Headingley Heartbreak

Aaron Finch bowed out of his brief but exciting cameo for Yorkshire with a characteristically swashbuckling batting performance. Jonny Bairstow then supplemented Finch's bravado with another brilliant display of his own. However, in spite of the Vikings compiling a daunting total of two hundred runs, Nottinghamshire Outlaws emulated the success of Birmingham Bears by snatching an unlikely victory in the final over.

Maybe the writing was on the wall for the Vikings when Kane Williamson was sensationally banned from bowling earlier in the week, thus robbing Yorkshire of a more than useful bowler. In the event, the Yorkshire bowlers proved to be as average or as hopelessly ineffective as their Nottinghamshire counterparts had been. In fact, only Tim Bresnan and Azeem Rafiq were not blameworthy for the hosts' demise during the Outlaws' extraordinary run chase.

Anyhow, congratulations to the away team for securing a home match in next weekend's quarter finals after they had fought back spectacularly in the face of a massive target. As for the Vikings, they can be forgiven for feeling absolutely gobsmacked that two winning positions on consecutive Fridays still led to excruciatingly narrow and painful defeats. Elsewhere, a puny response from Leicestershire Foxes enabled Birmingham Bears to comfortably defeat them, thereby overtaking the Vikings and seizing the final qualifying spot in the Twenty20 tournament by the slender margin of one point. Perhaps the Vikings can bemoan the three matches that were washed out as well as pointing out that the international quartet of Ballance, Plunkett, Root, and Williamson missed most of the matches. The absence of four key members of the squad certainly did the Yorkshire team no favours and clearly the county is a victim of its own progress in the likes of the County Championship. Ultimately, it was their awful batting collapse against Durham on July the second which proved to be fatal. Otherwise, the Vikings gave a good account of themselves, racking up an impressive run rate that compares favourably with almost any other team in the group stage. In fact it would be no exaggeration to state that even with a depleted squad this was undoubtedly the best-ever team to not qualify for the last eight of the Twenty20 Blast. Such an assertion will be of small consolation to a team that must immediately raise their spirits for the considerable challenge of Lancashire in their opening Royal London One-Day Cup encounter.

As for this devastatingly cruel defeat, the best means to get even is for Yorkshire to resist Nottinghamshire's attempts to overtake them in the last few laps of the County Championship. To achieve this would ensure that the Tykes have the last laugh. The Outlaws meanwhile could easily go on to conquer all opponents in the latter stages of the Twenty20 circus. Judging by their tenacity during the demanding run chase, it would be a fool to discard their chances of grabbing the County Championship prize in September.

Finally, as the curtain comes down regrettably too early on the Vikings' Twenty20 campaign, I award Jonny Bairstow as the Vikings' player of the tournament. JB recorded two half centuries and a ton, and he is one individual who would have graced the latter stages of the Twenty20 Blast. Oh well, that's my ten pounds bet down the drain. I shall now cry myself to sleep. It's tough at the top.

YORKSHIRE VIKINGS versus Nottinghamshire Outlaws; at Leeds; Friday July 25th. YORKSHIRE VIKINGS won the toss.

YORKSHIRE VIKINGS: 200 for five (Finch 89, Bairstow 60; Ball 3-38)

Nottinghamshire Outlaws: 201 for four off 19.2 overs (Hales 67)

Nottinghamshire Outlaws won by six wickets. YORKSHIRE VIKINGS 0 points, Nottinghamshire Outlaws 2 points.