Band Scyld Berry in Edgbaston
To win the first semi-final, Lancashire had to score their highest T20 chase, and they did so with impressive certainty. They defeated Yorkshire in the Roses Match at neutral by six wickets with eight balls left.
The contrast between the two strategies was as contrasting as red and white. Yorkshire accelerated towards the end of their innings, thanks to their all-rounder Jordan Thompson hitting five sixes in the space of just seven balls and scoring 50 from 18 balls. Yorkshire lacked Johnny Bairstow’s firepower, but Thompson’s panache filled the gap – not at the start of the Yorkshire innings, but at the end.
Lancashire accelerated from the very start of their innings, as they had an opening batsman of Bairstowian strength. Phil Salt, who was cleared to leave the England whiteball squad, shook Yorkshire on their heels by hitting 36 from 15 balls early on, including 25 runs off just four legal balls from Matt Revis. Lancashire’s hardened veterans, Keaton Jennings and Dane Vilas, didn’t have to innovate after Salt’s attack; they just cut off the runs with low-risk shots.
Salt reiterated that he has a talent that deserves international acclaim by playing his first ball for four and maintaining almost the same pace. England, which is so packed with white ball batsmen of the highest order, has tried to downgrade the order, but he’s at his best going through his repertoire against the pace. He is able to take English white-ball hitting to a new level: Jos Buttler can hit the ball 360 degrees from the crease. Salt will soon be able to do it from the field as well.
So Yorkshire’s power play score of 66 for one was dwarfed – not that there was any in sun-drenched Edgbaston – by Lancashire’s 89 for two. Jennings wasn’t an old stodger after playing himself, thanks to Salt giving him time, and Yorkshire’s fieldwork faltered during his stand with Vilas.
Yet Yorkshire is not having a bad season, given their appalling conditions. If their morale had collapsed, they would not have made it to their T20 quarter-final against Surrey at the Oval. Their supply of good homegrown cricketers continues to flow, and Thompson could prove to be an all-rounder that is something more.