Gurney admits Notts gave themselves too much to do in Yorkshire defeat

Harry Gurney felt Notts paid the price in the first half of their T20 defeat at Yorkshire.
..
.

Yorkshire posted a club record high title to leave Notts with a mountain to climb.

Gurney said: “It was lost in the first half. They got far too many runs. There was a very short boundary, but whenever you are chasing a total like that, you are struggling more often than not.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We were sloppy with the ball, but there were lots of positives. Tom Moores had a great debut, and I thought we fielded pretty well.

“We scored 180 runs with the bat with no one getting a fifty, so there were lots of different contributions.

“(Ahead of Birmingham tomorrow) What you’ve got to remember is that we’ve just won the one-day competition, and Yorkshire came and beat us very early on at Trent Bridge in that. It’s nothing to panic about.”

Adam Lyth and Shaun Marsh posted half-centuries as Yorkshire got their NatWest T20 Blast campaign off to a flyer with a record-breaking 48-run win over Nottinghamshire at Headingley.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Vikings amassed 227 for five, their highest ever T20 score, with opener Lyth hitting 82 off 50 balls and Australian debutant Marsh adding 60 not out off 37.

They shared 83 inside nine overs for the third wicket before Alex Hales smacked 47 off 26 balls to raise Notts hopes early on in their chase.

But they had too much to do after he departed at 55 for two in the seventh and finished with 179 for eight.

Lyth and Marsh underpinned Yorkshire’s innings after winning the toss and were further boosted by David Willey (25 off 13), Jack Leaning (17 off seven) and Peter Handscomb (21 off seven).

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The first time the Vikings run-rate dropped below 10 came in the ninth over, with Samit Patel getting Willey caught at long-on with his second ball.

Lyth pulled the second legitimate ball of the match for six off Luke Wood, but that was over the long boundary towards the East Stand side of Headingley.

The majority of the hosts’ eleven sixes went to the short Western Terrace boundary, and Notts could not get any control.

Lyth hit New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi over long-on to bring up his fifty in style off 32 balls before later falling as one of three wickets to Harry Gurney, skying a catch behind.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Marsh was happy to get his fellow left-hander on strike early on before opening his shoulders. He reached his fifty off 43.

Leaning hit Steven Mullaney for back-to-back sixes in the 17th over before Handscomb did likewise off Luke Fletcher in the 19th.

Yorkshire scored 52 runs off their last three overs.

Notts got their chase off to a healthy start thanks to two sixes for Hales in first three overs, including one straight off England team-mate Willey.

The Outlaws had reached 32 without loss in the fourth by the time Hales was dropped on 30 at deep square by Azeem Rafiq off captain Tim Bresnan, who had Michael Lumb caught at mid-off later in the over - 33 for one.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Hales scored 42 of the first 50 runs, brought up in the sixth over.

Rafiq atoned for his earlier error with his first ball, in the seventh over, by getting Hales caught at deep mid-wicket, leaving Notts at 55 for two.

Adil Rashid bowled Samit Patel and Rafiq struck again in the eleventh, getting Rikki Wessels caught and bowled as Notts fell to 84 for four in the eleventh. And they could not recover.

They reached 15 overs at 126 for four, still needing 102.

Rafiq finished with two for 38 and Rashid one for 22 from their four-over spells, while Steve Patterson added two late wickets.

For Yorkshire, who face Derbyshire at Chesterfield tomorrow, the crowd of 10,037 was their highest ever outside a Roses clash.