Another Excellent Lees Performance Secures Victory

While Root and Ballance continue to excel for England, Alex Lees continues to make outstanding progress for Yorkshire. The talented batsman recorded another Twenty20 half century which underpins his credentials as an England player-in-waiting. In the process, Alex Hurricane Lees, ably assisted by the returning Andrew Gale helped the Vikings construct an insurmountable target.

Funnily enough, Yorkshire lost the toss yet again, but Wayne Madsen had clearly not done his homework when he kindly asked Yorkshire to bat first. Madsen ought to have taken note of the fact that the Vikings' two most recent defeats have been a result of inadequate run chases. It seems apparent that the Vikings thrive on batting first, so Madsen's decision to field first was most perplexing.

When the proceedings began, Aaron Finch again flopped. Although a big score is probably just around the corner, one wonders if Finch is possibly suffering burnout on account of playing the IPL and now the Twenty20 Blast, without any break. Meanwhile, his Kiwi batting partner Kane Williamson produced a useful knock while Tim Bresnan weighed in with a few lusty blows in the final over of the onslaught upon beleaguered Derbyshire. Obviously pride of place goes to the unbeaten half century from Lees. Maybe Andrew Gale has also discovered his true calling as a number five and not deluding himself as an opener.

Not surprisingly, the Falcons found the nine runs per over asking rate to be a bridge too far, or fifty-nine runs too far, to be precise. Azeem Rafiq distinguished himself with three wickets and two catches, whilst Adam Lyth justified his selection with a brace of wickets from eleven deliveries that only cost five runs. If only he could bat as effectively! Only Bresnan came in for a bit of stick, but his costly over proved to be an irrelevance. In the end, the Vikings returned to their longship, to venture back north, having climbed to second place in their Twenty20 group, and boasting the best run rate in the country. They can toast their successful invasion of Derbyshire.

Derbyshire Falcons versus YORKSHIRE VIKINGS; at Chesterfield; Sunday July 13th. Derbyshire Falcons won the toss.

YORKSHIRE VIKINGS: 183 for four off 20 overs (Lees 67*)

Derbyshire Falcons: 124 off 17.3 overs (Rafiq 3-26)

YORKSHIRE VIKINGS won by 59 runs. Derbyshire Falcons 0 points, YORKSHIRE VIKINGS 2 points.