Lancashire chase down imposing total to beat Yorkshire and reach Blast final

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Keaton Jennings and Dane Vilas helped Lancashire into the Vitality Blast final after they made remarkably light work of a 205 target against Yorkshire.

Jordan Thompson recorded the fastest fifty in Finals Day history off just 17 balls, after Tom Kohler-Cadmore’s 66 off 44 deliveries, to lift Yorkshire to what seemed a daunting 204 for seven at Edgbaston.

But Lancashire chased down the total with six wickets and eight balls to spare largely thanks to 75 off 51 balls from Jennings, fresh from his triple ton in the LV= Insurance County Championship this week.

Keaton Jennings led Lancashire’s successful chase (Mike Egerton/PA) (PA Wire)

Both group games between the Roses rivals were decided on the last ball, but there was no nerve-jangling finale here, with Vilas (63 not out off 36 balls) making sure his side eased to victory as they became the first team to chase down a 200-plus total on Finals Day.

Yorkshire head coach Ottis Gibson lamented his side’s bowling, saying afterwards: “To get 200 was a great effort and Jordan played exceptionally well, but basically we reserved our worst bowling performance of the season for the semi-final and that’s why we lost.

“When the ball starts disappearing to all parts, it’s difficult to get back in the game, you need a spark at some point. With defeat comes disappointment but you’ve got to be measured as well, there’s a lot of things we can take out of it.”

Phil Salt was also instrumental with a boundary-laden 36 off 15 balls, driving crisply and pulling with authority, before being cramped up and nicking off to Matthew Revis, who leaked 29 in his first over.

Salt’s impetus ensured Lancashire ended the powerplay on 89 for two, which allowed Vilas and Jennings to take minimal risks against Yorkshire’s quicks and spinners alike.

They continued to accelerate with ease in the middle passages as Yorkshire became increasingly desperate.

Jennings holed out with 24 still required from the last four overs, but there was little sense of a dramatic collapse even if Tim David was caught on the boundary off Revis.

Keaton Jennings got in a tangle (Mike Egerton/PA) (PA Wire)

Three balls later, Vilas thrashed his second six over the off-side to seal victory over a Yorkshire side missing captain David Willey, as well as Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow, absent because of their England commitments.

While Lancashire were also hampered by the absences of Jos Buttler and Liam Livingstone, they showed their batting prowess to set up a final against either Hampshire or Somerset, having initially looked up against it when Yorkshire got off to a flyer after winning the toss.

Vilas missed a direct hit as Kohler-Cadmore got off nought with a push-and-run. Kohler-Cadmore struggled for timing early on but found his feet with four fours in a row off Richard Gleeson.

Lancashire’s spinners checked Yorkshire’s progress but Kohler-Cadmore reached a 37-ball fifty with a straight six off Tom Hartley.

He seemed poised to kick on but had his middle stump knocked back by Luke Wells, the part-timer who earlier accounted for stand-in White Rose skipper Harry Brook.

But Wells shelled a relatively simple return catch when Thompson was on one, which proved costly.

Thompson, Yorkshire’s last-over hero with the ball in the quarter-final win over Surrey, clubbed Wells straight for his first six before a cross-batted shot down the ground for four.

Danny Lamb leaked three sixes in four balls off Thompson, who whipped Gleeson over the fine-leg rope before pumping him straight.

Thompson holed out the ball after reaching 50, the first of three wickets in three balls in a team hat-trick and although Yorkshire went beyond 200 it was not enough.