Lancashire pull off record-breaking win to reach Blast final

Lancashire pull off the highest successful chase EVER in T20 Finals Day history to qualify for the Blast final… as they chase down 205 against Roses rivals Yorkshire with eight balls to spare

• Lancashire qualified for Blast final in a record-breaking win over Yorkshire 
• Glen Chapple’s team pulled off the highest successful chase in T20 finals history 
• Victors will play either Hampshire or Somerset in tonight’s final at Edgbaston

Lancashire made light work of Yorkshire’s target of 205 in the first semi-final of T20 Finals Day winning by six wickets to pull off the highest successful chase in Finals Day history, and cruise through to the final.

After two Roses thrillers in the group stage at Old Trafford and Headingley, this time around it was a packed-out Edgbaston that was treated to a stunning display of hitting as the red rose booked their place in the final tonight (7pm) against either Hampshire or Somerset.

Aiming to become the first side to successfully chase more than 200 on Finals Day, Lancashire were ahead of the rate from the outset with Matthew Revis’s first over smashed for 29 runs, despite picking up the wicket of the dangerous Phil Salt.

Captain Dane Vilas hit 63 off 46 to help Lancashire breeze into the T20 Final with ease 

Keanton Jennings continued on from his career-best at Southport to help Lancashire through 

Not before Salt had blitzed 36 off just 14 deliveries including four consecutive boundaries and by the end of the powerplay, Lancashire had pretty much reached halfway on 89 for two.

Keaton Jennings, fresh from his career-best 318 in Southport earlier this week pulled out all the shots with a superb knock of 75 off 51 and his partnership of 122 alongside skipper Dane Vilas’s 63* off 46 helped Lancashire breeze into their 4th T20 Final on their 9th Finals Day appearance with ease.

By the time Jennings was dismissed by Dominic Drakes, Lancashire needed just 24 off 23. Tim David hit Jordan Thompson for three boundaries, before Vilas hit a crunching six over cover to take his side home with eight balls to spare.

The 20th edition of the tournament saw the first ever Finals day showing of Yorkshire v Lancashire and in the absence of David Willey due to England duty, Harry Brook captained Yorkshire who remain as one of five teams who have not won the competition in those 20 years.

Vilas will now lead his team out for a final against either Hampshire or Somerset at Edgbaston

Fans enjoyed the enthralling ‘war of the roses’ in spite of the hot conditions at Edgbaston 

Brook is also part of the England squad for the ODI series against India that concludes tomorrow but he was one of three players, alongside Salt and Matt Parkinson who were released by England for today.

Yorkshire won the toss, chose to bat and came firing out of the blocks with Adam Lyth flicking Luke Wood for six in the first over before hitting the next ball to deep backward point where Tom Hartley took a juggling catch.

But Dawid Malan (33) and Tom Kohler-Cadmore (66) motored on, racting to 66 for one in the powerplay. Richard Gleeson, fresh from his England bow last week was taken for four consecutive boundaries before both Malan and Brook were dismissed, leaving Yorkshire 87 for three at the halfway stage of their innings.

Kohler-Cadmore brought up his third half-century in as many Roses T20 matches in style with a superb six straight back down the ground but he was bowled swinging and missing by Luke Wells to leave Yorkshire on 124 for four with just under six overs remaining.

Jordan Thompson hit five sixes in the space of seven balls but wasn’t enough for Yorkshire 

All eyes were on Pakistan’s Shadab Khan but it was Jordan Thompson whose heroics in the quarter-final helped Yorkshire reach only their third ever Finals Day who provided the fireworks again. This time with the bat, blasting a 17-ball half century to catapult Yorkshire past 200.

Thompson was dropped second ball before unleashing carnage, by smashing five sixes in the space of seven balls to bring up the fastest white ball half-century for Yorkshire. His wicket however, sparked a Lancashire team hat-trick with three wickets in three deliveries at the end of the 19th over and the start of the last as Yorkshire managed just six runs off their final over.

Nevertheless, it was still the second-highest Finals Day total at the interval but it still wasn’t enough. Unfortunately for Yorkshire, only Lancashire had previously posted a higher Finals Day total (217-4 v Surrey in 2005) and it was the white rose who were left without a Saturday night date in Birmingham.

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