Tom Kohler-Cadmore stars as Vikings plunder Foxes

Yorkshire 255 for 2 (Kohler-Cadmore 96) beat Leicestershire 201 by 54 runs

Yorkshire Vikings finished just five runs short of matching their highest team total in Twenty20 matches as they defeated Leicestershire by 54 runs in the Vitality Blast North Group match at the Fischer County Ground.

Led by an unbeaten 96 from opener Tom Kohler-Cadmore, they plundered an impressive 255 for two from their 20 overs – and that after Leicestershire had won the toss and opted to bowl first.

The innings contained 19 sixes – one short of the English domestic record of 20 set by Essex against Surrey at Chelmsford only last week – and easily surpassed the 223 they made against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in 2017 as their highest away from home.

One more six and it would have beaten the 260 for four they amassed at Headingley, also in 2017, as their biggest total on any ground.

With Leicestershire’s batsmen clearing the ropes 12 times in their 201 for four, the match equalled the domestic record of 31 sixes also set in that Essex versus Surrey encounter.

Kohler-Cadmore crashed eight sixes as he went close to a second century in the format, having faced just 54 deliveries.

He was backed up by half-centuries from Adam Lyth and West Indian Nicholas Pooran, the latter hitting six maximums.

Lyth and Kohler-Cadmore had given their side an exceptional start, crashing 76 off the opening six overs, which included a 50 off 21 balls from left-hander Lyth.

Lyth had some good fortune at the start, almost out without scoring as an uppercut off left-armer Dieter Klein just cleared Callum Parkinson on the third-man boundary, the fielder stretching to get his hands on the ball but unable to make the catch or prevent a six.

Thereafter, he tucked into a mixed bag of Leicestershire bowling to pick up two more sixes and six fours to pass 50 for the 13th time in this format. Kohler-Cadmore got in on the act too, launching Colin Ackermann’s off-spin for a huge six over mid-wicket in one of two overs in the Powerplay that cost 20 runs, the other bowled by seamer Ben Mike.

Lyth fell slog-sweeping left-arm spinner Parkinson but Kohler-Cadmore continued the big-hitting onslaught. Having walloped Parkinson’s opening delivery over the mid-wicket boundary, he plundered more maximums off Aaron Lilley and Parkinson again to complete a 31-ball half-century.

The rate of scoring slowed a tad in the middle overs but it was a short-lived respite, as West Indian big hitter Nicholas Pooran picked up the mood. The wicket-keeper batsman was only one delivery behind Lyth in reaching 50 from 22 balls, with four fours and five sixes.

Pooran cleared the rope three times off Parkinson in the most expensive over of the night – one which cost 27 runs – including one hooked off a shoulder-high full toss and another pulled over long-on from the subsequent free hit, before he was caught at wide third man for 67 off Dieter Klein.

Yorkshire were lacking bowlers Matthew Fisher and Josh Poysden through injury, while Steve Patterson and England’s Adil Rashid are currently being rested, and Leicestershire’s 55 for one after the Powerplay overs was respectable enough but they needed to score in total 27 runs more than their highest score in T20.

South African seamer Duanne Olivier conceded 41 from his first three overs, lofted twice over the leg side boundary by compatriot Neil Dexter before taking a measure of revenge by bowling the batsman behind his legs.

But when Ackerman and Aussie blaster Mark Cosgrove departed in quick succession, any real hope of Leicestershire coming close to Yorkshire’s total had effectively gone, despite a lively partnership of 61 in six overs between Aaron Lilley and Lewis Hill for the fourth wicket, each contributing four to the sixes tally.