James Rhodes stars as Wakefield Thornes reach T20 Blast final

Thornes came out on top by 15 runs after making 159-9 from their 20 overs.

Opener Kieran Donnachie (47) and Joe Billings (53) gave them a good start as they reached 99-1, although the rest of the innings fell away with only Muhammed Uzair Mumtaz (20) making much of an impact among the remaining batsmen.

Collegiate reached 65-1 in their reply, but wickets then went down at regular intervals and they fell 15 runs short when their 20 overs ended with them on 144-8.

Matty Taylor (2-25) and Jawad Akhtar (2-26) led the Thornes attack.

After losing for the first time the previous week the Wakefield team were straight back to winning ways in the Yorkshire Southern Premier League when they beat Whitley Hall by four wickets.

A half century from James Rhodes helped Thornes to get home after they had kept their opponents to 170-9 from 40 overs.

Rhodes hit eight fours and two sixes in a knock of 55 and support came from Donnachie (28), Akhtar (29no), Mumtaz (24) and Billings (21) as the target was reached with 11 balls to spare.

In Hall’s innings, Taylor and Charlie Bourne both took 3-40 while Akhtar claimed 2-48.