YORKSHIRE’S chances of reaching the T20 Blast quarter-finals took a hit as they slipped to a three-wicket defeat against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.

Travis Head starred with the bat on his county debut as the Vikings posted 160-7 from their 20 overs, but Samit Patel and Chris Read guided the hosts a victory that ensures their passage to the last-eight.

The defeat for Yorkshire, however, needs them needing to win their final three North Group matches to stand any chance of qualifying for the knockout stages.

Having won the toss and elected to bat first, Adam Lyth got the Vikings off to the perfect start with a boundary off the first ball of the match, only for opening partner Alex Lees to be bowled by Harry Gurney inside the second over.

The loss of his captain did not deter Lyth – who came into this match off the back of a double-hundred against Surrey in the County Championship – as he accumulated steadily before taking 23 off Outlaws skipper Dan Christian’s first over.

The England opener eventually holed out off the bowling of Patel for 39 having hit six boundaries and two sixes, but that only brought Head to the crease.

The Australian limited overs batsman took some time to get into his stride before pulling Imran Tahir into the stands for the first of his four sixes.

He shared in a stand of 67 from 42 balls with Kane Williamson for the third wicket after being dropped on 30 by Patel before eventually picking out Riki Wessels on the long-on boundary off the bowling of Gurney to depart for 40 from 25 deliveries.

Williamson followed him back to the dug-out two overs later for 39, and from there the visitors lost momentum, with Tim Bresnan (17) the only man to make any kind of impact on the scorecard as Yorkshire hit scored just 21 runs from the final four overs to finish on 160-7.

Needing early wickets to stand any chance of defending their total, Azeem Rafiq made the perfect start as he bowled former Yorkshire opener Michael Lumb behind his legs in just the second over of the chase.

And Steven Patterson – who came into the side after David Willey was ruled out through illness – maintained the pressure on the home batsmen as he had Riki Wessels caught by Bresnan from his first delivery before removing Christian moments later to leave Nottinghamshire 50-3 at the end of the six over powerplay.

A stand of 56 between Greg Smith (32) and Samit Patel brought the home side back into the game before a fine tumbling catch by Adil Rashid off the bowling of Will Rhodes accounted for the former.

Rashid then then picked up a wicket himself by trapping Brendan Taylor LBW, and when Patterson continued a fine individual performance by running out Steven Mullaney with a direct hit Yorkshire looked set for victory.

But Patel (58) and Read (35*) shared a stand of 56 for the seventh wicket to get Nottinghamshire within touching distance, and though the former fell in the final over, a boundary from Read secured a victory that leaves Yorkshire with it all to do in the final weeks of the group stage.