Derbyshire Destroyed

Last year the hapless Yorkshire Vikings were on the receiving end of a few spankings in the Twenty20 tournament. Happily it was the turn of the Tykes to inflict an annihilation as Derbyshire Falcons were crushed by eight wickets, with six whole overs to spare. The chief architect of the demolition was not the debutant, Aaron Finch, but the surprising source of Alex hurricane Lees.

In fact, young Lees smashed his way to his first-ever Twenty20 fifty. He was ably assisted by a characteristically belligerent cameo from Jonny Bairstow. This pair of prodigies safely took the Vikings over the finishing line, with much to spare, after the Falcons had failed to post a sufficiently demanding total. Earlier Jack Leaning had opened the bowling with an expensive over, but fortunately his teammates rescued themselves by restricting the visitors to a dismal forty-nine for four. Even Adil Rashid bowled quite well, as Derbyshire failed to achieve any momentum, thereby undermining their decision to bat first. Well, at the halfway stage, the white rose were presented with a run chase that didn't look too daunting. However, Andrew Gale failed yet again in a Twenty20 outing, while the highly-regarded Finch saw his first efforts for his new county completely overshadowed by the cavalier exploits of Alex Lees. Well, it's good to see Alex assert himself as the Vikings broke their 2014 Twenty20 virginity. Let us now hope that Lees can take this form into the imminent County Championship encounter in Northamptonshire. It will certainly be fascinating to see how Mr Finch copes with the four-day format, and how Yorkshire will cope with the enforced absences of Ballance, Bresnan, Root, Sidebottom, and Williamson.

YORKSHIRE VIKINGS versus Derbyshire Falcons; at Headingley; Friday May 30th. Derbyshire Falcons won the toss.

Derbyshire Falcons: 127 for 6 off twenty overs

YORKSHIRE VIKINGS: 128 for 2 off fourteen overs (Lees 61*)

YORKSHIRE VIKINGS won by eight wickets. YORKSHIRE VIKINGS 2 points, Derbyshire Falcons 0 points.