County cricket: Lancashire and Surrey on top as T20 Blast delivers thrills

Lancashire stayed top of the North Group after a Headingley Roses match that (not for the first time) showcased exactly why the ECB was lauded for its imagination when it invented – OK, adapted from recreational cricket – the Twenty20 format in 2003. There was a big crowd, bright lights, star cricketers, pulsating play, a last-ball finish and, I almost forgot, clubs with decades of history and longstanding, committed fans, institutions that are embedded in their local communities – for all the work still to be done. No amount of marketing and branding can deliver that heady brew.

The visitors posted 93-2 at the halfway mark, twin 40s from Steven Croft and Keaton Jennings building a platform for the big hitters to come. Liam Livingstone was snared early, but Tim David and Dane Vilas smashed 10 sixes in a stand of 96 in 7.2 overs and the Tykes were asked to chase 214 for the win.

Even the reddest of Red Rose supporters would have welcomed the sight of Tom Kohler-Cadmore back at the crease after his recent concussion issues, but they had probably had enough of him by the 12-over mark, when Yorkshire needed just 63 off 48 balls with eight wickets in hand.

The underrated Tom Hartley bagged Kohler-Cadmore and the sunshine came back into the hearts of the band of fielders operating in hostile territory. David Willey kept his side in the game as wickets fell around him, but when Dominic Drakes’ fat outside edge spiralled towards deep point, Hartley knew he had to catch the ball and stay inside the boundary sponge to win the match. He did, and the points went west across the Pennines by the width of a dozen blades of grass.

Northamptonshire occupy a somewhat surprising second place in the North Group, and not just because one