Lancashire defeat Yorkshire to book Vitality Blast quarter-final berth

Wood, Sheffield-born and schooled in Nottinghamshire, struck twice in an over on two separate occasions as the Vikings stumbled to 128-7 after Joe Root elected to bat and top-scored with 32.

Then, in reply, Lancashire fell from 37-0 to 64-5 as boundary hitting tested both sides.

Luke Wells (30) and Steven Croft shared a vital 55 before Danny Lamb then hit back-to-back boundaries off Matthew Fisher to seal victory with an over to spare.

Lancashire’s 16-point haul is now one more than Yorkshire’s, having avenged the defeat at Emerald Headingley earlier this month.

However, with the North Group decided on an average points per completed match basis because of Derbyshire’s coronavirus issues, the White Rose finish second with a better points average from their 13 games to the Red Rose’s 14.

Yorkshire struggled for timing against an accurate attack, highlighted by Root’s 32 taking him 37 balls and Gary Ballance pulling the only six of the innings in his 31.

Liam Hurt had Root caught behind trying to uppercut while Lamb and Wells also struck.

Wood set the tone in the third over when he had Adam Lyth brilliantly caught behind by Dane Vilas before bowling Mark Stoneman to leave the Tykes 11-2.

He later bowled Ballance and had Jordan Thompson caught and bowled from successive balls, leaving Yorkshire at 101-6.

The Lightning’s chase was kickstarted by New Zealand opener Finn Allen, who crashed two sixes in a breezy 22.

However, he was bowled trying to scoop Fisher to leg as Lancashire lost five wickets for 27 runs inside five overs.

Wells and Croft, who finished 26 not out, steadied through accumulation before hitting a six apiece in the 16th and 17th overs.

Yorkshire opted against running out an injured Croft after he slipped mid-pitch before Lamb finished the game in the 19th over.

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