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Worcestershire’s second innings hit by three-hour delay but third-wicket pair stand firm

ECB Reporters Network13-Jul-2023Worcestershire 242 (Coad 5-33) and 142 for 2 (Libby 61*) drew with Yorkshire 407 (Bean 135, Lyth 79, Hill 53, Finch 5-100Yorkshire’s victory push was thwarted by the weather and the Worcestershire third-wicket pair of Jake Libby and Gareth Roderick as the LV=Insurance County Championship encounter at New Road ended in a draw.The home side began the day on 22 without loss in their second innings and had been reduced to 49 for 2 – still 116 runs short of avoiding an innings defeat – when play was halted.The players were initially taken off for bad light but it was quickly followed by a torrential downpour and a three-hour delay.When play eventually resumed, acting captain Libby and Roderick closed the door on any hopes the Tykes may have had of forcing a second Championship win of the season. The pair added an unbroken 110 before the players shook hands at 5pm.Libby, Worcestershire’s leading run-scorer this summer, took his tally for 2023 to 701 with an unbeaten 61 while Roderick finished undefeated on 34.Yorkshire could take some consolation from being the better side for the majority of the game in all departments.There were several outstanding individual performances with Finlay Bean scoring an excellent century and Ben Coad picking up five wickets in Worcestershire’s first innings as they were forced to follow on.But the momentum changed during the second half of the third day when Worcestershire’s last-wicket pair of Adam Finch and Ben Gibbon held up Yorkshire for 35.3 overs and added 63 runs.Worcestershire will reflect on a performance in which they were below-par with the ball and in the field but, as has been the case in several recent games, dug in when their backs were against the wall.The ultimate winner was the weather which resulted in the loss of more than 130 overs during the four days.Gibbon and Finch resumed their nightwatch roles after returning to the middle yesterday evening.Only nine runs were added before Finch was run out following a mix-up with Gibbon who had turned Matthew Fisher to midwicket.Gibbon then pushed hard at Coad and was caught at first slip by George Hill but that was as good as it got for the visitors on the final day.Roderick and Libby joined forces and shepherded Worcestershire through to 49 for 2 before the rain arrived. When play eventually resumed Yorkshire toiled away in vain as Libby and Roderick stood firm.

Ellyse Perry’s unbeaten half-century in vain as spinners share five wickets after Wyatt’s 76 to give England two points

Valkerie Baynes05-Jul-2023Danni Wyatt’s magnificent half-century set a Kia Oval crowd of 20,328 – and this Ashes series – alight before England’s bowlers combined to protect a lofty total and topple the mighty Australians by three runs in their second T20I.Wyatt and Sophia Dunkley had set the hosts off to a fast start with a 57-run opening partnership. A flurry of wickets had them in trouble at 119 for 6 but then Sophie Ecclestone’s cameo of 22 off just 12 balls, including stands worth 31 each with both Wyatt and Sarah Glenn, helped lift England to 186 for 9, their highest T20I score against Australia. It was also the second-highest total ever conceded by the Australians in the format, behind the 187 for 5 in December against India, who won that match in a Super Over, Australia’s only other T20I defeat in their past 25 completed matches.England withstood some early pressure when Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney set Australia off to a superior start, but spinners Ecclestone and Glenn claimed two wickets apiece and the visitors couldn’t get over the line despite Ellyse Perry’s brave unbeaten half-century. The hosts came into the match needing to win all five remaining matches to wrest back the Ashes and, having won five on the trot to reach the final of the 50-over World Cup last year after dropping their first three games, this victory could just have them daring to dream, trailing 6-2 but with eight more points up for grabs.

Wyatt on the charge

Australia gifted Dunkley a life on 13 when she skied Megan Schutt high to cover and while Tahlia McGrath sat under it, the ball slid between her hands, the most dramatic of a rash of misfields early in England’s innings. Wyatt helped herself to back-to-back boundaries off Ashleigh Gardener, over mid-off and threaded through third, and at the end of the powerplay England were 54 without loss in a vast improvement on their 36 for 2 in the opening T20I at Edgbaston, which Australia won by four wickets with one ball to spare. McGrath juggled another chance off Dunkley and her relief was palpable when she held on this time as Dunkley departed for 23.Nat Sciver-Brunt was also on 23 when Gardner, whom she’d reverse-swept sublimely for four earlier, had her caught at long-on but Wyatt carried on, bringing up her half-century off 36 balls when she swung a Perry’s short ball wide of midwicket for a one-bounce four. When Schutt conceded 25 off the 16th over, Wyatt was the chief destroyer, slapping the first ball to the rope through point as Schutt overstepped followed by three more boundaries in a row and five wides off what should have been the last ball of the over to Ecclestone adding to the Australians’ pain. Wyatt eventually fell for a when she holed out to deep third off Annabel Sutherland.Annabel Sutherland struck twice in two balls•Getty Images

