Lancashire beaten by Roses rivals in t20 warm-up match

The Yorkshire Vikings claimed a comfortable 21-run victory in Dubai against rivals Lancashire thanks to impressive displays by their international contingents, Jonny Bairstow and Adil Rashid.

The Yorkshire and England wicketkeeper made 54 from just 36 deliveries as he helped his side to post 159/5 in the scorching heat, and Lancashire could only manage 138/8 in reply, with leg-spinner Rashid (2-18) causing a lot of discomfort for the Lightning.

Having made 66 against an Emirates Xi only yesterday, opener Luis Reece made 47 for Lancashire, but this was the only telling contribution for the Lightning as they failed to come close to their victory target of 160.

It was Lancashire who won the toss and Yorkshire made a good start to their innings with opener Adam Lyth adding 36 in his 70-run partnership with Bairstow for Yorkshire’s third wicket.

Lancashire had managed to remove Andrew Hodd for 17 when he played on to Tom Bailey in the third over, but Lyth and Alex Lees applied pressure with a regular flow of boundaries in the powerplay.

Lees eventually fell after Liam Livingstone managed to hold on to a catch at long-off with the score at 62/2 and Lancashire enjoyed a brief spell of success as the runs started to dry up for Yorkshire.

But Bairstow soon put his foot on the accelerator and went on to reach his half century in just 30 balls as Yorkshire took control of the match. With plenty of wickets in hand the risk of playing expansive shots was not a consideration for Bairstow in particular as he hit four boundaries and two sixes on his way to fifty.

 

Bairstow made 54 as Yorkshire posted 159/5.

Lyth was much more cultured and eventually fell for 36 off 34 balls as he was caught by Stephen Parry off the bowling of Steven Croft with the score at 132/3. Tim Bresnan fell soon after for no score as he skied the ball back to the bowler to supply Bailey (2-30) with his second victim.

Bailey then made a contribution in the field as he took a superb diving catch in the deep to bring Bairstow’s innings to an end with the score on 143/5. Richard Pyrah (10) and Matthew Rhodes (9) both finished the innings unbeaten as Yorkshire posted a respectable target and one which was ultimately too much for the opposition.

Lancashire also made a promising start as Reece continued from his impressive display against an Emirates Xi yesterday. Reece took an early liking to Bresnan as he hit the England fast bowler for three boundaries in the fourth over, before Livingstone departed for 10 with the score at 34/1.

Fisher nearly delivered a wicket maiden on his introduction to the match, but the new batsman, Karl Brown, got off the mark with a thumping drive down the ground.

Lancashire made a powerplay score of 50/1 and seemed to be on course to challenge for a victory, but the introduction of Rashid proved to be the decisive factor in this match as he constricted the flow of runs, causing Brown in particular plenty of problems.

Lyth failed to replicate his success with the bat in his efforts with the ball as Reece and Brown thumped 14 runs off his first over to maintain Lancashire’s chances, but when they had both departed the innings began to fall to pieces.

The first to fall was Brown who made 19 before Bairstow and Rashid combined for a stumping with the score at 78/2 as a 44-run stand came to a close. Reece’s attempt to match Bairstow’s effort with the bat proved unsuccessful as he was bowled by Pyrah (2-31) for 47 soon after the loss of Brown.

When this wicket fell the runs really started to become a luxury for Lancashire as Rashid continued to have a stranglehold on proceedings. Steven Croft felt the brunt of his success as he managed an uncharacteristically slow score of 10 from 11 balls before Rashid took the catch to remove the Lancashire all-rounder at 95/4.

Rashid claimed 2 for 18 to help restrict Lancashire's run chase.

Paul Horton became the fifth wicket to fall when he was caught by Fisher for 6 as Rashid collected his second and final scalp of the innings in a spell of bowling which ultimately won the match for the Vikings. 

Wicketkeeper Alex Davies had also been in good form after making a brisk 33 yesterday, but his attempt to come back for a quick two resulted in him being run out, as Fisher turned tricks in the field this time to claim Yorkshire’s sixth wicket.

Lancashire’s task had gone from difficult to nigh on impossible after a batch of wickets towards the end of the innings and a late burst from Arron Lilley was unable to salvage the result the Lightning would have liked.

The seventh Lancashire wicket fell as Jordan Clark feathered through to Bairstow off the bowling of Jack Brooks and Parry struggled to find the fence in similar fashion to Lilley as he played and missed several deliveries in the closing stages of the game.

Lancashire needed 36 runs from the final over and when Lilley hit the first ball of the over for six a miniscule amount of hope remained, but Yorkshire managed to hold on despite another six, which came from the final ball of the match.