City cricket will move game forward - Tim Bresnan

Tim Bresnan is hoping the spectacle of last Friday’s Roses clash at Headingley will be repeated game after game in the new city-based T20 competition, to be introduced by the ECB in 2020.

Bresnan hailed the quality on show as a sell-out crowd of 15,750 watched Yorkshire beat their arch-rivals Lancashire by 19 runs, defending 183.

The Yorkshire stand-in captain took career-best figures of 6/19, the third best haul by anyone in Blast history.

Pakistan’s Champions Trophy-winning duo Sarfaraz Ahmed and Junaid Khan both played, as did Australia’s Shaun Marsh and England quintet Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid and David Willey.

Earlier this year, Bresnan won Australia’s Big Bash title as an overseas player for the Perth Scorchers.

But he insists the quality of the Blast matches up to that competition and believes things will only improve more in a few years’ time.

He said: “When we come out and play like that, the Lancashire boys turned up as well, I think it’s one of the best cricket leagues around the world. And I’ve played in a few.

“The standard was just exceptional. International cricket, that’s as close as you’re going to get to it - if not better. There’s not many better atmospheres. 

“I was speaking to Rob Key afterwards, and he said ‘that’s why we need city cricket’. 

“I think that will move the game forwards at a rapid rate of knots.

“That’s only once a year, whereas it could be six or seven times a year at home. If every game in that city league turns out to be one of those games, then who wouldn’t want it?

“It gets the boys up and about, and you could see how we fed off it. It was absolutely fantastic.

“The quality from both sides was probably as good as you will see. How many international players were there in both teams? It was just phenomenal really.”

Bresnan and his Yorkshire team-mates are still sweating on their chances of progression through to this year’s quarter-finals in the Blast.

Having beaten Lancashire, they were on course for the last eight. 

But a defeat against Leicestershire at Grace Road less than 24 hours later in their penultimate North Group game on Saturday has put things back in the balance.

In fact, their chances of progression are out of their hands ahead of the final group game against champions Northamptonshire at Headingley on Thursday. If they beat Northants, they will leapfrog them by a point and finish their campaign inside the top four places on 15 points from 14 games.

Though they could slip out of the qualification places on Friday night when all the other teams in the group play their final fixtures. One thing in the Vikings’ favour is the strength of their net run-rate, the first separator should teams finish on level points.

The start time of Thursday’s game has been shifted from 6.30pm to 7pm because Sky Sports will televise it.

Pakistan overseas wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfaraz will play his final game for the county having been recalled for a national training camp.