Double Frustration For Yorkshire
Yorkshire’s return to action in the Vitality Blast ended in frustration, with defeats to both Birmingham Bears and Derbyshire leaving the Vikings sitting seventh on the North Group with ten games played.
Yorkshire went into the home game with Birmingham on the back of impressive back-to-back wins by an innings in the County Championship, with the Bears – who sat top of the group – electing to bat first having won the toss.
Things started well for Yorkshire when Dan Moriarty bowled Ed Barnard with the first bowl of the match but Alex Davies and Ed Mousley then went on the attack to add a quickfire 53 before Mousley was bowled by Conor McKerr for 21 from twelve balls.
That brought Sam Hain to the crease, and he would go on to lead his side to an impressive total of 214-7 – smashing eight sixes in a stunning innings of 98 not out from just 48 balls.
Yorkshire were left facing a record-breaking run chase to try and grab victory and Adam Lyth fell in the second over when he was caught behind off the bowling of Zak Foulkes for just six.
Despite that, the home side were able to keep the runs ticking over as Dawid Malan and James Wharton shared a partnership of 62 before Wharton was caught for 29 from twelve balls.
George Hill was bowled shortly afterwards to leave Yorkshire on 98-3 at the half-way stage but Donovan Ferreira then joined Malan at the crease as the Vikings continued the chase.
Malan reached his half-century before he departed for 54 with the score on 155-4 with Ferreira then leading the charge – smashing no fewer than seven sixes to move Yorkshire to within touching distance of victory.
With two overs left, the Vikings needed 18 for victory but Ferreira fell to the first ball of the penultimate over for 66 from 32 to stall the momentum.
Shan Masood and Jordan Thompson came close but Masood needed to hit six from the final ball to secure the win – something that wasn’t possible as the visitors instead took victory by four runs.
From there, Yorkshire headed to Chesterfield to face off against Derbyshire less than a week after the County Championship game between the pair had seen Yorkshire win with ease.
After a delayed start, Yorkshire went in to bat first but suffered a disastrous start as Malan, Lyth and Masood were all removed in the second over by Alex Thomson to leave the Vikings on 10-3.
Wharton was then trapped LBW in the next over to Mohammad Amir and when George Hill was acrobatically caught by Zak Chappell, Yorkshire had slipped to 21-5.
Ferreira and Matthew Revis ensured that the Vikings surpassed their previous low score of 68 before Ferreira was caught for 44, with Thompson coming to the crease to join Revis and help take the score into three figures.
The innings could come to a close with Derbyshire set a total of 131 to win and the hosts were able to reach the target with relative ease to secure a seven wicket win with five overs left in the innings, consigning the Vikings to defeat.
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