Outstanding finish by Yorkshire in the T20

Thought we had blown that one!

 

It was such an anti-climax at first, after last Friday's brilliant atmosphere. We were just plodding along once Lyth was out. Great a batsman though Williamson is, he's not really suited to T20. Same for Ballance and Lees - they just don't have the urgency. I would have put Plunkett and Bresnan in the top six.

I thought the total was going to be a bit short and, once Warks got going themselves, it looked like a cruise to the finish for them. Getting Porterfield out was the key moment though and they lost SIX wickets in the final 13 balls.

It was a superb over from Willey (the 19th) that gave us a fighting chance with Bresnan needing to concede less than 11 for us to win off the final over. It went to the last ball and their tail ender launched one towards the ropes exactly where I was sitting and I watched it sail towards me knowing that a six would win it for them, and a four for the tie. But then a miracle! Lyth, who must be one of the best boundary edge fielders in the world game, threw himself across the rope and saved it from going over like a goalkeeper. The ball was gathered, hurled in and then I have no idea what happened! But cue wild celebrations from all the crowd and the Yorkie players who ran around in circles as if they had won the T20 World Cup.

I knew we had won but just wasn't sure by how many. Two runs was the final margin. Briliant win and from a position of hopelessness, they can actually finish in the top four and qualify for the knockout stages. Quite remarkable......

 

Kane Williamson is the only guy in the top ten rankings in all three forms of the game, so I would say he's very much suited to T20.

 

Ok, there's no arguing with that. I suppose you could say that he is the kind of batsman who can carry the innings through without ever giving you the impression that he is going to get a quick-fire 50.

I'm not knocking him, really I'm not. It's just that he is only a short-term addition to the squad anyway and he'll be gone soon. He's a technically correct batsman and it's nice to see yet another international in the squad but I can't say I will miss him too much when he has gone. He got a decent 48 last night before sacrificing his wicket right at the end trying to pinch a single. I couldn't help wishing though that he had got out a couple of overs sooner to allow the likes of Plunkett and Bresnan to come in and smash a few sixes.

We got away with it last night and it was a tremendous finish, but it looked like an easy win for Warwickshire with only a few overs left. Six wickets in thirteen balls is a bit freakish but it cranked the excitement level up a few notches