Joe Root shines again but Yorkshire Vikings denied T20 Blast triumph by Notts Outlaws at Trent Bridge

Ordinarily a capacity crowd of some 14,000 would have crammed into Trent Bridge for a Bank Holiday fixture between two of the game’s greatest rivals.

Instead, the music that greeted each wicket and boundary – drawing occasional interest from the street outside – echoed around the deserted stands, which were lit by occasional sunshine on the last day of August as this T20 fixture progressed behind closed doors.

There is something not quite right about T20 without a crowd – a bit like sitting in a pub that does not serve alcohol – but it continues to be entertaining all the same, full of the high-octane energy that we have come to expect and the skills and creativity of the players themselves.

This was another watchable encounter, Yorkshire following their 99-run demolition of Derbyshire the previous day with a hard-fought, six-wicket defeat to a team who have had the wool over them in T20; Notts have now won 20 of the 31 meetings between the counties.

As against Derbyshire at Headingley, when Yorkshire had got their tournament off to a successful start after the opening night visit of Notts themselves had been lost to rain, Joe Root and Adam Lyth were to the fore as Yorkshire raised a competitive 190 after choosing to bat.

Root top-scored with 65 on the day that he was left out of England’s T20 squad for the three-match series against Australia that starts on Friday (the England Test captain is available for Yorkshire’s next two T20 games before linking up with England’s one-day squad), and Lyth chipped in with 53.

But an unbeaten 86 from Ben Duckett, made from 53 balls with 10 fours and two sixes, saw the hosts home with four balls to spare, leaving Yorkshire disappointed again by the banks of the Trent.

Unchanged from the Derbyshire match, Yorkshire had taken advantage of a good pitch to accumulate 53-1 in the six-over powerplay. Kohler-Cadmore was the man out, stumped as he advanced to the spinner Matt Carter, but Root and Lyth combined in a fine half-century stand that set the tone for their team.

Root reverse-swept his second ball off Carter to the boundary in front of the Larwood and Voce Stand, and Lyth sent a pulled six off Luke Fletcher in the same direction, Steven Mullaney tipping it over the bar, just like Peter Shilton across the road in days gone by.

Boundaries flowed with pleasing regularity, bringing forth less pleasing bursts of music, it has to be said, and the total had reached 83 in the ninth over when Lyth was second out, lofting to deep mid-wicket two balls after reaching his fifty from 27 deliveries.

Harry Brook injected a spritely 39 from 26, adding 64 with Root before picking out deep cover to leave Yorkshire 147-3 in the 16th.

Barely had Root gone to his half-century from 35 balls than there was a dramatic clatter of wickets to end the innings, Yorkshire losing their last seven wickets for 22 runs in 16 deliveries as Fletcher nipped in with T20 career-best figures of 5-43.

Amid the carnage, Alex Hales pocketed four catches, including Root when he leapt up to pouch him at long-on off Fletcher as the England Test captain sought his 10th boundary.

The last six batsmen managed only seven runs between them and there were two golden ducks into the mix, Matthew Fisher – on whom that fate fell for the second time in 24 hours – and Jonny Tattersall cleaned up by Fletcher and Jake Ball respectively.

A target of 191 was always challenging, and Notts were in early straits when they fell to 16-2 in the second over. Hales drilled Lyth to mid-off, and Joe Clarke -–who had struck an unbeaten 100 from 44 balls in Notts’ six-wicket win at Durham on Saturday -–slapped Fisher to cover.

Chris Nash (51) and Duckett added 85 inside nine overs, Jordan Thompson having the former lbw as he made room to try to hit him to leg.

Thompson struck again when Dan Christian picked out deep mid-wicket as Notts slipped to 143-4 in the 15th, but Duckett and Tom Moores (21) added an unbroken 51 from 27 balls to complete the win.

Thompson was Yorkshire’s most successful bowler with 2-25 from three overs, and Lyth the most economical with 1-14 from three.

It was much more of a nip-and-tuck contest than the margin of victory might suggest, with Yorkshire having shown plenty of good signs in their first two games to give their supporters optimism as they watch from a distance.

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Thank you, James Mitchinson. Editor.