Yorkshire Vikings v Worcstershire Rapids at Headingley T20 Blast May 30th

Neil Whitaker reports

 DAN Moriarty took his best Vitality T20 figures four  for 25 as the Yorkshire Vikings beat the Worcestershire Rapids by eight wickets with 8.2 overs to spare at Headingley

Moriarty, whose best figures before tonight were   three for 25 against Kent at Canterbury in 2022, struck in the second over of the match when ex-Viking Matthew  Waite raced down the pitch and was stumped by a mile by Donavan Ferreira.

New signing Ferreira said: “I was relieved that I got that stumping  because I haven't kept wicket for four months.”

Josh Cobb got too far under a pull off Moriarty and cue ended it to Matt Revis on the mid wicket boundary. Moriarty got his third wicket when Tom Taylor tried to cut him but top edged him to Ferreira.  Nathan Smith tried to run Moriarty down to third man but was bowled.

Moriarty said: “It was an exciting start to the competition and nice to get a win on the board.  Last season  it was so frustrating not getting  into the side at Surrey but they have so many good players.  We were unsure about the pitch but it suited our attack and it was nice to go out there and bounce ideas off each other.”

Ethan Brookes top scored for the Rapids with 42 and looked to be pulling  them round with a seventh wicket partnership of 43 in five overs with Gareth  Roderick. Brookes calmly placed Jafer Chohan to the point boundary. Roderick clipped Revis off his toes for a six inches over Jafer Chohan at fine leg. With these two at the wicket  it looked like they could give their bowlers a total which they could defend.   But the pair were both back in the hutch within four balls of each other.

First  Brookes cut Dom Bess to Dawid Malan at cover who took the catch inches from the ground.  Four balls later  the pair combined again this time to dismiss Roderick who  backed  away and chipped Bess to Malan.

The Rapids won the toss and decided to bat but  lost their first wicket in the first over when  Brett D’Oliveira moved across to his off stump and to scoop Dom Leach and was bowled.  Adam Hose clipped Leach off his toes but found Adam  Lyth at square leg.

After hitting Jafer Choran for a four, Hayden Walsh smashed the next ball  to Joe  Root at the long on boundary. Adam Finch clipped Bess off his legs but found Shan Masood at mid wicket who threw the ball into Ferreira who took the bails off.  The Rapids 101 was their lowest T20 score against the Vikings at Headingley

Lyth and Malan raced to 43 in five overs without looking in trouble until Malan edged a drive off Finch and Smith at short third man took the catch at waiste height.  Shan Masood took a couple of paces down the pitch to Cobb and drilled the ball to Taylor a couple of yards in from the long on boundary.

Lyth had two pieces of luck within three balls when he  pulled both Walsh and Taylor but as the fielders raced into catch the ball died on them.  The first off Walsh was the more expensive, costing four  runs the latter off Taylor only cost a single.  He reached his fifty from 41 balls when he smeared Walsh to long off boundary.  A couple of balls  later the match was over when he swept Walsh to the fine leg boundary.

Rapids Head coach Alan Richardson said: “We didn’t bat well enough and we were never at the races.  We only had four guys that played for us last season so it’s really a new team. The guys didn’t execute their shots as well as they could but they will be better than that.  I thought Brookes played fantastically well, he and Roderick rebuilt the innings.  We were always struggling, I thought 180 would be a good score.

I thought Moriarty bowled really well, our guys said it was difficult to face  him.”

Scorecard