Sutherland strikes

Sutherland swung the momentum Australia’s way when she claimed two wickets in as many balls as England slid from 100 for 1 to 109 for 4. Alice Capsey fell for her second straight single-figure score of the series attempting to hook Sutherland only to send a top edge high towards short fine leg, wicketkeeper Healy moving calmly back to take it. Then Heather Knight, playing her 100th T20I, was bowled first ball, a gem of a cross-seam delivery that angled in from wide of the crease, straightened and pegged back off stump.Amy Jones survived the hat-trick ball, digging out the yorker on leg stump, but then Sutherland took an excellent diving catch at running round from wide long-on and England had lost four wickets for 12 runs in the space of 13 balls. Ecclestone and Glenn had the crowd roaring, particularly when Ecclestone peeled off 4, 6, 4 off McGrath as England recovered to 181 for 8 and it took a stunning catch by Darcie Brown at short third off Gardner to remove Glenn.

Australia beatable

It looked like Australia would do what they have done so often when openers Healy and Mooney guided them to 58 without loss in the powerplay, with Healy impressive on 37 off 18 including two huge sixes off Sciver-Brunt in the fifth over, over wide long-on and in front of square leg. But she failed to add to her score when legspinner Glenn came into the attack in the seventh over and struck second ball, taking the pace off as Healy looked to go over short fine leg and exposed her stumps as the ball crashed into middle. McGrath was run-out when Charlie Dean gathered a ball that dropped just short of extra cover and fired it in to wicketkeeper Jones, who threw down the stumps. Danielle Gibson, who made her debut in the opening match at Edgbaston, claimed her maiden international wicket when Mooney picked out Wyatt at deep midwicket.Ecclestone had Gardner out to the simplest return catch imaginable to claim her 100th wicket in T20Is, becoming the fastest to the milestone from just 72 matches as Australia slumped to 75 for 4. After 12 overs, Australia needed to score at 11.5 an over and Dean, the offspinner who came in as the only change for either side after the opening match replacing seamer Freya Davies, bowled Grace Harris to keep England on top. Georgia Wareham threatened with a four followed immediately by two sixes off Dean in the 18th over but, needing 31 off the final two overs, Lauren Bell, who had been expensive, bowled Wareham with eight balls remaining. Australia needed 20 off the last over and while Perry kept fighting to the end, her 51 not out off 27 balls wasn’t enough.

Managing director has quadrupled his bet on inspirational head coach, but England’s unremitting schedule remains biggest challenge

Matt Roller03-Sep-2024Success in English cricket is evaluated by Ashes series and World Cups. The extensions to both Brendon McCullum’s contract and his remit, announced on Tuesday, represent Rob Key quadrupling the size of his bet: McCullum will not only take charge of the 2025-26 Ashes, but now the 2026 T20 World Cup, 2027 Ashes and 2027 50-over World Cup, too.Key made clear when he was appointed England’s managing director two years ago that his decision to split the coaching roles owed to pragmatism, rather than principle. “You get a better list of candidates… nearly all of them are like, ‘I wouldn’t be going for this if it was one [role],'” Key said. “You want the best people, and you build the structure around them.”In effect, that is exactly what Key has tried to do with this gambit. There has been a complete transformation in England’s Test cricket under McCullum: he has overseen 19 wins, eight defeats and a single draw, and has given them a clear identity that they were sorely lacking. Key’s belief is that he can have the same effect on a stagnant white-ball set-up.Related

