T20 Blast Finals Day: Lancashire beat Yorkshire by six wickets in first semi-final

Lancashire became the first side to chase down a 200-plus score on Finals Day as they beat Yorkshire by six wickets in the first T20 Blast semi.

In the first Finals Day clash between the two old rivals, Lancashire made 208-4 to surpass Yorkshire's 204-7 and reach the final for a fourth time.

Keaton Jennings (75) and skipper Dane Vilas (63 not out) were the chief architects at a sunny Edgbaston.

But Yorkshire's Jordan Thompson starred earlier with a 50 off just 18 balls.

Lancashire, winners here in Birmingham in 2015, now face the winners of this afternoon's second semi-final between twice-winners Hampshire and 2005 winners Somerset.

After losing their top T20 run scorer Adam Lyth just a ball after hitting Luke Wood for six, Yorkshire got stuck in with a stand of 61 in six overs between Dawid Malan (33) and Tom Kohler-Cadmore (66).

But, although Malan and England's Harry Brook both fell to spin, Kohler-Cadmore upped his game, finally perishing to become a second victim for Luke Wells.

At 124-4, with just 35 balls of the innings left, 200 still looked a long way off, but Thompson came in to join Shadab Khan (34) and launched into one of the most brutal assaults seen on this ground.

Together they put on 74 in fewer than five overs, of which Thompson's share - including six sixes - made it the fastest of the 80 fifties now seen on Finals Day. But his departure, the first of three wickets in successive balls, slowed Yorkshire up right at the end.

Phil Salt, who like Matt Parkinson and Yorkshire skipper Brook had been released by England's T20 squad to play, got the Lancashire innings off to a flier with 36 off 15 balls.

Jennings then took over, hitting a six and nine fours to make his eighth half-century in T20 cricket, before needlessly holing out to mid-off - and Tim David also departed after twice finding an unguarded cover boundary.

But by then Vilas was long since settled and, with skipper David Willey so badly missed by Yorkshire, the Lancashire skipper saw his side home to maintain their comparative stranglehold over the Tykes in T20 cricket.

This equalled the biggest run aggregate on Finals Day, matching the 412 shared by Lancashire (217-4) and Surrey (195-7) shared in the 2005 semi-final at The Oval - and it was the first time both sides have posted 200.

Yorkshire head coach Ottis Gibson:

"It is disappointing but, as disappointing as it is, this quite young team showed what it can do by getting to Finals Day.

"Having got there, we would like to have done better, of course. You can have the best plans in the world but you have to execute them -and we didn't really do that.

"Some of the young players have played very well during the tournament and have really come on.

"Now we will have a look around and see whether we bring in someone with a little bit more experience to come in alongside them next year.

"Tom Kohler-Cadmore and David Willey are moving on to the next stages of their career. We missed David."