Maxwell and Hodd lead Yorkshire onslaught

Glenn Maxwell finally found his form for Yorkshire with a blistering unbeaten 92 as the Vikings beat Nottinghamshire Outlaws by 40 runs in front of an 8,500 crowd at Headingley.

But the Australian wasn't Yorkshire's only star performer on the night because wicketkeeper-batsman, Andrew Hodd , came into the side at the last minute as a replacement for Jonny Bairstow, called up by England as cover for Jos Buttler, and he also blazed the trail with a sweetly-struck 70.

Maxwell, whose previous eight innings in all competitions for Yorkshire had brought him just 73 runs, included many audacious strokes in his 48-ball knock which contained eight fours and five sixes.

And the more orthodox Hodd was in tremendous form himself, his runs coming from 39 balls with six fours and five sixes.

The third wicket pair flogged 101 together from 58 deliveries to set Yorkshire up for a victory which brought to an end a run of three consecutive defeats in North Group which had seen them plunge next to the bottom of the table.

"I was plastering a wall, doing a bit of DIY, when I got the call around 4pm to come to Headingley and replace Jonny," Hodd said.

Put in to bat, Yorkshire lost the out-of-touch, Aaron Finch, in the second over when he chopped Jake Ball into his stumps but skipper, Andrew Gale, and Hodd rushed the total on to 49 inside six overs before Gale fell to a beautifully judged catch at long-on by Samit Patel off Luke Fletcher.

The scoring rate soon got up to around ten an over as Hodd and Maxwell delighted the crowd with their contrasting brands of strokeplay. Hodd straight drove Luke Fletcher for six and in the same over Maxwell cut him high over the rope before Hodd walloped Dan Christian for a huge six on the Australian's debut appearance for Outlaws.

Hodd, having reached Yorkshire's highest individual score so far in this season's competition, departed in tame fashion by gently driving Patel to James Taylor at short extra cover, but Maxwell continued on his merry way, reverse shovelling a couple of consecutive boundaries off Harry Gurney to the amazement of the fans.

Gary Ballance was bowled by Gurney in the final over and Maxwell signed off with a six and a four, his last 47 runs being thrashed from 17 balls.

Nottinghamshire needed a flying start if they were to get anywhere near Yorkshire's 209 for 4, their highest score against the Outlaws, but Michael Lumb gave a return catch to Maxwell in the first over of the innings while at the other end Tim Bresnan produced a brute of a ball which Niki Wessels could not avoid edging to Hodd.

It became 10 for 3 as Matthew Fisher, replacing the rested Jack Brooks, had Brendan Taylor caught behind and a rally by Patel and James Taylor was ended by James Middlebrook who dismissed Taylor and Christian in consecutive overs.

There was no way back from 82 for five but Patel and Mullaney made a spirited attempt with Patel reaching a 36-ball half-century by blasting Bresnan high for six.

Maxwell's great performance continued as Mullaney drove him to Ballance at long-on but Patel gained some revenge by smacking him for two successive sixes on his way to a career-best 90 not out from 59 balls with five fours and five sixes.