Lancs cruise to victory against Derby

Davies and Croft both made half-centuries in a 109-run partnership.

Lancashire Lightning achieved their inaugural victory of the Royal London One Day Cup, defeating Derbyshire Falcons by a comprehensive margin of 101 runs at Derby.

Four of Lancashire’s batsmen struck half-centuries, including Karl Brown (59) Ashwell Prince (57) Alex Davies (53) and Steven Croft (51), guiding the visitors to a respectable score of 300/8 after winning the toss and choosing to bat first.

In reply, Derbyshire were bowled out for 199 as Lancashire achieved victory with just under ten overs to spare, with Wayne White (4-33) and Tom Bailey (3-41) inflicting considerable damage to the Derby run-chase.

Derbyshire proved to be second-best on this occasion, but Tony Palladino will feel pleased with his efforts, claiming 5-49 to ensure that none of the Lancashire batsmen progressed further after reaching half-centuries.

Usman Khawaja and Prince gave Lancashire a sturdy start as they reached 46 before losing their first wicket. Khawaja (31) played well before he edged behind off Mark Footit, but this minor setback was followed by a 64-run partnership between Prince and Brown for the second-wicket.

Brown’s one-day form has been integral to the Lightning’s success this season and he led the Lancashire innings with another confident performance, ably assisted by Prince before the South-African was bowled by David Wainwright (1-58).

Runs continued to flow for the visitors with another fifty partnership, this time between Brown and captain, Paul Horton (19) but the loss of two wickets for five runs led to Lancashire falling to 170/4, as Palladino removed both batsmen.

Both Croft and Davies were new to the crease and started with caution, but the pair began to accelerate in a stand worth 109 runs. Of the two batsmen, many would have expected Croft to take the initiative but it was in fact Davies who showed the first signs of aggression.

The young keeper-batsman played a series of positive strokes and compounded Derbyshire’s misery with some excellent running between the wickets as he reached his half-century in just 38 balls.

Croft followed this example, smashing Wes Durston for consecutive sixes to propel him towards a 40-ball fifty of his own. A score of more than 300 seemed possible with these two going strong, but the loss of four wickets for 21 runs restricted Lancashire’s progress towards the back-end of the innings.

Nevertheless, a target of 301 was likely to be tough for Derbyshire with the light deteriorating throughout their innings. The hosts had, previously, given a good account of themselves in this format with the bat, but Wayne Madsen’s 49 proved to be the highlight of an otherwise unconvincing performance.

Playing in only his second List A match for Lancashire, Bailey struck an important breakthrough with the final ball of his second over to remove Wes Durston for just two, as the opener was trapped leg before in front of the stumps.

Bailey claimed another wicket soon after to remove Scott Elstone, also for two runs, this time edging behind to Davies, who soon claimed another catch as Jordan Clark collected the first of two wickets to dismiss Billy Godleman for 23, with Derbyshire struggling at 66/3.

The partnership between Madsen and Marcus North needed to be a substantial one if the hosts were to turn the match around, but the pair could only add another 27 runs before White claimed the first of four wickets to remove North for just eight.

Having scored successive centuries in the first two matches of this campaign, Madsen possessed the potential to revive Derbyshire’s run-chase, but White had other ideas, forcing him to play the ball straight to Brown with the score at 101/5.

Alex Hughes added 47 and former Lancastrian, Gareth Cross hit a quick 20 as the pair made 54 for the sixth-wicket, but when these two were dismissed Lancashire found themselves amongst the tail-enders.

With Tom Taylor injured earlier in the match, Derbyshire only had ten batsmen and their tenacity with the bat soon faded in the knowledge that their chances were becoming very slim.

White and Bailey came back strong at the end of the innings to seal an important victory for the visitors, keeping their hopes of qualification intact.