Northern Superchargers are left in a spin with Headingley defeat

The Spirit’s seven-wicket success with 18 balls remaining meant they already had one foot in the knockout stages at the halfway mark in their campaign after leg-spinner Mason Crane impressed with two for 23 to restrict the Superchargers to 143 for five.

Spin and pace off did the trick for the Spirit on a used surface - a break from the Headingley norm in white-ball cricket - before Rossington looked like he was batting on a different pitch. He hit nine of his first 15 balls to or over the boundary, finishing with 66 off 25.

Home captain Faf du Plessis top-scored with 56 off 35 after electing to bat, and the Superchargers have now lost their last three games following an opening-round win.

Du Plessis said: “I think you have to give credit to Rossington, we didn’t expect that.

“When we batted, with the new ball, it was initially quite sticky. So we were hoping that it would do the same. A culmination of it not doing that and also just the intent from a batting point of view just throws all the pressure back on the bowlers.

“It basically breaks your back with them just going extremely hard and getting ahead of the run-rate.

“Then guys tend to make a few more mistakes because you are under pressure. Three losses on the bounce is never nice. It’s a challenge for us to try and get away from this today.”

They only scored 23 off their 25-ball powerplay, losing Adam Lyth, who miscued Glenn Maxwell’s off-spin to mid-on.

Australian Maxwell conceded just six runs off 15 balls, 10 of which were bowled straight through to start proceedings.

Aside from Adam Hose’s late 30 off 14, Du Plessis was the only Supercharger who looked comfortable as he hit two sixes over long-on and deep midwicket.

A lack of timing and miscues were prominent against a varied attack oozing confidence.

Crane had David Willey stumped for 16 and Harry Brook caught at long-off for 12. When the latter fell, the Superchargers were 60 for three after 53 balls.

But the home crowd’s mood was lifted in the final 20 balls due to Hose’s heroics.

After former Supercharger and current Yorkshire all-rounder Jordan Thompson - otherwise expensive - bowled Du Plessis with a slower ball full-toss, Hose crashed his first three balls for two fours and six over long-leg.

But it was nothing compared to Rossington’s early assault.

Off the bowling of Willey and Roelof van der Merwe inside the first 10 balls of the chase, he crashed three fours and three sixes in seven deliveries, taking the score to 34 without loss.

His three sixes came in as many balls off Van der Merwe’s left-arm spin, clobbered over long-on and straight.

Overseas duo Wahab Riaz and Dwayne Bravo were both hoisted over square-leg and midwicket by Rossington, while Craig Miles was dragged over long-on to secure his fifty with a fifth six, eclipsing Supercharger Lyth’s 17-ball effort against Oval Invincibles last week.

Adil Rashid bowled Daniel Bell-Drummond, but even at that early stage in the chase, the points had all-but been secured.

When Rossington picked out deep midwicket off Van der Merwe, trying to hit his eighth six, Spirit were 113 for two after 52.

Maxwell capped off an excellent personal day with a typically high-octane unbeaten 43 off 25.

Rossington said: “The bowlers did a fantastic job to keep them to what was a gettable score.

“It looked like it held a bit in the wicket in their powerplay, so it was a case of going nice and hard in that for us. Today was my day, and it’s another good win.

“It is a nice thing to have (fastest fifty record). It was just a case of setting it up for the back end.

“With the ball holding in the first innings, I thought strong shots would be the way to go and hit through the line.

“Things didn’t go our way last year, and it was about making sure we stayed positive coming into this year.

“A few new faces and we’re on a roll.”

Lancashire suffered a two-wicket defeat to Hampshire in the Royal London One-Day Cup Group B.