Lancashire out-fox Leicestershire in T20 thriller.

The Lightning have won their first game in the Twenty20 campaign as they executed an 11 run victory over the current champions, the Leicestershire Foxes. After the heart-ache of last years exit in the semi final to the same opposition, Lancashire can feel they have got the perfect revenge in a thoroughly deserved victory.

The Foxes captain, Matthew Hoggard, won the toss and put Lancashire into bat and this decision was encouraged by the rain that had fallen prior to the start of the game and the fact that the Duckworth Lewis method may well come into contention. Lancashire started slowly and timing the ball was proving to be difficult. Hoggard struck with the last ball of his first over when Tom Smith was caught behind for 4. Steven Croft joined Stephen Moore and both batsmen continued to find scoring runs hard. In the 5th over, Taylor struck when Croft was caught by Wayne White for just 5, leaving Lancashire on 28-2.

Karl Brown joined Moore at the crease, but he played a spectator role as he watched the Lancashire opener hit Leicestershire's bowlers with extreme confidence. Brown was also contributing nicely and assisted his partner well as Lancashire built a 50 run partnership in little time. A big six and consecutive fours for Stephen Moore helped him to make his way towards his 50 which came from 48 balls. But as he attempted to hit another boundary he was caught in the deep by Taylor off the bowling of White, for a vital score of 58.

Lancashire's innings was starting to slow down as Lancashire were restricted to 21 runs in 5 overs. Wayne White was able to pick up the wicket of Brown for 24, when he chipped the ball into the air and was caught by spinner Claude Henderson. Horton and Cross continued to find scoring runs quickly to be a complex task and when Horton tried to hit a six he was caught superbly by Jaques Du Toit off the bowling of Razzaq for 11. Lancashire wicket-keeper, Gareth Cross, was Razzaq's next victim as he was caught by Boyce for just 9. Lancashire were in danger of posting a below par score at 135-6, but overseas star, Yasir Arafat hit an unbeaten 20 and accompanied by Lancashire captain, Glen Chapple, the Lightning managed to set Leicestershire 155 to win, after batting in tough conditions.  

In reply Leicestershire got off to a very slow start and after 4 overs they were 14-1, as the West Indian Sarwan was caught behind off Chapple for 4. Josh Cobb was destructive against Lancashire in the CB40 campaign, hitting 137 runs and in the early stages of the Foxes' innings he proved to be the only source of opposition to Lancashire's plans. His partner Du Toit was out cheaply for 2, also edging behind but off of Arafat's bowling.

Finally Leicestershire's innings gained impotence when Smith joined Cobb, as they scored 27 runs from 3 overs. Lancashire were pleased to see the back of Josh Cobb when he was caught by Croft off the bowling of Stephen Parry for 32. 2 balls later and the dangerous Smith was also out to Parry when he was bowled for 21, leaving Leicestershire on 62-4. The Foxes lost their 5th wicket at 72 when Taylor was caught by Croft off the bowling of Luke Procter for 6.  

The Foxes were always in the game as long as Abdul Razzaq was still batting and accompanied by Matthew Boyce, Leicestershire were able to make up for lost time. They scored steadily but always seemed to be behind the required run rate and Lancashire seemed to be content to allow them to score 7 runs an over. After his great start, the economical Chapple returned to take the wicket of Boyce, who was caught behind by Cross for 26. Wayne White's attempt to get Razzaq the strike ended in his demise as he was run out for 2. Razzaq continued to resist, but he couldn't chase all the runs on his own and he was eventually caught by Horton off of Arafat for an impressive 36. Tail Enders Eckersley and Henderson were left with little chance of scoring 20 from the final over and they managed just 8 runs as Lancashire recorded their first T20 win of the season.  

The decision to play Chapple seemed to boost the team and as always Stephen Moore played a vital role at the top of Lancashire's order. Parry and Arafat picked up 2 wickets a piece and Lancashire can feel that they put in a strong all round performance that warranted this victory.