Lancashire Lightning recorded their highest
score in Twenty20 cricket of 231/4 to beat Yorkshire by 29 runs at Emirates Old
Trafford in front of a sell-out crowd.
The Red Rose achieved the double over their
Roses rivals after superb knocks from Ashwell Prince, who raced to a 26-ball
fifty – only to be outdone by Karl Brown, who hit three sixes in succession to race
to fifty in 25 balls in a T20 career-best innings of 69 from 35 balls.
Yorkshire gave a valiant effort in their
chase of this colossal target, reaching 202/8 after Tim Bresnan thumped 51 off
24 balls, but after Stephen Parry (3-29) removed the dangerous Australian duo
of Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell in the same over, the game was heading in
favour of the home side.
To make matters worse, Yorkshire skipper
Andrew Gale decided to bowl first after winnings the toss, although he could
hardly be blamed for this decision after the Vikings chased 180 to win at Old
Trafford last season.
It looked to be a tall order for
Lancashire, who were without their own dangerous Australian all-rounder, James
Faulkner, who missed the game after being charged for drink-driving. Faulkner
is due to appear in court on July 21, which means he would miss Lancashire’s
four-day match against Glamorgan at Colwyn Bay.
But Lancashire made a blistering start in
the first six overs, reaching 75/0 at the end of the powerplay as Prince and
Paul Horton hit a combined total of eight fours and three sixes to give the
16,000-strong crowd plenty to smile about.
Horton hit his first two balls for
consecutive boundaries and Prince smashed the first of his four sixes off the
final ball of the first over, which conceded 16 runs. Lancashire’s pulsating
start continued as Prince hit Bresnan for six off his very first delivery,
taking Lancashire to 42/0 after four overs.
Prince and Horton took Lancashire to 51/0
after only 28 balls and Prince increased the pressure on Yorkshire by smashing
Richard Pyrah for six in the sixth over, as the Lightning raced to 75/0 after
six overs.
A superb innings of 27 from 17 balls from
Horton, an innings including five fours, came to an end when he was caught in
close by Gale off Maxwell (1-26), with Lancashire losing their first wicket at
76/1.
Every Lancashire batsman came to the crease
with purpose a savage intent, none more so than Brown, who played a backseat
role in the initial stages of his innings as Prince went to fifty for the …
time in the T20 Blast this summer with three fours and four sixes.
Prince was in line to record a rare T20
century, but he top-edged a delivery from Pyrah (1-52) into the gloves of
Bairstow, as he departed for 59 off 30 balls at 104/2. Brown hit the first of
five sixes when he punished a short ball from Bresnan to the shorter boundary
on the leg-side, scoring 24 runs in the 11th over with a boundary
four sandwiched between another huge six, as Brown timed a sweep-slog perfectly
to add to Bresnan’s misery.
As if that wasn’t enough, Brown then hit
three sixes in a row, followed by consecutive fours off Pyrah, hitting 27 runs
in the 13th over – his third six in succession taking him to a
remarkable half-century in 25 balls.
This incredible over saw Brown and Alex
Davies achieve a fifty-partnership in just 18 balls and 11 minutes, with Davies
scoring only three of these runs. Brown picked the gap at deep mid-wicket for
his fifth boundary four of a brilliant innings, but he was caught by Maxwell on
the boundary off Finch (1-9) trying to smash the sixth maximum of his innings.
Davies joined in with two boundaries in
three balls off Middlebrook (0-33) before falling for 22 off 14 balls when he
was caught by Bresnan off Matt Fisher (1-25) with the hosts reaching 187/4.
Lancashire’s previous best score in the
shortest format of the game came against Worcestershire at New Road last season
in Andrew Flintoff’s comeback match and the Lightning matched this total of
229/4 perfectly with one ball to spare after some late hitting from skipper
Steven Croft (27*) and Liam Livingstone (13*)
A quick piece of running gave Lancashire
another two runs, setting Yorkshire a daunting target of 232 runs, although
there was sense of belief that with Finch and Maxwell in Yorkshire’s ranks that
any target was in the realms of possibility.
Finch made a quick start with three
boundaries off Tom Bailey in the second over of the innings and Gale was no
slouch hitting Kyle Jarvis for six over long-on in the fourth over to leave the
match hanging in the balance.
A narrow run-out call went in favour of
Finch, who hit the next ball for four after Gale had been dropped by Parry, but
the left-arm spinner made amends, claiming two wickets for only three runs in
his first over, removing both Finch and Maxwell to leave a serious dent in
Yorkshire’s bid for victory.
Finch was the first to depart for 33 off 19
balls when he miscued to Arron Lilley, who had to make up a lot of ground to
take the catch at deep extra cover and Parry had Maxwell (1) back in the
pavilion four balls later when he was caught behind by Davies.
Jonny Bairstow remained Yorkshire’s biggest
threat with the bat and he added a brisk 25 from 16 balls including two sixes
before he was bowled by Croft (1-50), who would later feel the force of
Bresnan’s vain attempts to keep Yorkshire alive.
Gale’s momentum had been halted by the loss
of the Australian overseas stars, but nobody could have anticipated the
stunning piece of fielding from Lilley, which accounted for the Yorkshire
captain who was run out for 35 with a direct hit.
The wicket of Andrew Hodd, who was caught
by Croft without scoring, gave Parry his third wicket for 17 runs in 2.2 overs
and Bairstow was next to depart, as this time Croft claimed the wicket off his
own bowling, knocking back Bairstow’s middle-stump at 102/5.
Parry finished with figures of 3/29 on the day he received his county cap, a
statement of intent from the left-arm spinner, who has said he is interested in
a loan move away from Old Trafford to play more Championship cricket.
Jack Leaning (16) gave Lilley the first of
three wickets, as he finished with figures of 3-31, with Croft in action once
again to take a smart catch at long-on. Croft was then hit for back-to-back
sixes by Bresnan in the 15th over, an early indication that the England
all-rounder was refusing to give up against all odds, but with wickets
continuing to fall, it was hard to see how the visitors were going to recover.
Pyrah’s miserable night continued when he
top-edged Lilley to Jarvis at short third-man with only three runs to his name,
leaving Yorkshire the unfriendly target of scoring 79 runs off 18 balls.
Consecutive sixes for Bresnan off Croft
guided the Yorkshireman to a 50 off just 22 balls an innings applauded by the
entire stadium in appreciation of his tenacity and refusal to surrender in the
face of adversity. Middlebrook joined in with arguably the biggest six of the
match into The Point.
With four balls to go Bresnan was still
finding his range, although by this stage it had become impossible for
Yorkshire to win and the final nail in the coffin came when Prince held on to a
stunning catch inches from the boundary rope off Lilley at 194/8 after Bailey
dropped Bresnan in the previous over.
Lancashire cruised to a 29-run win despite
Yorkshire’s best efforts, a victory which launches them to third place in the
North Group, with a trip to Leicestershire next Friday their next match in this
format.
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