Bears complete clinical kill as Yorkshire CCC slip to defeat
THE evening began well for this correspondent when he was initially denied entry to the ground despite valid accreditation as he had not collected an unneeded wristband from the cricket centre on St Michael’s Lane.
Unfortunately, the matter was resolved and he was able to take his pulpit for this sixth of 14 group games, the competition carrying a longer sentence than you get these days for murder.
Alas for Yorkshire, it was they who were murdered in cricketing terms - or at least professionally killed off on this sultry Friday evening - as Bears prevailed by 32 runs.
It was not wristbands that were needed for the hosts but rather slaps on the wrist, Bears totalling 205-8 (Ed Barnard top-scoring with 67 from 40 balls) before Yorkshire pulled up short on 173-5, Dawid Malan’s fourth successive Blast half-century (65 from 34 deliveries) not enough to prevent a fourth defeat in six North Group games.
Once this killjoy had forced his way through the barricades, making a beeline for the rip-off £6 bacon rolls at the back of the West Stand (would they perhaps heat them up properly if they put the price up even further?), the Yorkshire team-sheet showed one change to the side that beat Notts Outlaws at Trent Bridge on Wednesday.
George Hill’s return at the expense of Harry Duke seemed to leave Yorkshire with a significant problem, though - no wicketkeeper.
But have no fear, Will Luxton was here, the 22-year-old batsman deputising behind the stumps on a night when he did not have anything out of the ordinary to do, but what he did, he did professionally.
Yorkshire were seeking revenge - bitter, barbarous, bloodthirsty revenge - after their six-wicket defeat to Bears at Edgbaston the previous Friday; well, alright, let’s just say that they wanted to get their own back.
After Bears won the toss and chose to bat (we would have batted, too, said Yorkshire captain Malan at the pre-match interview), Yorkshire made a good start, taking three wickets in the powerplay.
Alex Davies, the Bears captain, carelessly flicked a delivery from Hill to Jafer Chohan at short third-man, one ball after a fine piece of sportsmanship by Matty Revis, who signalled that he had straddled the rope in taking a catch on the mid-wicket boundary as Davies’s score instead advanced by six runs.
Dan Mousley deposited Jack White into the middle tier of the Howard Stand but then got carried away like a madman with a machete, bowled charging Dom Bess’s first ball, and Bears fell to 50-3 in the sixth over when Sam Hain lazily lofted Will O’Rourke to Adam Lyth at cover.
It was 85-3 at halfway, and then 98-4 when Tom Latham skied Hill to deep fine-leg, where Chohan judged brilliantly the most towering of chances.
Bears then lost Moeen Ali leg-before to a full ball from White, and Kai Smith to a catch behind off O’Rourke, slipping to 123-6 inside 15 overs, a competitive score at that point by no means guaranteed.
Impetus arrived when 21 came from the 16th over, bowled by Bess, but O’Rourke took his third wicket when George Garton sliced to James Wharton on the point boundary after the tail-ender had clubbed 21 from six balls, four of them boundaries.
White had Barnard caught at long-on by Bess in a penultimate over that disappeared for 19, and Hasan Ali (22 from eight balls) helped Bears finish strongly, 76 coming from the last five overs in a period of play that proved decisive.
Yorkshire lost only one wicket in their own batting powerplay, scoring 56 runs in the process, Luxton the man out following some lusty blows when he skied Hasan to mid-off.
Malan hit two leg-side sixes off Danny Briggs, the left-arm spinner, but was dropped on 29 trying a third by Garton at cow corner before Lyth was bowled endeavouring to hit Moeen to the leg-side (66-2 in the eighth).
Yorkshire were 81-2 at halfway and had accelerated to 121-3 in the 13th when Malan top-edged a sweep off Briggs to Hasan at fine-leg, having hit four sixes and five fours.
Will Sutherland whacked a couple of big sixes but the Australian overseas player perished for 20, well caught on the run and slide at long-off by Hain off Mousley as the hosts lost their fourth wicket at 153 in the 17th over.
With the required rate creeping up and up, Yorkshire required a finish every bit as strong as the Bears had produced, but the visitors expertly closed out proceedings.
Hasan conceded only two runs from a penultimate over in which he also took the wicket of Wharton, who fought hard to make 37 from 32 and was caught at long-on by Garton.
In the end, the Yorkshire innings fizzled out in disappointing manner, the margin of victory surprisingly comfortable in the finish, the Bears completing a clinical kill.