Familiar tale of what might have been as Yorkshire CCC crash out of T20 Blast

Needing to beat bottom club Nottinghamshire in Friday’s final round of games, and hoping that other results went their way, they picked a bad time to slip to a 28-run defeat.

A seventh loss in 14 group matches, to go with six wins and a no-result, saw them finish seventh in the North Group, two points outside the quarter-final places.

Nottinghamshire scored 209-9 from their 20 overs, Ben Cliff taking four wickets and Jordan Thompson three, leaving Yorkshire to achieve what would have been their highest successful T20 chase.

They never threatened it, finishing on 181-6, James Wharton’s 52 from 46 balls and Thompson’s thrilling unbeaten 50 from 29 deliveries, with four sixes and three fours, the only crumbs of comfort.

Consequently, the fact that fourth and fifth-placed Leicestershire and Derbyshire lost, the results that Yorkshire wanted, were neither here nor there. Instead, they were left to reflect on a familiar tale of what might have been in the 20-over format.

On a hot summer night, Yorkshire were dealt a blow before play began. Dawid Malan, their leading run-scorer in the tournament, was ruled out with a side strain, which meant a return for Will Luxton.

Shan Masood chose to chase after winning the toss, the Yorkshire captain reasoning that it would be sensible, considering the North Group’s complex permutations, to know what his side had to do in terms of the bigger picture.

He was handed an early boost by Cliff, who bowled the dangerous Joe Clarke in the second over, the ball going down the Piccadilly line while the bat went down the Victoria route.

That brought together two debutants for Notts in T20 – Freddie McCann, a 19-year-old left-handed opener, and Sam King, a 21-year-old right-hander. They took the attack to Yorkshire in a sparkling second-wicket stand, lifting the visitors to 53-1 at the end of the powerplay, helped by 20 off Thompson’s first over, which included an uppercut for six by McCann followed by a six over long-on into The Howard Stand.

King then started to open his shoulders, hoisting the first three deliveries of Jafer Chohan’s second over beyond the rope. A straight pull was followed by consecutive blows over cow corner, Chohan having grassed a very tough caught-and-bowled opportunity that King offered in his first over – not the sort of fiercely struck chance you want when you are making your way back after a broken thumb.

King had advanced to 44 when he fell to his 25th ball, thumping a Thompson full toss to long-on. McCann and King’s partnership was worth 87 in 46 deliveries, good signs for the future from the visitors’ point of view.

Notts were 96-2 at halfway, the right-handed Jack Haynes maintaining the impetus with four boundaries in Dom Bess’s third over, which went for 23. In total, 11 overs of spin bowled by Yorkshire cost 118 runs for one wicket.

McCann narrowly missed a half-century, lofting Chohan to long-off to depart for 48 from 32 balls, with five fours and two sixes.

Haynes launched Dan Moriarty for successive leg-side sixes, reaching his fifty from only 20 deliveries, but fell to his next ball when Cliff had him caught by a back-pedalling Wharton at cover, ending a stand of 52 for the fourth-wicket with Tom Moores in 23 balls.

It was the first of three wickets in six balls for Yorkshire, Thompson having Moores held at mid-off for 30 from 16, then bowling Liam Patterson-White as Notts slipped to181-6 in the 17th.

Cliff had Lyndon James caught at mid-wicket from the opening delivery of the final over, Masood badly dropping Luke Fletcher at mid-off off the second ball but recovering to run out the batsman as he tried to sneak a single.

Calvin Harrison struck the third delivery for a straight six, missed the fourth and was caught at deep mid-wicket off the fifth, Faz Farooqi lofting the sixth for a one-bounce four.

As a crowd of 6,811 looked on, Yorkshire lost three wickets in the powerplay in reaching 57. Luxton lofted Olly Stone to mid-on, then Fletcher had Adam Lyth pulling to deep backward-square and Masood skying to gully from successive balls.

The hosts fell to 71-4 in the eighth when leg-spinner Harrison bowled Hill, looking to strike through the offside, then Harrison captured the key wicket of Donovan Ferreira, the overseas player, who skied to long-on after clubbing two huge sixes into the middle tier of The Howard Stand, leaving Yorkshire 105-5 in the 12th.

Wharton lobbed to cover and although Thompson provided some late entertainment, Notts were worthy winners.