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In a coaching market that is heavily skewed towards the franchise circuit, Key believes that McCullum’s new contract is a major coup for England: “We are incredibly fortunate that a coach of his quality is prepared to commit wholeheartedly to English cricket,” he said on Tuesday. “We’re confident this restructure will bring out the best in our players and coaching staff.”It is a call which highlights the importance of perception. England have played some brilliant Test cricket under McCullum but are yet to win a series against the world’s top two: they drew with Australia last summer, and were heavily beaten in India earlier this year. Still, the sense remains of a team on the up – not least after five clinical wins this summer.By contrast, Matthew Mott took England to three World Cups and won one of them, his team beating Pakistan at the MCG less than two years ago. And yet, he found himself sacked after reaching a semi-final in June: Jos Buttler’s hangdog expression told a story of a team whose progress had stalled, necessitating a change in leadership which fell on Mott.Brendon McCullum is now England’s man for all formats, under Rob Key•Getty Images

The pitfalls of McCullum’s new role are hidden in plain sight. Only India play more men’s international cricket than England, and England play more Tests than anyone. Their ludicrous fixture list is encapsulated by the 24-hour turnaround between the scheduled fifth-day finish of the upcoming third Test against Sri Lanka and the start of a T20I series against Australia.Key insisted that the “constant clashes” between formats “are easing, starting from January” but the volume of cricket scheduled is still substantial. Expect McCullum to have few qualms about handing the reins to one of his assistants for several bilateral series over the next three years – as Rahul Dravid did throughout his tenure with India.The trouble lies further ahead, with a dilemma that is familiar to England’s captains and coaches across the past two decades: how can you plan for both an Ashes series, and a World Cup straight after it? It is akin to a tennis player winning Wimbledon and jumping on a plane to Flushing Meadows, or an athlete being asked to compete in a World Championships immediately after an Olympic Games.In both the 2025-26 winter and the 2027 summer, McCullum will need his players to perform at their best throughout a four-month period – a scenario in which England have always struggled. Nasser Hussain (2003), Michael Vaughan (2007) and Andrew Strauss (2011) all led depleted squads to 50-over World Cups which were staged immediately after Ashes tours, with predictable results; Buttler faced a similar situation last year, with England’s multi-format players underperforming in India.Buttler was among the players who struggled five years ago when the turnaround was flipped. England’s 2019 World Cup triumph, the culmination of their white-ball revolution under Eoin Morgan’s captaincy, left players physically and emotionally drained yet was swiftly followed by a home Ashes series: England snuck a 2-2 series draw, but were outplayed.Previous England captains have felt the pain of an Ashes followed by a World Cup•Getty Images

As Australia’s fine record at World Cups can attest, scaling twin peaks in quick succession is by no means impossible: only three members of their side that beat India in Ahmedabad last year did not feature on the Ashes tour which preceded the World Cup. Andrew McDonald oversaw success on two fronts, something which has eluded England’s coaches.More immediately, McCullum’s task will be to inject some energy into a white-ball set-up which felt desperately low on it by the time they were knocked out of June’s T20 World Cup. He will watch from afar for their next 14 games, with Marcus Trescothick in interim charge, then will have a quick tour to India to make his mark before February’s Champions Trophy.The biggest unknown for McCullum will be his relationship with Buttler. Buttler idolised McCullum as a player but has never played or worked with him, and his captaincy is under scrutiny after the manner of England’s semi-final defeat to India in Guyana. Where Buttler had the balance of power over Mott, McCullum should be strong enough to take the lead.England believe they have a new core of young players who can become regulars across formats over the next decade: this includes Harry Brook, Jamie Smith and Gus Atkinson, who have all showcased their attacking style in McCullum’s Test team. This is simply the latest step in Key’s attempts to bridge the gap between the two codes – which had been in danger of becoming a chasm.It was barely two years ago that McCullum made clear to Key that he had no interest in taking on England’s white-ball teams, after Morgan had transformed them into not only regular semi-finalists but trendsetters in the global game. Now that they are lagging behind, he finds himself in charge of another revival.

The former captain made his first-class debut aged 17, scored 28 Test centuries and led Australia to 2015 ODI World Cup

