Lancashire lose in rain affected T20 opener.



                                                                                                                                (c) Daniel Adams 2012



After rain had persistently fallen throughout play, umpires Willey and O'shaugnessy ended play, with the Derbyshire Falcons comfortably ahead of the required Duckworth Lewis score. After the disappointment of losing in last years semi final, the Lightning have got off to a bad start, in yet another game that was affected by rain.

The Falcons won the toss and put the visitors into bat, but Lancashire opened-up confidently as Tom Smith's return to the squad started with consecutive fours. He was soon caught playing a weak shot to naved off the bowling of Groenewald for 9. As predicted, Stephen Moore was an essential part of Lancashire's chances, hitting 3 fours and 2 sixes, inside 9 balls. He was eventually caught behind for 34 by povnton when he flashed at a wide delivery from Groenewald.

Captain Steven Croft and Karl Brown put together a useful partnership of 44, in which Brown was dropped on three occasions. Brown was finally caught when he chipped the ball back to bowler Chesney Hughes for 27. Paul Horton joined Croft and contributed 11 runs before he was stumped off the bowling of Wainwright. Gareth Cross scored a useful 16 but was run out, leaving Lancashire on 141-5. Croft had formulated a captains innings, scoring singles regularly to keep the scoreboard ticking over but soon decided to play in a flamboyant style scoring consecutive sixes.

After hitting his third 6 in 9 balls, he was disappointed to fall short of a well deserved 50, when he was caught by Madsen off the bowling of Turner for 46. Lancashire's Twenty over overseas player, Yasir Arafat, was able to add an unbeaten score of 11 accompanied by Sajid Mahmood who finished on 3 not out, as the visitors posted a competitive score of 168-6 in tough conditions.

Rain continued to fall through the interval and as Derbyshire openers Usman Khawaja and   Wes Durston came out to chase 169, they were aware that Duckworth Lewis may well be a factor. They started positively, scoring 22 runs before Australian, Usman Khawaja, was caught behind by Gareth Cross off the bowling of Arafat for 3. Sajid Mahmood had leaked 25 runs from just 11 balls but he managed to take the vital wicket of Durston who made 31 before he was caught by Croft at backward point.

Durston had done a severe amount of damage to Lancashire's chances, as the Falcons were comfortably ahead on Duckworth Lewis when rain started fall progressively harder. Matters were made worse when Whiteley was able to hit the usually reliable spinner, Stephen Parry, for two sixes. The Lightning were able to drag the match back slightly by taking 2 wickets without Derby scoring a run. First Madsen was caught behind off the bowling of Procter for 9 and Whiteley was bowled by Parry for an impressive 24, as the Falcons stumbled in a key period of the match.

Luke Procter took his second wicket and Croft took his second catch as Redfern was dismissed for a duck, leaving Derbyshire on 82-5. Lancashire appeared to be slight favourites, but with Chesney Hughes and Rana Naved at the crease, the game was not yet over. They managed to score 36 runs form just 20 balls as they advanced towards chasing their original target of 169, as they disregarded Duckworth Lewis. But rain became too heavy and finally after 11.3 overs, the players came off and they did didn't return.

Derbyshire won by 17 runs on the D/L method and fully deserved to do so. They won the toss and although Lancashire set a strong target, Derby batted well and Lancashire bowled badly in poor conditions. Mahmood finished with figures of 1-42 from just 15 balls and in truth this was the difference between the two sides. Although naved was similarly poor (0-56) other bowlers like Smith or Arafat would've been much more economical, which is after all the name of the game. Ahead of tomorrows visit to Leicestershire, Lancashire seriously need to consider if Mahmood is worth having in their squad.