T20 Blast 2018, Day 9: Round-up

It was quite an early start to the games on the ninth day of the Vitality T20 Blast. There were two North group encounters that took place. While it Warwickshire who faced Durham in the first encounter, it was Worcestershire versus the Yorkshire in the second game.

Interestingly, the side batting first won both these games. There were some big totals on the board and the games were much closer than what they seem to be from the offset. It wasn’t really a day for the bowlers and we’ve also seen some great efforts go in vain. Worcestershire currently is at the top of the points table in the North group.

Warwickshire vs Durham – North Group

Durhams’ skipper Tom Latham won the toss and opted to bat first in this encounter. The team got off to a perfect start as both the openers scored big. While Tom Latham scored 58 off 34 balls, Graham Cook scored 65 off 45 balls. They two added 126 runs in 11.2 overs for the first wicket. But, wickets fell quickly once this opening stand was broken. The side was down to 138/4. Just then, Paul Collingwood and Will Smith joined hands, scored quickly and helped the team end up with 220 runs on the board.

This massive chase didn’t really start off on the ideal note for Warwickshire. The team was down to 59/3 in 7.5 overs. However, Sam Hain and Colin de Grandhomme combined together to put up a brilliant act. They added 110 runs in about just 8 overs and it seemed as if they would take their team through. But, Sam Hain got out after he scored 95 off 53 in the 17th over as the team still required over 50 runs. Colin de Grandhomme was left stranded in the middle and didn’t get any support from the other batsmen. He remained not out on 63 off 33 balls as his team fell short by 18 runs.

Brief Scores:

DUR: 220/6 in 20 overs (Graham Cook 65, Tom Latham 58, Grant Elliott 3/40)

WARKS: 202/5 in 20 overs (Sam Hain 95, Colin de Grandhomme 63*, Will Smith 2/20)

Worcestershire vs Yorkshire – North Group

Yorkshire was put into bat first by the opposition. A combined effort from all the batsmen ensured that they got to 179 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in 20 overs. Gary Ballance was the top scorer of the innings with 40 runs off 21 deliveries. He was supported by Adam Lyth, Harry Brook and Tattersall who scored 35, 33 and 29 runs respectively. Patrick Bown picked 3 wickets in the innings.

English bowling all-rounder, Tim Bresnan was on fire with the ball in the second innings of the game. He dismissed the dangerous Martin Guptill for a duck. From thereon, none of the top six batsmen managed to cross an individual score of 25. Although Ross Whiteley scored 37 runs towards the end, the pressure was already too much and the asking rate was soaring sky high. Also, there weren’t many wickets left in hand. Worcestershire fell short of the target by 12 runs and lost their first game this season.

Brief Scores:

WORC: 167/8 in 20 overs (ROss Whiteley 37; Steven Patterson 3/35)

YORK: 179/7 in 20 overs (Gary Ballance 40; Patrick Brown 3/34)

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