Lancashire Vs. Leicestershire FLT20

Lancs beat Foxes despite Smith innings.

Greg Smith's 84 proved insufficient as Lancs
won by just four runs.

The Lightning achieved their second victory of this years Friends Life t20 campaign today, marginally defeating Leicestershire by four runs, although for a long time this result seemed unlikely due to Greg Smith's score of 84.

Earlier on this sunny afternoon Lancashire had posted a par score of 155-4, with Simon Katich hitting an unbeaten 62 from 43 balls. The next highest effort came from Stephen Moore (26) who shared a 45-run stand with Tom Smith before the latter fell to Rob Taylor for 19.

Moore soon followed, bizarrely running himself out as Karl Brown refused to take a quick single. Now 46-2, the hosts were beginning to squander the good start they had made, but Brown and Katich were able to hold their own against some tough spin bowling.

The pressure eventually tolled for Brown however, as he unsuccessfully charged Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan, resulting in him being stumped for 17. After his heroic score of 42 versus Yorkshire in Friday's tie, Lancashire's stand-in captain had a comparatively disappointing day, scoring a modest 16 from 24 balls.

Katich however continued to use his vast experience of the t20 format, eventually reaching  his fifty from 38 balls. Ashwell Prince then added a quick-fire 14 not out as he Katich restored Lancashire's chances after a slow spell in the innings.

Leicestershire's response began poorly, with Arron Lilley taking a fantastic catch on the boundary off Mitch McClenaghan (2-36) to remove the dangerous Josh Cobb (3). The New Zealander then claimed the wicket of Joseph Burns (9), subsequently taking his tenth wicket for Lancashire - all of which have been catches.      

Now 39-2, the Foxes innings had taken a similar route to their opponents', but with Al Hasan walking to the crease the visitors hoped to capitalise on their fast start. Smith continued to play aggressively, in an innings that saw the 24-year-old hit 6 fours and 3 sixes.

Al Hasan was eventually bowled by Stephen Parry for 12, as the left-arm spinner claimed 1-23 from his four overs. Now joined by Matt Boyce, Smith brought up his half century from 30 balls and he continued to accelerate, passing his best t20 score with yet another six. Boyce fell for a run-a-ball 19 but the visitors continued to be in charge of affairs due to the presence of Smith.

The penultimate over of the match proved to be vital, with Kabir Ali (3-26) taking two wickets in three balls. The first of which was the pinnacle of Lancashire's defence, as the belligerent Smith was caught by Prince and then Taylor fell for a first ball duck.

Now needing 16 from the final over, Lancashire were in command, but a six from Michael Thornely reduced the target to five from the final ball, with the threat of a second successive tie looming. Fortunately though Thornely (20) failed to make any kind of contact with the final ball of the match and Gareth Cross whipped-off the bails as he attempted a futile single.