AAP and ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jan-2025Former captain Michael Clarke has been inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of FameClarke, 43, accepted the honour on Thursday, nearly a decade after he closed the chapter on his remarkable playing career. He is the 64th inductee, with two further members to be named this season.Making his first-class debut for New South Wales at 17, Clarke captained Australia to victory in the 2015 ODI World Cup and led the side across 47 of his 115 Tests.Overall, Clarke scored 8643 Test runs, putting him sixth on Australia’s all-time list, and 7981 in ODIs where he stands fourth. His tally of 28 Test centuries also leaves puts him sixth on that list.Having impressed early in his ODI career – he wasn’t dismissed in his first three innings – Clarke burst onto the Test scene during Australia’s 2004 tour of India, crowned the player of the match in Bengaluru after scoring 151 on debut.After being dropped in late 2005, Clarke returned a even more formidable player. He became the sixth Australian to score a Test triple-century after posting an unbeaten 329 against India at the SCG in the 2011-12 series.He followed up his SCG performance with a double century in the fourth Test against India, before notching two further double centuries against South Africa the following season.Other standout innings included the 151 against South Africa at Cape Town in 2011 (from a total of 284) in the game Australia were later dismissed for 47, his 161 at the same venue in 2014 when he defied a broken shoulder to set up a victory that would take Australia to No. 1 in the world and the hugely emotional 128 against India at Adelaide in 2014 shortly after the death of the Phillip Hughes in what would prove his final home Test.Michael Clarke was prolific in the period from 2012 to 2014•Getty Images

It had been in 2011, after England won the Ashes 3-1 in Australia, that Clarke succeeded Ricky Ponting as captain. At his peak, he was ranked the best batter in the world. He was also at the helm for the Ashes whitewash in 2013-14 and retired at the end of the lost 2015 campaign in England.”To be able to sit along so many wonderful players, idols, role models growing up as a kid and looking up to is something I’m honoured by,” Clarke said. “Retirement does a lot of things to you. Through stages of watching cricket now, you miss parts.”When you play at the highest level, people talk about your international career but for me, it started at six years of age. I retired at 34 so it was my life. It’s still a part of my life.”Cricket – it’s probably so similar to life in general. You walk out and make 100 and then lift the bat, and then you walk out to field, field in slip and drop a catch second ball of the game.”Australian Cricket Hall of Fame chairman Peter King praised Clarke as a player who “defined his generation”.”Michael’s extraordinary first-class playing career started at just 17 at the SCG – the place where many of his highlights occurred, including a Test triple century against India in 2012,” King said.”Michael’s career will forever be remembered fondly by the Australian public and his standing held alongside those at the upper echelon of our game.”Clarke also proved capable as a left-arm spinner. It was his spell of 3 for 5 in 1.5 overs in 2008 against India that helped Australia retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and extend their winning streak to a record-equaling 16 Tests. In his debut series against India he had also taken 6 for 9 in Mumbai.

“Nothing changes for me, you have to do the job. You can hold the team by doing the job to the best of your abilities”

Nagraj Gollapudi30-Jun-2022Jasprit Bumrah will lead India in the Edgbaston Test against England after Rohit Sharma failed to clear his Covid-19 test on Thursday. Rishabh Pant will be Bumrah’s vice-captain.This will be Bumrah’s first match as captain at any level of representative cricket and he becomes the first fast bowler to lead India since Kapil Dev, whose last game as India captain was an ODI against England in Mumbai in November 1987.Bumrah will be the second captain for India in the Pataudi Trophy, which India lead 2-1, after Virat Kohli who was in charge for the first four games, before the last Test was pushed back following a Covid-19 outbreak in the Indian camp.At his first public appearance as captain at Egdbaston, Bumrah could not hide his excitement. “This is a big achievement, a big honour,” he said. “For me, playing a Test match was a dream and getting such an opportunity is probably one of the biggest achievements of my career. I am very happy that I have been given this opportunity.”It was only on Thursday morning that Bumrah was informed by head coach Rahul Dravid that he would be leading India as Rohit had not cleared the Covid test. “We were waiting for an announcement because we were waiting for Rohit’s confirmation. We did a test today (Thursday) morning as well so he tested positive in that test. Then, there was a discussion with the coach [Dravid] and he announced that I will be leading the side.”Bumrah, who is third on the ICC Test Bowlers rankings, said he immediately shared the news with his family. “When I came to know – it is a massive achievement and I told my family. They are really proud of me and I am very happy that this day has come. And yeah, very proud of this achievement but now focusing on the work that we have to do and prepare to the best of our ability.”Bumrah has swiftly risen to become India’s bowling lynchpin, having made his Test debut, on the South Africa tour in December 2018. In the first four Tests of the Pataudi Trophy, Bumrah was India’s leading wicket-taker with 18 scalps at an average of 20.83. A year on, Bumrah has more experience and was also India’s vice-captain for their previous Test series, at home in March against Sri Lanka. Bumrah had said then that he wouldn’t shy away if the opportunity to lead India came his way.Now that he is the captain, Bumrah is aware of the added responsibility. “Nothing changes for me, you have to do the job. You can hold the team by doing the job to the best of your abilities. That is what I am also looking to do. We’ve got a very good team, we have got a lot of experience, we have got a lot of people who are there to help me out as well. I am just looking forward to help the team in the best capacity I can and understand how the game is heading and try to contribute to the best of my ability.”Rohit’s absence will hurt India in more ways than one. Other than his leadership, India also lose their most prolific batter of the series; his 368 runs were only behind Joe Root’s 564 in the overall tally. Rohit, who won the Player-of-the-Match award in the win in The Oval Test, scored his runs at an average of 52.57 with a century and two half-centuries. Alongside KL Rahul [315 runs] he provided India with a solid opening platform, not only adapting well to the seaming conditions but also scoring big.Question marks over Rohit’s participation surfaced as soon as he tested positive for Covid-19 on the second day of India’s warm-up game in Leicester last week. After serving a five-day isolation, Rohit returned positive tests twice on Wednesday and again on Thursday morning, roughly 24 hours before the Test.His absence means India will have two new openers for the final Test. One slot will be taken by Shubman Gill, who had returned to India after the WTC final last year due a shin injury. For the second, Dravid had said Cheteshwar Pujara, KS Bharat and Hanuma Vihari were all in the running. Bumrah said the team management was “pretty clear” about the batting order including the openers, but that the XI won’t be revealed until the toss.”Rohit is a very important player and we sorely miss him. It is unfortunate that this has happened and he is missing out but we are clear on the combination. You will just have to wait till tomorrow.”

