Report: Derbyshire Falcons v Yorkshire Vikings, Vitality Blast – Yorkshire County Cricket Club

Scorecard 

Derbyshire Falcons v Yorkshire Vikings

Vitality Blast, North Group

Sunday July 7, 2024, 2.30pm 

Queen’s Park, Chesterfield

Toss: Falcons won it and elected to bowl. 

Falcons: Luis Reece, Aneurin Donald, David Lloyd, Wayne Madsen, Samit Patel c, Brooke Guest w, Ross Whiteley, Alex Thomson, Zak Chappell, Mohammad Amir, Pat Brown.

Vikings: Adam Lyth, Dawid Malan, Shan Masood c, George Hill, James Wharton, Donovan Ferreira w, Matthew Revis, Jordan Thompson, Dom Bess, Ben Cliff, Dan Moriarty.

Match Summary: Yorkshire’s hopes of quarter-final qualification suffered another blow with a seven-wicket defeat against Derbyshire at Chesterfield having failed to defend a 131-target.

The Vikings’ third successive loss in the North Group came as they slipped to 10-4 in the third over en-route to a 130-9 total on a tricky pitch which offered help for the bowlers early on following a delayed start to 3pm.  

Unfortunately, Derbyshire made it look much easier, with David Lloyd leading their chase with 50 off 32 balls, the Falcons winning with five overs remaining. 

Yorkshire have now lost matches to Durham, Birmingham and Derbyshire since late last month. 

With four remaining, they will have to win at least three to have any chance of reaching the top four places. They have a won four, lost six record from 10 games. 

Report: Yorkshire made a disastrous start, losing Dawid Malan, Adam Lyth, Shan Masood and James Wharton in the first 13 balls – 10-4 in front of a 5,200 sellout crowd. 

Alex Thomson’s off-spin accounted for the first three of those, all in the second over, following a 30-minute delayed start following heavy morning rain. 

Malan miscued his first ball – off Thomson – to gully before Lyth chipped the same bowler to cover. When Masood came in, he was stumped having shimmied down the pitch to his first ball.

Things were about to get worse, with Pakistani pacer Mohammad Amir trapping Wharton lbw with an in-swinging yorker at the start of the third over. 

Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Shan Masood’s side now have little margin for error in the North Group.

And when Zak Chappell claimed a one-handed catch over his head at point off Samit Patel’s left-arm spin, ousting George Hill, Yorkshire were 21-5 in the sixth over.

Donovan Ferreira took the lead role in the recovery bid. Fresh from his 66 in Friday’s home defeat to Birmingham, the South African looked in excellent order as he shared 58 with Matthew Revis and made 44 off 32 balls. 

As you would expect, this innings wasn’t full on 100 mph hitting. He was far more circumspect. Though, he still struck the ball sweetly. 

He hit back-to-back boundaries off Pat Brown’s seam either side of the wicket in the 10th over, taking the score to 52-5, before hoisting Thomson over long-on for the first six of the match.

Unfortunately, however, just as he was getting into a position to really launch, he mis-timed a cut at Luis Reece’s seam to backward point. In falling six runs short of a second fifty in as many games, it left Yorkshire 79-6 in the 14th over.

Thomson with 3-26 and Patel with 1-15 were both excellent on a tricky, two-paced surface. But given that, you felt a good finish would give the Vikings some hope. 

Picture by John Clifton/SWpix.com. Ben Cliff was one of two Yorkshire wicket-takers today.

Revis and Jordan Thompson both hit sixes off Wayne Madsen’s off-spin in the 15th – one swept, the other straight – as the score moved to 98-6 with five overs remaining.

Revis, for a well made 30, and Dom Bess both fell to pulls against Amir and Chappell – one caught at deep square-leg, the other off a top-edge just behind square, 112-8 in the 18th. 

Thompson then skewed Brown to short third, for 23, in the last as Yorkshire reached 130. Six of Derbyshire’s seven bowlers used all struck. 

A key moment came in the first over of the chase when Masood couldn’t cling on to a one-handed catch above his head with Aneurin Donald having tried to take Bess over mid-off on nine. 

Derbyshire’s openers, Donald and Reece, came out with an aggressive attitude, trying to break the back of the chase.

And Reece achieved that task with a quick-fire 23. He hit early leg-side sixes off Revis and Ben Cliff. Despite Donald miscueing Revis to mid-on, the Falcons raced to 50-1 in the fourth over.

Picture by John Mallett. Jordan Thompson hit a couple of sixes in a late 23, at least giving Yorkshire something to bowl at.

Reece fell without further addition – caught at mid-on off Cliff. 

But it was already pretty obvious that Yorkshire’s task of turning this around was too tall.

David Lloyd, from number three, took on the lead role. He hit five fours and pulled six in his first 13 balls, moving to 29 out of 85-2 after seven overs.

That became 100-2 after 10 overs, and Lloyd was able to cruise to his second fifty of the campaign off 31 balls.

He dominated a third-wicket partnership of 76 with Wayne Madsen (30 not out) before being bowled by Thompson, 126-3 after 14 overs. 

Turning point: Yorkshire slipped to 10-4 after 13 balls, losing three wickets in the second over to Alex Thomson’s off-spin along the way. It was a top order collapse which gave them a mountain to climb – a task they weren’t able to achieve. 

Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Ottis Gibson believes Yorkshire will need to win at least three of their remaining four games to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Stat of the match: Yorkshire have now lost their last seven T20 matches against Derbyshire at Chesterfield, a run started in 2015. 

Group stage picture: Birmingham lead the way on 16 points from 10 games, having won eight. Lancashire are second on 13 points, Northamptonshire third on 12, Durham fourth on 11, Derbyshire fifth on 10 points ahead of Leicestershire courtesy of a superior net run-rate. Yorkshire are seventh on eight points. 

What they said – captain Shan Masood: “My report of the game is, and it’s my feedback to the match officials, that it was a game of two halves. It was completely different to when we were batting and completely different to when they were batting.

“My point was that if it’s rained so close to the game, the pitch has been under cover and we saw it during the four-day game last week. There was quite a lot of grass, so when there’s covers it absorbs a lot of moisture in it. 

“That game should never have been a 20-over game. They should have given it more time to dry out, because the team batting second has all the advantage. And I don’t think that’s a fair T20.”

What’s next: Yorkshire face Durham at Headingley on Thursday evening (6.30pm). It’s a match they are realistically going to have to win against a visiting side who have won three of their last four.