SECOND XI: Lancashire and Yorkshire play out close-fought T20 double header
Lancashire Cricket’s Second XI played out two hard-fought T20 games against Yorkshire on Wednesday at Weetwood Sports Ground in Leeds.
The Red Rose fielded a very strong side in the opening match and beat the hosts in a high-scoring affair, before Yorkshire snuck a tight win in the second game.
After losing the toss ahead of the opener, Lancs were put into bat by their rivals. Opening batters Matty Hurst (29) and Michael Jones got things off to a flier, with the latter hitting two sixes off the first two balls of the innings.
They brought up 50 from just 19 balls, though Hurst fell three deliveries later, caught on the boundary attempting to hit his third six.
Captain Keaton Jennings (11) was also dismissed in the powerplay, but Jones and Ben McDermott (35) continued to play in attacking fashion.
Scotland international Jones cleared the rope five times in total on his way to a brutal knock of 66 from only 32 balls. The final six he hit was a slog sweep which saw him step outside off stump and hit the ball over square-leg.
He fell with 7.3 overs to go, yet Lancs’ momentum didn’t halt. New overseas star Shadab Khan (15) struck one maximum and Jack Blatherwick (29), returning from injury, cleared the rope four times to get the Red Rose up to 205-6.
Though the total was somewhat daunting, Yorkshire didn’t die wondering. Luke Wood picked up the early wicket of Yash Vagadia (7), who was caught by McDermott.
Yet, the White Rose rebuilt, with Will Luxton (35) and Sam Whiteman (66) putting on a partnership just short of 50. All-rounder George Balderson (1-25) got the breakthrough, having Luxton caught in the deep by Harry Singh.
Yorkshire got another partnership going before Shadab quickly put an end to that. He bowled George Hill (14) round his legs, with Singh removing Finlay Bean (2) the following over.
When Shadab had Whiteman caught by Jennings and Jafer Chohan was dismissed by Saqib Mahmood (1-25), it seemed like Yorkshire were down and out. They managed a partnership of 33 at the death, but Lancashire secured a 20-run win in game one.
Game One scorecard and videos here
The second game of the day saw the home side bat first. A much changed Lancs side did an excellent job of restricting Yorkshire, who lost four wickets in the powerplay.
Tom Aspinwall, who picked up two wickets, dismissed Owen Smith for a duck in his first over, before Tom Hartley (2-21) picked up the wickets of Jawad Akhtar (6) and George Hill (10). Ben Walkden also ran out Matthew Revis (11) to leave the White Rose reeling.
Wickets continued to fall at a quick rate. Harry Singh (1-8) had Faheem Ashraf caught by Mitchell Stanley, and Bean was caught by Jones of Ollie Sutton’s bowling.
Two late contributions from Yorkshire, 37 for captain Dom Bess and 29 for fast bowler Ben Coad, helped them up to a total they could defend. But Bess fell with 3.4 overs to go, dismissed by Charlie Barnard (2-16) and Coad was ran out by Hurst as the home side were bowled out for 143.
Lancs’ chase started strongly. Jones once again got the Red Rose off to a flier, hitting 37 from 19 balls, belting eight boundaries, before falling in the 5th over, with Hurst losing his wicket two balls later.
There were plenty of starts for the Red Rose batters in the middle order. George Bell led the rebuild with 21, and was the second-top scorer of the innings alongside skipper Hartley.
But Bell was out just after the halfway mark, and Hartley was dismissed with 15 balls to go, with Ashraf putting an end to his brisk 21. It meant Lancs were still 13 short of the total.
The game went down to the wire, with the Red Rose requiring seven from the final over to secure the win. Despite Walkden’s best efforts, the game was closed out by Yorkshire who secured the win by three runs.
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