Sunday 7 May 2017

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.

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