Alex Hales bowled for a golden duck as Steven Mullaney scores a career-best 79 off 46 but Nottinghamshire fall short in their chase of 203 against Yorkshire at Headingley
Last Updated: 06/06/22 11:53pm
Alex Hales fell for a golden duck after only two balls of the chase as Nottinghamshire lost to Yorkshire in the Vitality Blast
Yorkshire secured a rare win over Nottinghamshire as the 2020 champions continued their unusually sluggish start to this season’s Vitality Blast, failing to chase 203 at Headingley.
Unbeaten wicketkeeper-batter Jonny Tattersall top-scored with 48 off 30 balls from number six as the Vikings made 202 for five on a true, pacy pitch.
David Willey bowled Alex Hales for a golden duck two balls into the chase before Dominic Drakes struck twice in as many balls in the second over as the score crumbled to 14 for three.
Steven Mullaney’s thunderous career-best 79 off 46 – the innings of the night – gave them a glimmer of hope. But they finished on 179 for seven, losing by 23 runs. Left-arm quick Drakes finished with three for 31.
Yorkshire posted their second successive 200-plus total after chasing 208 to beat Durham here on Friday. Harry Brook’s 25-ball 40 backed up Tattersall’s highest T20 score since 2018.
Both sides came into this with two wins, two defeats and five points, separated in fifth and sixth by Yorkshire’s better net run-rate.
The visitors had won the last six completed fixtures against Yorkshire since the Vikings’ last win – here in 2017.
The Outlaws, winners of the North Group in two of the last three seasons, got off to a mixed start.
Seamer Jake Ball conceded 21 off the third over. But Finn Allen was trapped lbw at the end of it for 16 as the score slipped to 34 for one.
Ball (three for 29 from three overs) recovered impressively, also uprooting Adam Lyth’s off-stump for 20 as the score fell to 43 for two in the fifth.
Yorkshire reached 54 for two after six before Brook and captain Willey more than doubled that total in the next four overs – 117 for two after 10. Brook pulled or slog-swept three sixes.
But their dangerous stand of 76 inside seven overs was broken by leg-spinner Calvin Harrison, who had Willey caught at long-off for 34 in the 11th, leaving Yorkshire at 119 for three.
That became 123 for four in the 12th when Brook was bowled by left-arm spinner Samit Patel trying to hit square on the off-side.
Harrison impressed with one for 27 as Nottinghamshire slowed the rate. Only 22 runs came from the start of the 12th over to the end of the 15th – 143 for four. However, it was the only calm amidst the storm.
Tattersall hit sixes over square-leg and long-on as 59 came from the last five, including Ball’s third wicket.
If Yorkshire’s fans were roused by that, they were jubilant inside two overs of the response.
Hales played down the wrong line to a Willey in-swinger and fell for a golden duck after only two balls of the chase.
Drakes then forced Joe Clarke to glove an attempted pull in the next over and was caught behind down leg one-handed by Tattersall for five. Next ball, Patel inside-edged one onto leg stump.
There was further damage for Nottinghamshire inside the powerplay as Ben Duckett top-edged Matthew Revis behind for 15, with Tattersall taking a good swirling catch – 34 for four in the fifth over.
By this time, it looked like game over. Adil Rashid’s first ball yielded the wicket of Tom Moores caught at short fine-leg – 50 for five in the eighth.
And it was crazy to think that the best batting of the night was still to come.
Both Mullaney and sixth-wicket partner, their Australian captain Dan Christian, reached their fifties in 31 balls, with the former hitting all three of his sixes to leg and Christian taking two off Rashid.
They shared 114 inside 11 overs, and with four overs left 58 were needed.
But Jordan Thompson had Mullaney caught at deep cover and Drakes bowled Christian for 56 as the score fell to 166 for seven in the 19th, leaving Revis to defend 35 off the last.