Yorkshire CCC suffer quarter-final heartbreak in extraordinary finish
THE second-biggest knockout match of the day in the world of sport meant that the start-time of this game had to be moved forward.
It was no odds to Somerset, who booked their place at T20 Finals Day on Saturday in time for the anthems out in Atlanta.
On another warm and sunny evening (is there any other in this English summer?), Yorkshire scored 161-9 after choosing to bat in this quarter-final tie.
In response, Somerset were down and out at 82-8 in the 15th over, but Craig Overton (79 not out from 30 balls with five sixes and eight fours) played one of the great T20 innings, taking his team home by two wickets with one ball remaining.
In front of a sparse crowd, Yorkshire opened with Adam Lyth and Moeen Ali for the first time in the tournament. The move did not pay off, Moeen falling to his first ball - the penultimate one of the first over - which he edged behind off Overton.
Lyth, however, hit successive fours off Overton and later picked him up over square-leg for six. Will Luxton then struck three consecutive fours off Overton but perished to a catch down the leg-side off Jake Ball to leave Yorkshire 38-2 after four. Jonny Bairstow fell to the final ball of the fifth over, bowled by the rapid Riley Meredith on a pitch that offered pace and bounce, the hosts reaching 45-3 at the end of the powerplay.
Lyth has been in fine form in this competition and he launched straight sixes off Daniel Sams and Lewis Goldsworthy as the hosts climbed to 82-3 at halfway. Lyth went to his fifty from 31 balls and added 58 in a stabilising stand with George Hill, who made 19 from 20 before Sams had him caught behind.
Yorkshire slipped to 103-5 in the 14th when Lyth top-edged a pull off Overton to short third-man, having made 64 from 40 with six fours and three sixes; then Dom Bess and Matty Revis were held at long-on off Ball and Sams respectively (115-7).
Yorkshire failed to find the boundary between the penultimate balls of the 11th and 17th overs, A.J. Tye breaking the shackles when launching Sams over long-on for six. The Australian then hit Meredith for another over long-off before he was caught behind swinging at Ball.
Hassan hoisted Ball’s last delivery over long-on into The Howard Stand, but Logan van Beek picked out mid-wicket off the next ball, the first of the final over, bowled by Meredith. Yorkshire scored 51 from the last five overs, a useful late burst.
Chasing early wickets, the hosts struck with the seventh ball of the reply, Thomas Rew skewing Hill to mid-off. Tom Banton, released from England duty on the morning of the game, then sliced Tye to slip. Bess took a brilliant diving catch at mid-wicket to dismiss James Rew off Hassan, and Somerset slid to 26-4 in the sixth when Will Smeed sliced Hill to short third, the total 29-4 at the end of the powerplay.
Van Beek bowled Tom Kohler-Cadmore with his first ball (38-5 in the ninth), at which point the chase was in tatters. Goldsworthy skied Revis to deep cover, Sams lofted van Beek to mid-off, and Lewis Gregory sliced Hassan to mid-wicket. Somerset needed 22 off the last over from Revis – and Overton obliged.