YORKSHIRE will head into Thursday’s Roses match brimming with confidence after a big Vitality Blast win over Leicestershire at Grace Road.

The Vikings won by 54 runs having posted a total of 255-2, the second highest score ever in English T20 history, having started their North Group campaign with a No Result and a defeat.

Leicester responded with 201-4 on a night which saw 456 runs scored and only six wickets fall on a fabulous batting pitch in the East Midlands.

Tom Kohler-Cadmore led from the front with an unbeaten 96, while opening partner Adam Lyth and overseas star Nicholas Pooran also hit blistering half-centuries.

David Willey was then “outstanding” - the words of coach Andrew Gale - in defence of a 256 target, despite going wicketless. The England all-rounder returned figures of 0-23 from four overs.

Gale said: “I thought it was a clinical performance right from the word go.

“The two lads up front performed their roles to perfection. Lythy came out of the blocks and Tom took his time, got in and accelerated.

“It was good to see Pooran get a score and show what he can do.

“Dave Willey was outstanding on a belting pitch. We’ve had 450 runs for about seven or eight wickets or something like that.

“It was a great game of cricket, and to win by 50 odd runs is a big margin in T20.

“We’ll get a lot of confidence from this game because we felt we played quite well (against Derbyshire) on Saturday without getting over the line, and Chesterfield’s a bit of a bogey ground for us.

“We wanted to come here and prove a point, to get that confidence in our game plans, and we did that.

“We got back to Headingley on Thursday full of confidence.”

Leicestershire opted to bowl first, which did not surprise stand-in captain Kohler-Cadmore.

“I would have bowled first as well had I won the toss, so it was no real surprise that they asked us to bat,” he said.

“With the boundaries being short, we felt that no total would have been out of reach on an excellent wicket, but it worked out nicely for us in the end. You’d settle for 200 on the board most weeks, so to get 250 is massive.

“The way Adam Lyth batted at the top, getting off to a flyer, allowed me to get in.

“We did what we spoke about doing in our plans for the match.

“Adam and Nicholas played beautifully, so credit to them for getting us to the score we got.

“But even at the end there, the way Lilley and Hill batted for Leicestershire, it showed how difficult it was to defend on that pitch with those boundaries.

“That was why it was so impressive the way David Willey bowled.

“For him to go for 23 on a tatty pitch would still have been incredible, let alone a flat pitch.”