Published: Aug 21, 2016, 12:23 AM (IST)
Edited: Aug 21, 2016, 12:23 AM (IST)
Birmingham: England’s Mark Wood and Ben Stokes both played key roles as Durham ended Yorkshire’s dream of a domestic treble with a seven-run win in a Twenty20 Blast semi-final at Edgbaston on Saturday. Fast bowler Wood twice took two wickets in three balls on his way to an excellent return of four for 25 in his maximum of four overs as Yorkshire, chasing a seemingly modest 157 for victory, were held to 149 for nine. Earlier, Stokes’s 56 was the cornerstone of Durham’s 156 for six in a rain-interrupted innings. For Wood, plagued by persistent ankle problems, his haul was vindication of the effort he had put in to regain match fitness. READ: England announce ODI squad vs Pakistan; Ben Stokes, Mark Wood return
“It’s been tough, mentally more than anything,” Wood, 26, told Sky Sports. “To come back in pre-season and then suffer another setback was hard and I wondered whether I would ever be the same again.”
He added: “My adrenaline and heart got me through today — my role in the side is to be aggressive and attacking and take wickets. I did that today.” Yorkshire recalled current England batsmen Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Gary Ballance, but the trio managed just 10 runs between them on what was a rare county appearance for all three players.
Root, one of the leading batsmen in world cricket today, never looked comfortable against Wood during a brief innings of seven ended by paceman Chris Rushworth (3 for 19).
England vice-captain Root summed up Wood’s display on Saturday by saying: “He made me look as if I was batting with my hands and feet on backwards.” Yorkshire’s defeat was made worse when David Willey suffered a hand injury dropping a hard-hit caught and bowled chance that could rule him out of England’s one-day series against Pakistan starting next week. READ: Ben Stokes bowls millionth ball in Test cricket in England
Former England opener Adam Lyth top-scored for Yorkshire with 64, who remain in the hunt for what would be a third successive first-class County Championship title and are also in the semi-finals of the 50-over One-Day Cup.
Durham will now play Northamptonshire, the winners of the first semi-final, in the final at Edgbaston later Saturday. Yorkshire were 30 for two after Root fell when he top-edged an awkward pull off Rushworth to square leg. Wood, who has not played for England since a Test against Pakistan in Dubai in October because of his ankle injuries, reduced Yorkshire to 86 for five by dismissing Bairstow and Ballance in the space of three balls.
He bowled Bairstow (three) with a near yorker-length delivery and dismissed Ballance for a duck when the left-hander’s glance was brilliantly caught at leg gully by diving Durham captain Paul Collingwood — England’s skipper when they won the 2010 World Twenty20 in the Caribbean.
Wood then took two for one in three balls to reduce Yorkshire to 139 for nine in the 19th over by bowling both Liam Plunkett and Tim Bresnan. Stokes, 25, was playing as a batsman only after knee and calf injuries had interrupted his season. The hard-hitting left-hander, who may also be deployed by England as a specialist batsman during the Pakistan ODIs, struck a 32-ball fifty including three fours and three sixes. READ: England cricket on the rise with emergence of new talents
Durham were 60 for 2 off nine overs at the first rain interruption. But, with Stokes leading the way, they scored 54 runs in the first five overs after the resumption. Stokes’s third-wicket stand of 72 in 43 balls with Michael Richardson (29) ended when the wicket-keeper was lbw to England leg-spinner Adil Rashid.
Stokes swept both Rashid and Root, a part-time off-spinner, for two huge sixes. But not long after Richardson’s departure, Stokes was out, forcing Rafiq to ex-England all-rounder Tim Bresnan at cover.
