Wearing their green shirts with camouflage patterns on the sleeves, some of the Worcestershire Royals bowlers must have wished last night that they could hide in the long grass at third man at Headingley Carnegie, avoiding their captain’s attention.
Yorkshire Carnegie’s batsmen were in unsympathetic mood, making 213 for seven, their highest Twenty20 score. Adam Lyth shared a second-wicket stand of 108 in 44 balls with Herschelle Gibbs, who made 40 from 25 balls.
Worcestershire’s batsmen then slumped to 109 all out and a crushing defeat by 104 runs. They have won only one of eight games in the Friends Provident t20. With its relentless schedule, this is an unforgiving competition for a team on a losing streak.
Lyth is the leading runscorer in the first division of the LV= County Championship this season, but he has not been a regular in Yorkshire’s Twenty20 team. In eight previous innings in the format, the left-hander had been dismissed for a duck five times and was playing last night only because Jacques Rudolph was ruled out with a shoulder injury.
But he was quickly into his stride, driving precisely through the off side and sweeping spin and seam alike behind square on the leg-side, his 18-ball fifty equalling the third quickest in the competition’s history. He had made 59 from 23 balls when he was leg-before sweeping at Sanath Jayasuriya.
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At the Brit Oval, Steven Davies also hit an 18-ball fifty as Surrey Lions beat Hampshire Hawks by 11 runs. Davies finished with 60, while Andrew Symonds weighed in with 63 as Surrey made 200 for eight. Neil McKenzie hit an unbeaten 52 for Hampshire, but the Hawks left themselves too much to do.
Old Trafford has often been a happy hunting ground for Stephen Harmison as he finished with five for 41, but it was not enough to prevent Durham Dynamos losing by 50 runs to Lancashire Lightning. Steven Croft hit 68 in Lancashire’s 187 for eight, then Stephen Parry, the left-arm spinner, took four for 28 as Durham were bowled out for 137.
At Trent Bridge, Nottinghamshire Outlaws and Northamptonshire Steelbacks were involved in the first tie of the season. Chasing Northamptonshire’s total of 121 for seven, Nottinghamshire needed one run from the final two balls. Darren Pattinson was run out from the first before Graeme White met the same fate off the last.