Yorkshire edge Notts Outlaws to pick up first win of 2023 season

Experienced trio Dawid Malan (95 off 56), Shan Masood (34 off 23) and David Wiese (2 for 32) were among the standout performers for the Vikings

Nottingham: Yorkshire Vikings 182-7, Notts Outlaws 174-4 - Yorkshire Vikings won by eight runs

England's Dawid Malan hit 95 off 56 balls, backed up by skipper Shan Masood's 34 off 23, as Yorkshire Vikings shocked Notts Outlaws to register their first win of the season in any format with an eight-run victory in the Vitality Blast at Trent Bridge.

Yorkshire's 182 for 7 after electing to bat first proved to be enough despite Alex Hales hitting a half-century for the second consecutive night and New Zealand international Colin Munro making 46 as David Wiese took 2 for 32 for the visitors, who chalked up their first T20 win on this ground since 2015.

Jack Brooks, on loan from Somerset, took four wickets on his Outlaws debut but at a cost of 51 runs, with the home side feeling the effects of having three front-line bowlers currently injured.

Yorkshire posted a modest 41 for 2 in the powerplay, losing two wickets in the space of four deliveries in the sixth over as Adam Lyth and debutant Will Luxton departed in similar fashion, each trying to hit over the infield but succeeding only in launching the ball vertically, Matt Carter and Munro, respectively, combining safe hands with a steady eye as Brooks celebrated his first two wickets.

The right-arm seamer, who turns 39 next Sunday, had seen his first over against his former county go for 17 runs as Malan and Lyth went on the attack and it was little wonder his wickets brought animated celebrations.

^{Alex Hales scored a half-century for the Outlaws but it wasn't enough [Stu Forster/Getty Images]}

Masood joined Malan in plundering 50 runs in 35 balls but the Pakistan international, having cleared the rope a couple of balls earlier, holed out to Lyndon James on the legside boundary.

Malan missed few chances to score but lost another partner as Wiese picked out long-off, handing veteran spinner Samit Patel his 200th T20 wicket for Outlaws, and at 122 for 4 from 15, Yorkshire needed some acceleration.

It came in the last three overs, which contained another two fatal miscues off Brooks and one off Shaheen Shah Afridi. A feisty 15 in six balls from Ben Mike and 17 off the last Brooks over, including a fourth six for Malan, just clearing the fielder at long-off, did the damage.

The Outlaws were marginally in front at 48 from the powerplay, having lost Joe Clarke to a steepling top edge in the second over, and though they were slightly behind the required rate at 78 for 1 from 10, the second-wicket pair were still together, Hales completing 50 from 30 balls with his eighth boundary, although Munro had an escape on 24 when his pull fell just short of deep backward square.

That changed in the 13th over, when Hales edged Wiese straight into the hands of Luxton at backward point. He and Munro had added 84 but the Outlaws still needed 84 from 47 balls.

Fortunately, Matthew Montgomery was into his stride immediately, dispatching a couple of streaky boundaries followed by a clean hit six into the Fox Road Stand off Dom Bess. Nonetheless, the pressure was still on with 54 required at the start of the last five overs and it was cranked up still more as Munro holed out to long-on.

The loss of the big-hitting left-hander in a tight over from Jordan Thompson turned out to be a crucial scalp for the Vikings, with every subsequent dot ball turning the screw on the Outlaws, who suffered another blow when Montgomery hit Mike straight to extra cover, although with 26 still needed from just eight balls the game by then was effectively won.