‘There’s no way we should have lost’ rues Adam Lyth after T20 Roses defeat for Yorkshire CCC

The sun beat down from a flawless blue sky, a light breeze buffeted the flag of St George on top of the Players and Media Centre, and the vapour trails of passing aircraft drew patterns above the distant Pennines.

It was the sort of evening, in fact, when thoughts drifted to the 25,000 absent friends who would otherwise have made for a memorable atmosphere.

Never has the lack of crowds been more poignant or keenly felt than it was for this meeting of the two great rivals.

In glorious conditions, as if September was making a play to swap places with June or July, Lancashire won this T20 Blast fixture by seven runs to qualify for the quarter-finals and end Yorkshire’s hopes of reaching them too.

After winning the toss, the hosts scored 167-6, Liam Livingstone (69 from 43 balls) and Steven Croft (58 from 45) sharing a Lancashire T20 record stand of 130 for the second wicket in 14.1 overs.

Yorkshire pegged it back well after the hosts had been 132-1 in the 15th over before Livingstone was out, Joe Root, Jordan Thompson and Duanne Olivier each taking two wickets.

Root then starred in his main forte, the Test captain top-scoring with 64 from 39 balls with eight fours and a six, his sixth half-century in his last nine T20 innings for the club, and his third in four fixtures this season.

Adam Lyth chipped in with 45 from 36, sharing 91 for the second-wicket with Root as the pair took Yorkshire to 115-1 in the 13th over, but when both were run out going for second runs, Yorkshire could only get up to 160-6.

Harry Brook was leg-before, Will Fraine run-out and Jordan Thompson caught at long-off. Saqib Mahmood held his nerve with 12 needed from the final over, leaving Yorkshire with nothing but pride to play for in their final match of the season against Derbyshire at Emerald Headingley on Sunday.

Lyth, leading Yorkshire in the absence of David Willey, who tested positive for coronavirus earlier in the week, admitted: “There’s no way we should have lost that game. I’ll hold my hands up. There was some schoolboy cricket in there.

“Me and Rooty should have seen us home. It was a chaseable score. There’s no way we should have lost from the position we got into, so we’re pretty gutted.”

After Alex Davies was caught behind off the third ball of the match, throwing the bat at a ball from Olivier, Livingstone and Croft took centre stage.

They hit seven sixes and eight fours between them, although they rode their luck at times – not least when three lbws went unrewarded.

Sam Wisniewski, an 18-year-old left-arm wrist-spinner handed his Yorkshire debut, conceded only five runs off his first over amid the onslaught – and only 15 runs in two overs in an impressive introduction.

Adil Rashid, the England leg-spinner, had asked to miss the game – and Sunday’s match – to spend time with his family after being away in England’s biosecure bubble.

Root, however, did turn up and he was Yorkshire’s most successful bowler with 2-25. After Thompson had Livingstone caught at long-on and then caught Dane Vilas off his own bowling, Root had Croft taken at short fine-leg and then Rob Jones stumped with a cheeky leg-break. George Lavelle was caught at mid-on off Olivier in the penultimate over.

Dawid Malan picked out mid-on in the fourth over of the reply, but Root, in particular, played superbly, placing the ball with unerring precision with deft and crisp strokeplay.

He deserved to finish on the winning side, but T20 can surprise like the Manchester weather.

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James Mitchinson

Editor