting an unbeaten 48 and sharing in a fifth wicket partnership of 65 in seven overs with Will Fraine.  The partnership was vital because when they came together the Vikings had lost the big two of David Willey and Harry Brook in the space of an over.

Willey pulled Calvin Harrison but didn’t seem to get any power into it and it looked  certain that Joe  Clarke would take the catch but the ball was parried over the boundary for a six.

Brook glanced Steven  Mullaney for a six over fine leg and cut the next ball to the point boundary.  He swatted Luke  Fletcher over fine leg for another six.  At the halfway stage the Vikings had reached 117 for two.

After adding 76 in six overs with Brook, Willey stood and delivered Calvin  Harrison to Mullaney on the long on boundary. Seven balls later Brook backed away from Samit Patel and was bowled for 40.

After those two wickets the  Outlaws dried the boundaries up until  Fraine pulled Matt Carter for six, he tried repeating the shot but it seemed to be heading for Calvin  Harrison but it died on him and went for four. That was the signal to bring out the shots. Tattersall down the wicket to Patel and launched him into the Howard stand for a six. Growing with confidence, he outbatted Fraine; he even pulled out a ramp shot.

Tattersall said: “It was crucial that we kept together keeping the scoreboard moving.  We thought that we were in a good position.  It was nice to get some runs.  I want to play every game I can for Yorkshire so it’s disappointing that I've not been in the team but the others have played well but I have been playing well in the second team and I got my opportunity tonight and hopefully that will give the coaches something to think about.”

The Outlaws broke the partnership when Fraine pulled Jake Ball and Ben  Duckett took a comfortable catch coming from the mid wicket boundary.  

The Outlaws opened their attack with the spin twins Carter and Patel, after two overs Ball was brought into the attack and his first ball was driven through extra cover for the first boundary.  Fin Allen clipped him off his legs for a six into the East stand and pulled his next ball to the  same place with the same result.  Ball ended the over with Allen’s  wicket when he walked across his stumps and was plumb leg before.

Ball got his second wicket  in the next over when he sent Adam Lyth’s off stump cartwheeling out of the ground.  After his poor start Ball finished with three for 29 in three overs.


The Vikings got off to a brilliant start in the field  when Willey bowled Alex Hales for a first ball duck.  The Outlaws lost their second wicket in the next over when Clarke helped  Dominic Drakes round and stumper Tattersall took a low catch diving to his left.  Drakes got on a hattrick when Patel dragged him on from outside his off stump to his leg stump.

Tattersall added: “Drakes was excellent getting two wickets in two balls.”


After losing three early wickets the Outlaws didn’t want to lose a fourth until they were past 100 but they did when Duckett danced down the wicket to Matt Revis and the ball took the shoulder of his bat and went high in the sky and Tattersall ran 10 yards to take the catch. 

Adil Rashid struck with his first ball when Tom Moores top edged a sweep and Drakes at short fine leg took a steepling catch.

At 50 for five in the eighth over the match was over by the skipper Dan Christian and Championship captain Mullaney had other ideas and added 114 in 10 overs to make an Outlaws victory possible.

Christian took a couple of steps down the pitch to Rashid  and drove over long on for a flat six. Two balls later he late cut Rashid to the boundary to take the Outlaws at the halfway stage to 72 for two.  He gently placed Jack Shutt over the long on boundary into the Howard stand for another six.  After Christian had started the over with a six, Mullaney finished the over with a six over fine leg to bring up his fifty off 31 balls.

From the last five overs the Outlaws needed 67. At the end of the 16th over the Vikings thought they had run out both Christian and Mullaney at both ends but neither were given.

Mullaney pulled Drakes over square leg for a six.  Christian smashed Jordan Thompson straight for a boundary to bring up his fifty from 31 balls with three fours and three sixes as they crept closer to their target.

The partnership was broken when Mullaney sliced a drive off Thompson to Allen on the cover boundary.  In the next over Christian tried to sweep Drakes and was bowled.  In that over the Outlaws only scored four runs and that swung the match the Vikings way.

Mullaney said: “Credit to Yorkshire they batted very well.  They got a few that was over par but we thought that it was a reachable score.  We lost wickets being positive but we’ll dust ourselves off. I thought that their bowlers bowled the last three overs really well. Everyone is beating everyone in this group.  At the end of the day they played very well and we played okay so they deserved to win.”  
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