yorkshire 182 of 7 (Malan 95*, Masood 34, Brooks 4-51) beat nottinghamshire 174 for 4 (Hales 53, Munro 46) for eight runs
“There was a lot of nerve at the end but Jordan Thompson hit a fantastic last pitch to bring us to the line,” Yorkshire manager Ottis Gibson said. “We’ve been struggling a bit for wins without playing as badly as the results might suggest and hopefully the confidence the players build sets us up for another great game, a Roses game, on Thursday night.
“When you win the pitch and the bat, you need someone to bat through the innings for you and Malan is one of the best in England and he played very good innings. We talked about needing a top four to bat through the innings and he took it upon himself to do it tonight.”
Yorkshire posted a modest 41 for 2 on the power play, losing two wickets in the space of four renditions in the sixth over as Adam Lyth and debutant Will Luxton set off in similar fashion, each trying to strike over the box but only managing to throw the ball. upright, Matt Carter and Colin Munro respectively combining sure hands with a steady eye as Brooks celebrated his first two wickets.
The right-arm closer, who turns 39 next Sunday, had seen his first over against his former 17-run county as Malan and Lyth went on the attack and it was no wonder his wickets brought lively celebrations.
Masood joined Malan to steal 50 runs off 35 balls, but the Pakistan international, having cleared the string a couple of balls earlier, holed past Lyndon James at the leg-side limit.
Malan missed few chances to score, but lost another teammate when Wiese selected a long time, handing veteran spinner Samit Patel his 200th T20 wicket for Outlaws, and at 122 for 4 for 15 Yorkshire needed some acceleration.
It came in the last three overs, which contained a further two fatal errors from Brooks and one from Shaheen Shah Afridi, but a spirited 15 off 6 ball from Ben Mike and 17 from the last Brooks over, including a fourth six to Malan, just clearing the fielder in long-off.
The Outlaws were marginally in front at 48 from the power play, having lost Joe Clarke to a steep top edge in the second over and, although slightly behind the required rate of 78 for 1 for 10, the second pair of wickets were still together, Hales completing 50 for 30 balls with his eighth cap, though Munro broke away on the 24th when his jerk landed just below the deep square back.
That changed in the 13th, when Hales brought Wiese right into the hands of Luxton on the back point. He and Munro had added 84 but the Outlaws needed 84 of 47 balls and needed to keep up the momentum.
Fortunately for them, Montgomery got into his groove right away, a couple of boundaries followed by a clean hitting six in the Fox Round booth off Dom Bess. Nonetheless, the pressure was still on with 54 required at the start of the last five overs and was further intensified when Munro holed out at long range.
The loss of the big-hitting left-hander to a tight over from Jordan Thompson proved to be a crucial scalp for the Vikings, with each subsequent point ball turning the screw on Outlaws, who suffered another blow when Montgomery hit Mike straight into extra. cover, although with 26 still needed from just eight balls, the game was by then effectively won.