Wood hits 67 in defeat

67 from Tom Wood was not enough, as Derbyshire Falcons were beaten by six wickets in a nail-biting finish against Yorkshire Vikings at Emerald Headingley. 

Wood, who was making his first appearance in the competition, quickly made up for lost time with a half-century in a 109-run opening partnership with captain Billy Godleman (49).

Set 168 to win, Joe Root (60 not out) and Harry Brook (50 not out) scored unbeaten half-centuries as their side secured victory with the last ball of the contest.

Wood opened the batting with Godleman, and started the game positively by smashing Coad for a six and a four in the third over, with the captain also hitting two boundaries as the visitors hit 20 from the six deliveries.

The half-century stand was achieved in the seventh over, before Wood smashed Joe Root for six to bring up his 31-ball half-century, which included five fours and two sixes, on the ground where he made his Twenty20 debut for the club in 2017.

The opening pair reached Derbyshire’s tenth century partnership in the format at the end of the 12th over, but they could only add a further nine before Godleman was caught by Duanne Olivier off Root just one run shy of his own half-century.

Wayne Madsen arrived at the crease, and with his 14th run he reached 17,000 in all formats for Derbyshire, just the seventh player to do so and the first since John Morris in 1992.

When Wood departed for 67, the Falcons were 135-2 and the next four overs saw them lose four wickets for just 24 runs, closing on 167-6.

After Dustin Melton conceded just two runs from the second over, Conners made his mark, having both Adam Lyth (11) and Dawid Malan (1) caught by Brooke Guest in the space of three third-over deliveries.

Melton got in on the act three overs later, when he had Will Fraine (11) caught by Wood, to reduce Yorkshire to 41-3.

Capping off a competition  in which he became Derbyshire’s all-time leading wicket-taker in T20 cricket, Alex Hughes added another dismissal to his tally, having Jordan Thompson (26) caught by Melton on the boundary.

In the penultimate over of the match, with Yorkshire needing 20 to win, Root reached his half-century with the 46th ball he faced, which included five fours and one six.

Just as he did in the win over Leicestershire earlier this week, Melton again bowled the final over trying to protect a narrow margin, but this time he could not guide the Falcons to victory, as Brook hit four off the final ball to win the game.

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