Recent Match Report – Lancashire vs Yorkshire North Group 2022

Lancashire 213 for 5 (David 66) beat Yorkshire 209 for 8 (Kohler-Cadmore 77, Willey 52) by 4 runs

Two Roses ties in one season would have been the stuff of dreams. As it was, the dream failed to materialise by a couple of metres. Dominic Drakes sliced away the final ball of the match from Danny Lamb with six to win for Yorkshire, four to tie. A four surely, he thought as he made good contact; no, a six roared the Headingley crowd, hands brandished, as the ball flew skywards, only for Tom Hartley to intervene with a head-high catch on the boundary. A quick glance around at his size 12s, a gesture of triumph to the Western Stand and another Roses match had entered the annals.

And enter the annals it should because it is on T20 nights like these where in 2022, whether your preference is short form or long, that the true Roses match increasingly resides. Last month, the four-day version, the one steeped in history, pulled in 5,500 spectators over four days. There were 14,000 at Headingley this night and once again the contest was intense. Year after year, it does not disappoint, pulling in large crowds, creating stories, wallowing in an outpouring of happiness.

Lancashire then granted two potentially costly let-offs: Luke Wood in too close at deep midwicket when Willey cleared him with a ball that bounced in front of the rope; Gleeson fumbling Jordan Thompson’s dab as he dived forward at short third. But Gleeson and Wood bowled brilliant final overs, hitting the blockhole regularly, Danny Lamb was left to defend 17 from the last over and, although Matthew Revis picked Lamb’s slower ball to reduce that to 7 from 3, Lancashire clung on. The 25 sixes were a Roses record.

A Yorkshire win would have made Kohler-Cadmore’s innings one if the season’s most heartwarming stories. His season has been disrupted by recurring concussion since he was struck on the head in the nets by his team-mate, Pat Brown, during the Pakistan Super League four months ago. Concern grew, perhaps belatedly, during Yorkshire’s pre-season tour of Dubai. He missed the first phase of the Championship season, and worries resurfaced in the Blast when he was pulled out of the match against Nottinghamshire at Headingley on Monday with minimal explanation. To play out a maiden against Gleeson’s first over added to the tension, only for him to produce an ebullient 73 from 43 balls, supported by Adam Lyth who saw so little of the strike he might have absent-mindedly sunk a pint at the non-striker’s end, but who made full use of what he had.

His strike rate of 165 is outdone only by Andre Russell and Finn Allen. Yorkshire have Allen on their books but Allen had fallen prey to Covid. This may be a shock in England, but he is from New Zealand where, unlike England, people still routinely test themselves.

David crammed six sixes into the back-end of his 66 from 32 balls and the Headingley crowd was dejected long before he holed out against Drakes, one handed, seven balls from the end. Jordan Thompson had helped to pin down Lancashire in mid-innings, but his final over went for 24: 6-4-6-6 in successive balls. He missed his yorkers, he missed his change-ups and everything landed in the slot. There again, as far as David is concerned, it is a very big slot.

Lancashire’s Powerplay return of 57 for 1 was sound enough, but it was a relief for Yorkshire as Drakes, in the second of his four-match contract, conceded only two runs from the sixth over. He is a lithe pace bowler, of warm-hearted disposition, too, judging by the way he responded to a collision with Steven Croft when Croft got into one of his occasional befuddled running moments: Drakes rightly chose not to attempt the run-out and offered warm handshakes all round.

Croft, leg-side dependent for his 41 from 24 balls, had cut Thompson’s second ball, a slower one, to Drakes at gully. Liam Livingstone is Public Enemy No 1 at Headingley on Roses T20 nights. Hearts were in mouths as he slog-swept Adil Rashid high to midwicket as Willey stretched back for the catch. Willey, who is skippering the side, has arguably never looked as engaged with Yorkshire cricket as he has during this Blast season. But, if Livingstone had gone, David was heading for the crease, Dane Vilas played a great supporting hand, and ultimately that was to strengthen Lancashire’s hold at the top of the table.