Jonny Bairstow and James Wharton lead Yorkshire to opening night win
THE sun came out for the opening night of the Vitality Blast with Trent Bridge baked in sweltering temperatures.
It was Yorkshire who proved too hot on the field, winning comfortably by seven wickets with 21 balls left.
After restricting Notts to 167-7 on a fast-scoring ground, having opted to bowl first, Yorkshire fell to 11-2 inside two overs.
But from there it was a breeze as Jonny Bairstow and James Wharton shared 144 for the third-wicket, Yorkshire’s highest partnership against Notts in T20, beating the 129 between Andrew Gale and Michael Vaughan for the second wicket at Headingley in 2009.
Bairstow hit an unbeaten 83 from 47 balls with four sixes and nine fours, and Wharton made 55 from 41 deliveries with three sixes and four fours.
Their stand lasted just 80 balls as the Notts attack was torn apart, Olly Stone conceding 32 from two overs and fellow pace man Dillon Pennington 46 from four.
Jafer Chohan and Dom Bess each took two wickets and Moeen Ali one on debut as spin proved key from Yorkshire’s perspective.
Benny Howell’s 30 from No 8 was the highest score for Notts, a 13-ball effort that contained three sixes, but four batsmen got out in the 20s, including England’s Ben Duckett, as the hosts struggled in front of a near 12,000 crowd.
George Hill got the night off to a fine start for Yorkshire, bowling Notts captain Joe Clarke with the final ball of the first over, Clarke static on the crease.
Duckett skied Bess to Logan van Beek at mid-off, then George Munsey flicked Chohan down the throat of Will Luxton at deep backward-square before Jack Haynes sliced Bess to van Beek at point, leaving the hosts 90-4 after 11.
Tom Moores chipped in with 27 before pulling Moeen to Matty Revis at deep mid-wicket, then Lyndon James was caught and bowled by Chohan at the second attempt as Notts slipped to 127-6.
Howell’s cameo at least ensured something to bowl at, the all-rounder lofting overseas debutant A.J. Tye for a leg-side six and another over cover, as well as pulling Hill over the boundary.
Hill took a fine low catch at deep cover to dismiss Howell from the final ball of the innings, giving Tye his first wicket for the club.
Adam Lyth fell to the third ball of the chase, lofting Pennington to mid-off, and Luxton was bowled by a searing yorker from Mohammad Ali.
Out came Wharton to get matters back on track as he picked up Pennington for six over mid-wicket and then hammered 16 off Stone’s first over, including a crisply pulled six.
Bairstow lofted Howell’s first ball over long-off for six as Yorkshire reached 50-2 at the end of the powerplay, the captain following up by lofting debutant spinner Joe Pocklington for a leg-side six and ramping another off Stone.
Bairstow and Wharton seemed to be trading boundaries for a pastime until Wharton (pictured) tried to reverse-hit Pennington and was caught behind, Bairstow sealing the deal with a cut four off Howell.