T20 Blast North Group, Emirates Old Trafford: |
Yorkshire Vikings 128-7 (20 overs): Root 32, Ballance 31; L Wood 4-20 |
Lancashire Lightning 131-6 (19 overs): Wells 30, Croft 26*; Waite 2-17 |
Lancashire (2pts) beat Yorkshire by four wickets |
Scorecard |
Group tables |
Lancashire put aside a wobble with the bat to seal a T20 Blast quarter-final spot by beating Roses rivals Yorkshire.
Luke Wood put Lancashire in firm control, taking 4-20 to help limit Yorkshire to a below-par 128-7.
England Test captain Joe Root (32) and Gary Ballance (31) top-scored for the visitors, who have already made the last eight as North Group runners-up.
Lancashire slipped to 67-5 after an aggressive start, but Luke Wells (30) and Steven Croft (26no) got them home.
Yorkshire were in trouble after just three overs as Wood removed openers Adam Lyth and Mark Stoneman within four balls of each other.
Root, Harry Brook (22), Ballance and Will Fraine (22no) steadied the ship, but none of them were able to go on and make the big score needed.
Lancashire, whose qualification hopes would have been left at the mercy of other results on Sunday if they lost, responded strongly as two Finn Allen sixes helped them to 35-0 after just two overs.
They lost five wickets in 28 balls through some questionable shot selections, but Wells and Croft batted sensibly to ensure progression.
There was drama at the end as Yorkshire sportingly passed up the chance to run out an injured Croft, who pulled up with cramp, with 15 runs required.
Danny Lamb – who was dropped right on the ropes going for a big six – then scored the winning runs with an over to spare.