Sensational Croft bludgeons Lancashire to first 50-over victory

A magnificent century from Steven Croft inspired Lancashire to a 26-run win at Edgbaston in a high-scoring an highly-entertaining meeting against the defending champions Warwickshire.

The Lancashire skipper hit eight fours and as many sixes during his knock of 127 of 83 balls to steer the visitors to a competitive total of 351/8 on a fresh wicket with a short boundary.

There was support from Dane Vilas (55) and Jordan Clark (32) as Croft shared hundred-partnerships with both middle-order batsman, helping Lancashire to score 118 in the final 10 overs.

A remarkable 10-ball over from Oliver Hannon-Dalby saw Croft profit 35 runs with four maximums, with Keith Barker leaking 26 runs in another expensive set of deliveries.

Vilas kickstarted the innings alongside Croft with a 103-run stand inside 14 overs after the visitors reached 130/4 just after the halfway stage.

Croft led the comeback with a captain's knock - playing in his first One-Day Cup match of the campaign - adding a further 114 runs in less than 10 overs with Clark.

Jeetan Patel (3-48) was the pick of the Warwickshire bowlers, although all three of his wickets came in the final over of the innings.

Rikki Clarke swatted a quickfire 76 off 48, sharing a rapid stand of 126 runs in only 15 overs to help the Bears recover after losing the class and experience of Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell early on to Kyle Jarvis (2-58).

Warwickshire stumbled to 95/4 chasing 352 to win, but they ended up sliding to their fourth defeat of the season to all-but end their title defence.

Clarke and Tim Ambrose (68) gave Warwickshire hope of pulling off a remarkable run chase, but when both batsmen fell within the space of eight balls to leave the tail with too much work.

Simon Kerrigan (3-60) ripped through the middle order, bowling Matthew Lamb and Clarke, before he had Keith Barker (34) stumped to secure victory.

Warwickshire ended on 325 with nine balls remaining in their innings, with Ashley Giles tasting another defeat in the One-Day Cup in his first meeting against the Red Rose since returning to his parent club.

Lancashire desperately needed a victory after three defeats from their first three games, with two sides chasing more than 300 runs in recent weeks to beat Glen Chapple's side.

With the short boundary there was always a chance the home side could recover, with Ateeq Javid (28) providing extra depth to the batting, but when he was held by Croft off James Anderson (2-45) at  291/8, it was hard to see beyond Lancashire cruising to a comfortable win.

Vikings deal damage with convincing one-day cup win

Lancashire slumped to a 79-run defeat in the Roses contest at Headingley after impressive knocks from Peter Handscomb (86) and Gary Ballance (85) left the visitors chasing 297.

The pair added 143 runs for the fourth-wicket stand to set Yorkshire up for a grandstand finish, but the Lightning bowlers fought back with a resilient bowling display, claiming six wickets for 66 in the space of 74 balls to restrict the score to 296/9.

However, the run chase never really got moving and starts from Alex Davies (43), Karl Brown (34) and Liam Livingstone (32) were not enough to prevent a second one-day cup defeat of the season for Glen Chapple's side. Adil Rashid (2-34) and Azeem Rafiq (4-47) constricted the visitors to a modest 217 all out inside 44 overs, as Lancashire failed to respond from their opening defeat at the hands of Leicestershire.

Yorkshire stood strong in dismal batting conditions after they were put into bat with their star-studded line up, including nine current or former international players. After Jonny Bairstow (28) clobbered back-to-back sixes and Adam Lyth dispatched a half volley off James Anderson into the stands, Ryan McLaren started to chip away at the top order.

The South-African seamer finished with 3-43 and until Stephen Parry's late burst of wickets, the bustling all-rounder was Lancashire's best hope of finding a breakthrough. Forcing Bairstow and Lyth  (30) to edge behind to Davies, McLaren then had England skipper Joe Root caught by compatriot Vilas at point for 21, restricting Yorkshire to 87/3 single-handedly.

Handscomb and Bairstow injected fluency and control to the innings, adding a hundred-partnership in as many deliveries to guideYorkshire towards a competitive total. Aussie Handscomb was the first to reach fifty in 57 balls, with the Melbourne Stars' batsman laying into the Lancashire bowlers as he approached three figures.

Yorkshire hit three sixes in quick succession, with Ballance starting the sequence off Anderson after he had reached a fifty of his own in 51 balls. Handscomb responded in the next over by hoisting Luke Procter over the leg-side boundary and then over the cover boundary three balls later, but he failed to convert his acceleration into a century, picking out Anderson on the mid-wicket fence for a brilliant 86 from 78 balls.

Tim Bresnan (11) and David Willey (1) both fell in quick succession after misting strokes, while Ballance also fell short of a hundred when he was judged lbw attempting a reverse-sweep to Parry (3-55). Rashid fell in the same way at the start of Parry's next over attempting a conventional sweep and a huge mix-up between Rafiq and Liam Plunkett saw the latter run out by Haseeb Hameed to become the sixth casualty for the addition of just 52 runs.

A resurgent display from Parry inspired Lancashire to a brilliant comeback at the back end of the innings, but the run chase continued to struggle with regular wickets preventing any of the visiting batsmen from opening up.

Davies hit a few out of the middle inside the powerplay, but Procter managed just 10 before he was bowled by Bresnan at the start of the sixth over. A scratchy innings from Hameed - who made 88 on his List A debut on Friday - saw the England batsman edge his first ball for four, before he nearly dragged the ball onto his stumps a few balls later.

It was Matthew Fisher (1-20) who claimed the prized wicket of Hameed (8), forcing a superb diving catch from Plunkett at wide mid-on. Davies hit six boundaries as he top-scored with 43, but he was the first of six Lancashire batsmen to fall to the potent Yorkshire spinners.

Rashid had the wicketkeeper-batsman trapped lbw at 80/3, before Livingstone attempted to alter Lancashire's fortunes with two sixes in an entertaining innings. The stand-in captain swivelled Plunkett into the stands over fine leg, before mimicking Jos Buttler with a perfectly-executed ramp shot in the seamer's next over to keep the scoreboard moving.

Karl Brown (34) was less fluent and continued to pick the fielders with signs of aggression and his frustration tolled when he was held well by Handscomb to give Rafiq the first of four victims. Livingstone fell at the end of the next over, chopping onto his own stumps for a brisk 32 from 37 deliveries, with Rashid collecting 2-34 from his allocation.

Vilas rebuilt alongside McLaren (16) in a 31-run stand, but with the run-rate starting to jump above ten runs per over, the pressure heaped on the visitors. McLaren picked out Lyth and long-off and Vilas (26) soon followed to a smart grab from Plunkett off Willey (2-53).

Clark thumped a huge six into the pavilion, followed by a straight six off Rafiq, with Tom Bailey (10)  finding Rafiq at third man after he had swatted Willey for a six over the square-leg boundary. A breezy 26 from 18 balls entertained, but Clark's task was too great and he soon picked out Handscomb on the mid-wicket fence, before Parry's top edge into the hands of Rashid brought the game to a fitting conclusion, with Rafiq picking up 4-47.