Shan Masood, Joe Root in the runs as Yorkshire claim Roses spoils

Yorkshire 173 for 8 (Masood 61, Root 43) beat Lancashire 166 for 8 (Jennings 46) by seven runs

Yorkshire Vikings won a home Roses match for the second season running, successfully defending a 174 target to beat Vitality Blast pacesetters Lancashire at Headingley by seven runs.

A typically pulsating clash on a pitch suiting pace off saw the pendulum swing back and forth but decisively the Vikings’ way as Lightning slipped from 67 for two in the eighth over to 88 for five in the 11th and later finishing on 166 for eight.

Home captain Shan Masood underpinned Yorkshire’s 173 for eight with 61 off 41 balls, while England’s Joe Root contributed 43 off 33 – they shared 104 for the fourth wicket. Later, off-spinner Dom Bess struck twice, including the scalp of Keaton Jennings for 46 to start that aforementioned mini collapse.

Yorkshire won for the fourth time in seven, while the North Group leaders lost their third game in eight.

Off-spinner Chris Green was the pick of Lancashire’s bowlers with two for 21, while pacer Saqib Mahmood struck three times.

Yorkshire’s innings, having elected to bat, can be best summed up as Lancashire started and finished well but the hosts dominated the middle through Masood and Root.

Vikings lost openers Adam Lyth lbw to Green’s first ball and Dawid Malan caught at midwicket off a top-edged pull against Mahmood – 23 for two in the third over.

But Root guided back-to-back boundaries to third-man and long-leg off Mahmood’s pace in the fifth to settle things, and Yorkshire took 43 off the six-over powerplay.

They continued their steady progress until captain Masood pulled George Balderson’s seamers over midwicket for the night’s first six in the 10th over, at the end of which Yorkshire were 78 for two.

Sixteen came off that over to kick-start the acceleration.

Masood took on the aggressor’s role, and by the time he reached his fifty off 33 balls, Vikings were 117 for two in the 14th.

The left-hander was reprieved shortly after, on 58, when he stepped on his own stumps off a Blatherwick no-ball and was run out whilst in mid-pitch seemingly waiting for a dead-ball call. In the end, umpires Lloyd and Middlebrook sided with the Pakistan star (126 for two in the 15th over) who later didn’t field.

But Root fell caught at mid-on later in the over before Masood was caught behind down leg off Mahmood in the next, Yorkshire now 131 for four.

And those dismissals were central to an impressive Red Rose recovery, with Green, Blatherwick and Masood all striking again added to a run out as only 49 came off the last six overs for the loss of six wickets.

Yorkshire quick Conor McKerr then had Josh Bohannon caught at mid-on in the second over of the Lightning chase – six for one.

Jennings hit seven fours in nine balls off McKerr and Jordan Thompson in the fourth and fifth overs to take the score to 43 for one.

But off-spinner Bess (two for 26) bowled Luke Wells shortly afterwards.

And when he had Jennings caught at deep mid-wicket, leaving Lancashire 67 for three after eight overs, the Red Rose slide started.

Matty Hurst was lbw reverse sweeping at Dan Moriarty’s spin before George Lavelle chipped a return catch to leggie Jafer Chohan – 88 for five in the 11th.

Balderson and Steven Croft tried their best to recover things, but when Root’s off-spin bowled the former – 124 for six after 16 – the Lightning’s race was all but run.

Thompson, who successfully defended 20 off the last over, struck twice late on.