Not so much "Blast Off" as "Oh Blast" for Yorkshire in T20 opener

Gone are the days when such terminology might be reserved for the likes of Cape Canaveral, from where missions to find distant galaxies that may or may not contain white-ball cricket are launched.

Hopes that it would be a case of “Blast Off”, or “Lift Off”, call it what you will, for a Yorkshire side marooned to the bottom of the County Championship Second Division were dashed as they lost to host club Birmingham by 34 runs.

Yorkshire’s last victory in any format came on August 21 last year, effectively nine calendar months ago, when they beat Derbyshire at Chesterfield in the Royal London Cup.

After winning the toss and choosing to bowl, Yorkshire conceded 200-6, Sam Hain top-scoring with an unbeaten 83 from 45 balls, with four sixes and seven fours.

The hosts had looked like getting nowhere near that score but Yorkshire leaked 130 off the last 10 overs, including 42 off the final three, with only Matthew Revis (2-25 from four overs) catching the eye as Ben Mike, Dominic Leech, Jafer Chohan and Jordan Thompson all went for over 10 runs an over.

Yorkshire were 66-7 at halfway in reply, but Dawid Malan hit 43 from 29 balls, Dom Bess a T20 career-best 42 not out from 28, and debutant Chohan 37 from 20, including three sixes, to lead them to 166 all-out. Bess and Chohan’s stand of 62 was a Yorkshire T20 record for the ninth-wicket as the visitors at least went down with a fight.

After Lancashire beat Derbyshire by four wickets in the day’s opening match, bright sunshine greeted the teams when this game kicked off before a crowd of around 10,000 at 6.30pm.

A mini, pink-coloured remote-controlled car brought out the matchball (what else?), and Chohan, the 20-year-old leg-spinner handed his first-team debut, was straight into the action, making a good diving stop on the fine-leg boundary to restrict Paul Stirling to two runs off the opening delivery of the game from Leech.

Leech thought he had Stirling caught behind off the second ball, which drew vociferous appeals from the Yorkshire fielders, but umpire Mike Burns was unmoved.

Yorkshire struck with the penultimate ball of the second over, left-hander Rob Yates driving Mike to mid-on, where captain Shan Masood took the catch. It set the tone for a good powerplay by Yorkshire, with Birmingham limping to 41-3 after six overs, which rather belied the fireworks to come.

Revis and Thompson also struck in their first overs, bowling Stirling and Alex Davies respectively, as the hosts struggled to adapt to the pace of the pitch. Birmingham fell to 51-4 in the eighth over when Dan Mousley heaved across the line and was bowled by Bess, and after a solitary over from the England off-spinner, Chohan was brought on to replace him at the Pavilion End.

The young man started confidently and impressively with just four singles off the bat as the hosts reached 70-4 at halfway; Chohan’s second over, though, went for 18, followed by 17 from Mike, as Hain and Chris Benjamin lifted the hosts to a competitive total.

The pair added 97 from 48 balls, Birmingham’s highest T20 stand against Yorkshire, transforming the complexion of the contest as Yorkshire gradually lost their way.

Seventy-seven runs came between overs 10 and 15 - effectively making up for the poor batting powerplay - as the fifth-wicket pair improvised well and struck the ball cleanly, seizing on anything full or wide.

Benjamin - dropped on 16 by Malan at cover off Leech, when the fielder was badly hampered by the sun in his eyes as he tried to judge a skier - eventually holed out on the square-leg boundary, four short of his fifty, when Bess claimed a pull off Revis.

Hain went to his fifty in the same over, reached from 32 balls with two fours and three sixes, but Birmingham slipped to 158-6 in the 17th when Chris Woakes slapped Leech to Revis at long-on before Hain ensured a grandstand finish.

Yorkshire’s reply was soon in distress, Adam Lyth and Jonny Bairstow edging behind in the first two overs.

Birmingham - hampered by the loss of overseas pace bowler Hasan Ali, who injured himself in the warm-up and had to be led from the scene by medical staff - then got the key wicket of Masood, who chopped on to leave Yorkshire 15-3.

When Will Fraine was bowled by Henry Brookes, it meant that the visitors had lost a wicket to the penultimate delivery of each of the opening four overs, a statistical curio. Yorkshire slid to 34-5 from the final ball of the powerplay when Revis cracked off-spinner Mousley to cover, where Danny Briggs took an excellent catch, and the visitors’ predicament literally became devilish at 66-6, Mike pulling Craig Miles to square-leg.

Three balls later it was 66-7, Thompson – who smashed a thrilling half-century when Yorkshire lost in the semi-final here last year – skying Miles to cover.

Malan and Bess added 38 before Bess and Chohan carried the fight, frustrating Birmingham and giving Yorkshire something to build on before their next game at Worcester on Friday.