Yorkshire break nine-month winless run by sneaking past Notts
Dawid Malan's 95 not out underpins winning total at Trent Bridge
ECB Reporters Network
30-May-2023
Yorkshire 182 for 7 (Malan 95*, Masood 34, Brooks 4-51) beat Nottinghamshire 174 for 4 (Hales 53, Munro 46) by eight runs
Dawid Malan hit 95 off 56 balls, backed up by skipper Shan Masood's 34 off 23 as Yorkshire Vikings shocked Notts Outlaws to register their first win of the 2023 season - and their first in any format since August 2022 - with an eight-run victory in the Vitality Blast at Trent Bridge.
Yorkshire's 182 for 7 after electing to bat first proved to be enough, despite Alex Hales hitting a half-century for the second consecutive night and Colin Munro making 46 off 41 as David Wiese took 2 for 32 for the visitors, who chalked up their first T20 win on this ground since 2015.
"There were a lot of nerves at the end but Jordan Thompson bowled a fantastic last over to get us over the line," Ottis Gibson, Yorkshire's coach, said. "We have been struggling a bit for wins without playing as badly as the results might suggest and and we are hoping the confidence the players draw from that will set us up nicely for another big game, a Roses game, on Thursday night.
"When you win the toss and bat, you need someone to bat through the innings for you and Malan is one of the best in England and played a really a good innings. We had spoken about needing one of the top four to bat through the innings and he took it upon himself to do that tonight."
Jack Brooks, on loan from Somerset, took four wickets on his Outlaws debut but at a cost of 51 runs, with the home side feeling the effects of having three frontline bowlers (Jake Ball, Luke Fletcher and Olly Stone) currently injured.
Yorkshire posted a modest 41 for 2 in the powerplay, losing two wickets in the space of four deliveries in the sixth over as Adam Lyth and debutant Will Luxton departed in similar fashion, each trying to hit over the infield but succeeding only in launching the ball vertically, Matt Carter and Colin Munro respectively combining safe hands with a steady eye as Brooks celebrated his first two wickets.
The right-arm seamer, who turns 39 next Sunday, had seen his first over against his former county go for 17 runs as Malan and Lyth went on the attack and it was little wonder his wickets brought animated celebrations.
Masood joined Malan in plundering 50 runs in 35 balls but the Pakistan international, having cleared the rope a couple of balls earlier, holed out to Lyndon James on the leg-side boundary.
Malan missed few chances to score but lost another partner as Wiese picked out long-off, handing veteran spinner Samit Patel his 200th T20 wicket for Outlaws, and at 122 for 4 from 15, Yorkshire needed some acceleration.
It came in the last three overs, which contained another two fatal miscues off Brooks and one off Shaheen Shah Afridi but a feisty 15 in 6 balls from Ben Mike and 17 off the last Brooks over, including a fourth six for Malan, just clearing the fielder at long-off.
A Malan masterclass!
— Vitality Blast (@VitalityBlast) May 30, 2023
Sit back and enjoy a brutal display from the @YorkshireCCC opener#Blast23 pic.twitter.com/8HTGmJ11x7
Outlaws were marginally in front at 48 from the powerplay, having lost Joe Clarke to a steepling top edge in the second over and though they were slightly behind the required rate at 78 for 1 from 10, the second-wicket pair were still together, Hales completing 50 from 30 balls with his eighth boundary, although Munro had an escape on 24 when his pull fell just short of deep backward square.
That changed in the 13th over, when Hales edged Wiese straight into the hands of Luxton at backward point. He and Munro had added 84 but Outlaws needed 84 from 47 balls and needed to maintain momentum.
Fortunately for them, Montgomery was into his stride immediately, a couple of streaky boundaries followed by a clean hit six into the Fox Round stand off Dom Bess. Nonetheless, the pressure was still on with 54 required at the start of the last five overs and it was cranked up still more as Munro holed out to long-on.
The loss of the big-hitting left-hander in a tight over from Jordan Thompson turned out to be a crucial scalp for the Vikings, with every subsequent dot ball turning the screw on Outlaws, who suffered another blow when Montgomery hit Mike straight to extra cover, although with 26 still needed from just eight balls the game by then was effectively won.