Royals chased the total down with 27 balls to spare to move to No. 1 on the points table with a hat-trick of wins

Sreshth Shah01-Apr-20242:22

Aaron: ‘Chahal the best spinner to have ever played the IPL’

Hardik Pandya’s return to the Wankhede Stadium as Mumbai Indians captain was far from a fairy tale, as the five-time champions lost their third game in a row, this time with 27 balls to spare. Rajasthan Royals – led by superb performances from Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal and Riyan Parag – gave them a thorough hammering to move to No. 1 on the points table with a hat-trick of victories.Boult left Mumbai gasping within minutes of the start of the match when he dismissed Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir and Dewald Brevis for first-ball ducks in his first eight balls. His 3 for 22 was only matched by the 3 for 11 taken by Chahal, who controlled the middle overs to ensure Mumbai did not stage a batting comeback.Chasing 126 for victory, Parag dragged Royals out of some early trouble and shepherded the chase. He finished the game with six, six, and four to stay unbeaten on 54 to take the No. 1 spot on the orange cap leaderboard – tied on runs with Virat Kohli but ahead of strike rate.

Boult sets up the demolition job

Rohit had all the support from the crowd, who chanted his name even as they booed Hardik, but his time with the bat lasted only one ball when Boult got one to swing away from him and get him to edge it behind. Next ball, Boult swung it the other way, getting a full ball to nip into Dhir.With two wickets gone inside the game’s first six balls, Mumbai brought in impact sub Brevis in the second over itself, but he too fell prey to the ball angling across, edging it to Nandre Burger at short third.Trent Boult picked up three wickets in his first eight balls – par for the course•Associated Press

With three wickets in his first eight deliveries of the game, Boult gave Royals an advantage that they never let go.

Scintillating Chahal

After Boult’s searing opening spell, Burger got in on the action. Playing as a replacement for the injured Sandeep Sharma, Burger came around the wicket to pick off Ishan Kishan with a length ball that angled away and took his edge.With Mumbai Indians 20 for 4 in three-and-a-half overs, Tilak Varma and Hardik looked to build a recovery, almost succeeding with a 56-run fifth-wicket stand, but Chahal dismissed both batters to snuff out any chance of a comeback.After hitting six boundaries early in his innings, Hardik fell on 34 when he holed out at mid-on trying to hit Chahal. Tilak was sent packing on 32 soon after when Chahal’s googly was edged to R Ashwin at short third.Chahal finished his spell with the wicket of Gerald Coetzee late in the innings. In all, 16 of Chahal’s 24 deliveries were dots, and his four-over spell ended with an economy of only 2.75.A late wicket for Avesh Khan and a second for Burger ensured Mumbai finished on 125 for 9, a score too low on a surface that is traditionally batting-friendly.

