Yorkshire 213 for 7 (Bairstow 73, Aspinwall 3-32) beat Lancashire 107 (Livingstone 44, Chohan 4-17, Moeen 3-16) by 106 runs
Yorkshire strengthened their position at the top of the North Group with a fourth win in five, this having posted 213 for 7 thanks largely to opener Bairstow’s four sixes in 44 balls. He shared a second-wicket 105 with Will Luxton.
A topsy-turvy powerplay – 57 for 1 – saw Yorkshire start brightly, get pegged back before accelerating. After Adam Lyth was caught at deep midwicket off Tom Aspinwall, Luke Wood bowled a maiden to Bairstow before Luxton pulled two sixes off expensive Saqib Mahmood in the next over – the sixth.
Exhilarating Bairstow and Luxton then piled the pressure on. Their century stand was broken in the 13th over. Livingstone’s spin had Bairstow, who had reached his fifty off 32 balls, caught at deep square leg.
And it proved crucial because, in the next, Tom Hartley’s left-arm spin had Luxton caught at deep midwicket and bowled Moeen for nought. Yorkshire had fallen from 135 for 1 to 137 for 4.
James Wharton’s unbeaten 35 off 16 balls got Yorkshire going again. But their total could easily have been much higher. Aspinwall struck twice more in two balls late on. Mahmood, with 1 for 60 from four overs, recorded Lancashire’s most-expensive T20 bowling spell ever.
And his side’s chances of victory were all but sunk inside 19 balls of their chase as they slipped to 27 for 3. Hasan uprooted Keaton Jennings’ off stump with a beauty in the first over before Faheem bowled Matty Hurst. Moeen’s offspin then bowled Marcus Harris.
Chohan later had Ben McDermott impressively caught by a diving Matthew Revis having run in from long-on before Moeen trapped Joe Moores lbw reverse sweeping. At 65 for 5 in the 10th over, it really was game over. And not even Livingstone could save them.
Chohan struck again before Livingstone miscued AJ Tye’s seam to long-on, leaving the score at 97 for 7 in the 13th over.
Moeen got another before Chohan finished it off by bowling Aspinwall and Mahmood with successive deliveries in the 15th.
