Derbyshire’s victory ends Yorkshire’s hopes of qualifying for the quarterfinals

Yorkshire’s chances of making it to the Vitality Blast quarterfinals were dashed when they lost to Nottinghamshire, the bottom-seeded team in the North Group, as the Vikings were unable to chase 210 in a crucial match at Headingley.

Yorkshire had to win going into this last group match and pray for good fortune elsewhere. However, they were unable to meet a target that would have been their most successful pursuit in Blast history. They lost by 28 runs, finishing at 181 for 6.

In the Outlaws’ 209 for nine, T20 debutants Freddie McCann and Sammy King scored 48 and 44, while Jack Haynes scorched 50 off 21 balls. Joining the team for the first time as an opener, McCann, 19, was representing a county that had only won four of its fourteen group games.

Ben Cliff, a seamer, also returned a career-best 4 for 31 for the Vikings, who lost seven games to none. Notts’ leg-spinner Calvin Harrison and seamer Luke Fletcher both took two wickets, while James Wharton top-scored for the home team with 52 off 46.

Having chosen to bowl first, Yorkshire missed Dawid Malan due to a side strain, but they got off to a perfect start when Cliff removed skipper Joe Clarke in the second over.

Then McCann and King moved forward, sharing a courageous 87 runs for the second wicket.

Left-handed In the fifth over, McCann struck a four off Jordan Thompson and two consecutive sixes, one over long-on and the other an uppercut, to bring the score to 46 for 1.

As 22 came off the ninth over, King also struck three sixes in a row off of Jafer Chohan’s leg-spin and a wide long-on. But in the next, he hammered a Thompson full toss to long-on, and the Outlaws reached the halfway point with 96 for 2.

Regretfully, McCann met the same demise as King, entangled in the ropes while attempting to free a maiden fifty. Early in the 13th, he was caught off Chohan at long range.

Like McCann and King before him, Haynes reached his fifty off twenty balls and took a bowler for consecutive sixes. The victim was spinner Dan Moriarty, who was driving the carefree Outlaws towards 200.

As Yorkshire turned the tide, Haynes and Tom Moores, for thirty, were among the six wickets that fell in the last twenty-five balls, including two for Cliff in the penultimate over.

Nevertheless, their late good work with the ball went unrewarded as Fletcher struck twice in as many balls to get Lyth caught at deep square-leg and Masood at point in the fourth over, leaving the chase struggling at 31 for 3 after openers Will Luxton and Adam Lyth, along with captain Shan Masood, fell victim to errors.

Wharton made every effort to retrieve items. After he fiercely pulled Olly Stone for six over midwicket, he was reduced to 88 for 4 after ten overs when Harrison bowled George Hill.

Donovan Ferreira was Wharton’s partner, but their time together was far too short, as the South African hit a few sixes in 22 before getting caught at long-on off Harrison. The 12th over, at 105 for 5, felt like the race of Yorkshire was won.

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Thus, it demonstrated. Wharton scored fifty runs off of forty-one balls, but it was insufficient as the Vikings blew a fantastic chance to move on.

The match headed towards a low-key end as he chipped Fazalhaq Farooqi to cover, 132 for 6 in the 16th over. Fletcher bowled out 34 off the final over, but Thompson salvaged a consoling unbeaten fifty off 29 to continue his excellent night.