Madhwal comes good on season debut

Only wickets could save Mumbai after that batting effort, and they played their trump card early when Jasprit Bumrah shared the new ball, with Kwena Maphaka, for the first time this season.But even though Bumrah bowled three of the six powerplay overs, the Royals batters did not give a wicket away to him. Yashasvi Jaiswal fell to Maphaka in the first over itself, while the other three wickets went to Akash Madhwal, playing his first game of IPL 2024.Madhwal struck with the second ball of his spell when he got Sanju Samson to chop on to his stumps, and added a second when Jos Buttler pulled him to fine leg. He added a third later, in the 13th over, when Ashwin sent a leading edge off a short delivery to point. Madhwal was the standout bowler for Mumbai Indians with 3 for 20.Riyan Parag scored another half-century, and claimed the orange cap•BCCI

Parag’s form continues

Parag walked in ranked No. 5 on the orange cap list and finished the day with the cap on his head. With no real scoreboard pressure on this occasion, No. 4 Parag played risk-free cricket early on, but tore into Coetzee with four fours and two sixes.It all started with back-to-back boundaries off Coetzee in the eighth over, followed by another lofted four over the covers in the 11th. He then smoked Bumrah through mid-off in the 14th over before depositing Piyush Chawla over long-on in the 15th.Parag then put the finishing touches on the result by hammering Coetzee for 16 runs off the first three balls of the 16th over. The first ball went for a clubbed six over the covers, and he reached his fifty next ball with a slog over midwicket. The winning runs came over wicketkeeper Kishan’s head and sent Royals and Mumbai Indians to opposite ends of the points table.

Dawid Malan’s 95 not out underpins winning total at Trent Bridge

ECB Reporters Network30-May-2023Yorkshire 182 for 7 (Malan 95*, Masood 34, Brooks 4-51) beat Nottinghamshire 174 for 4 (Hales 53, Munro 46) by eight runsDawid Malan hit 95 off 56 balls, backed up by skipper Shan Masood’s 34 off 23 as Yorkshire Vikings shocked Notts Outlaws to register their first win of the 2023 season – and their first in any format since August 2022 – with an eight-run victory in the Vitality Blast at Trent Bridge.Yorkshire’s 182 for 7 after electing to bat first proved to be enough, despite Alex Hales hitting a half-century for the second consecutive night and Colin Munro making 46 off 41 as David Wiese took 2 for 32 for the visitors, who chalked up their first T20 win on this ground since 2015.”There were a lot of nerves at the end but Jordan Thompson bowled a fantastic last over to get us over the line,” Ottis Gibson, Yorkshire’s coach, said. “We have been struggling a bit for wins without playing as badly as the results might suggest and and we are hoping the confidence the players draw from that will set us up nicely for another big game, a Roses game, on Thursday night.”When you win the toss and bat, you need someone to bat through the innings for you and Malan is one of the best in England and played a really a good innings. We had spoken about needing one of the top four to bat through the innings and he took it upon himself to do that tonight.”Jack Brooks, on loan from Somerset, took four wickets on his Outlaws debut but at a cost of 51 runs, with the home side feeling the effects of having three frontline bowlers (Jake Ball, Luke Fletcher and Olly Stone) currently injured.Yorkshire posted a modest 41 for 2 in the powerplay, losing two wickets in the space of four deliveries in the sixth over as Adam Lyth and debutant Will Luxton departed in similar fashion, each trying to hit over the infield but succeeding only in launching the ball vertically, Matt Carter and Colin Munro respectively combining safe hands with a steady eye as Brooks celebrated his first two wickets.Related

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The right-arm seamer, who turns 39 next Sunday, had seen his first over against his former county go for 17 runs as Malan and Lyth went on the attack and it was little wonder his wickets brought animated celebrations.Masood joined Malan in plundering 50 runs in 35 balls but the Pakistan international, having cleared the rope a couple of balls earlier, holed out to Lyndon James on the leg-side boundary.Malan missed few chances to score but lost another partner as Wiese picked out long-off, handing veteran spinner Samit Patel his 200th T20 wicket for Outlaws, and at 122 for 4 from 15, Yorkshire needed some acceleration.It came in the last three overs, which contained another two fatal miscues off Brooks and one off Shaheen Shah Afridi but a feisty 15 in 6 balls from Ben Mike and 17 off the last Brooks over, including a fourth six for Malan, just clearing the fielder at long-off.