Will Luxton’s 79-ball 83, George Hill’s 51 off 38 balls and four dramatic late sixes by Matt Revis propelled Yorkshire Vikings to 240 for six from 33 overs and an eventual 25-run win against Surrey in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup at the Kia Oval
And a fourth homegrown Yorkshire young gun, 23-year-old James Wharton, followed up a quickfire 22 by pulling off two memorable boundary catches – the first of them a quite astonishing one-handed over-the-shoulder effort – to remove Ben Geddes and Rory Burns.
With Ben Coad producing a beauty to bowl Ryan Patel for 40 towards the end of a superb seven-over new ball spell of 7-1-25-1, it was an eye-catching all-round performance by the Vikings – who failed to qualify for the knock-out stages in last year’s 50-over competition but, on this evidence, could be contenders 12 months on.
Yorkshire’s innings was interrupted by three separate rain delays of various lengths. The first came at 31 for one, after six overs, and lasted just 14 minutes, but the second was of almost two hours’s duration and was quickly followed by the third, lopping a further 35 minutes’ play from the day’s schedule.
The upshot of it all was a final seven-over sprint, from an already strong position of 158 for three after 26 overs, and a DLS adjusted target for Surrey to chase that most onlookers had expected to be higher.
Surrey lost Dom Sibley for one in the second over, lofting a drive at Dom Leech straight to cover, but left-hander Patel briefly flourished – despite being dropped on 27 at deep mid wicket off Leech – until Coad angled one through his defences from around the wicket.
That came soon after Geddes, on 13, had slashed Hill high to deep cover where Wharton plucked the ball out of the air right-handed as he leapt backwards just yards inside the rope.
And Hill was again the bowler when Wharton, at deep square leg, cleverly threw the ball up just as his momentum took him over the boundary before stepping back inside the ropes to complete a catch from a well-struck sweep by Burns (7).
Ben Foakes slog-swept Dan Moriarty’s left arm spin for six and added 68 with Cam Steel, whose 37 was ended by a top-edged hoick at Hill to short fine leg.
Surrey needed 121 from their last 10 overs and that became 77 from five after Foakes (40) was caught in the deep, leaving Josh Blake (26) and Conor McKerr (25) to plunder what they could in a losing cause.
Finlay Bean fell early on for three after Yorkshire had been put in, brilliantly caught by keeper Blake who dived to his right to clutch a fast-travelling inside-edge when the left-hander was beaten off the pitch by a fine ball from James Taylor.
Luxton, however, was soon into his stride with regal offside fours off both Matt Dunn and Taylor, and the young opener dominated a second wicket stand of 97 in 13 overs with Shan Masood until the Pakistan Test captain gloved a hook at a McKerr bouncer to Blake to go for 24.
Wharton advanced to loft Steel’s leg-spin over mid off for four and, next ball, carved him wide of long on for six, but on 22 he connected well enough with a scooped sweep at left-arm spinner Yousef Majid only to see Steel pull off a stunning one-handed catch at short fine leg, quickly back-pedalling and diving away to his right.
Then came the second rain break at 139 for three, with Luxton already on 76 from 67 balls, but he sacrificed the chance of a maiden List A hundred when, soon after resuming again on 81 following the final weather interruption, he skied a catch swinging hard at Dunn.
Hill had by then launched a six over long on off Majid and it was not long before he completed a fine fifty by pulling McKerr for his eighth four.
Steel removed both Hill and Dom Bess in the 31st over, convincing Surrey captain Burns to keep him on for the final over of the innings.
It backfired badly with Revis pulling the first ball high over the mid-wicket ropes before finishing the over with three successive sixes – a full toss smoked over long on, a length ball hit straight and another short one also pulled dismissively into the stands.
