Classic British Summer Upsets Valiant Lightning.

Rain had fallen at Trent Bridge persistently before play and conditions would prove to be difficult. The idea of bowling first on this pitch would be ideal with the ball moving about and so when Nottinghamshire won the toss they did indeed choose to bowl first. Despite conditions proving to favour the bowlers, Lancashire openers, Stephen Moore and Tom Smith, started positively scoring 49-0 after their first 6 overs. A light drizzle was still in the air and as this got worse the umpires deemed it was unfit to continue. Just as the players and officials reached the boundary they decided to resume again and no overs were lost. After this minor delay in play,  Lancashire continued to score well under the circumstances and it was clear that fielding was hard for Notts.

At the half way stage Lancashire had reached 76-0, meaning they had the wickets in hand to post an impressive total. Smith had led Lancashire’s attack from an early stage and he was first to reach his 7^th Twenty20 50 from 39 balls, hitting 6 fours and 1 six. Moore shortly followed, after a missed stumping opportunity, as he reached his 13^th Twenty20 50 from 41 balls with 5 fours. Nottinghamshire finally had some luck as Tom Smith was bowled by Steven Mullaney for 56 with Lancashire poised nicely on 119-1 after 14 overs.

The Lightning continued to excel, scoring 37 in 3 overs, as Stephen Moore took the responsibility for scoring runs. He reached an impressive 80 from 58 balls before he was caught by Harry Gurney off the bowling of Ali Carter. New batsmen, Karl Brown was trapped LBW shortly afterwards for 0 as Lancashire stumbled slightly to 161-3. Wickets continued to fall as Lancs keeper, Gareth Cross, was superbly caught by Adam Voges off the bowling of Darren Pattinson for 3. Lancashire captain Steven Croft had gone under the Nottinghamshire radar during this period and in the last over he scored 13 runs as Lancashire scored an impressive 178-4 from their 20 overs.

When Nottinghamshire came out to start their chase, it was peculiar to say the least as 3 batsmen approached the wicket. James Taylor acted as a runner for Alex Hales at the non-strikers end with Michael Lumb on strike. Rain stopped play after just one over of Nottinghamshire’s innings with the score at 7-0 and this delay was much longer. When play resumed Notts required 42 more runs from 24 balls and with 10 wickets in hand and a 5 star batting line up it didn’t seem like much of an ask.

In the first of 4 overs, Lancashire started better taking the wicket of England opener Alex Hales who was caught by Karl Brown off the bowling of Stephen Parry for 4. The over went for just 9 runs but the following over bowled by Yasir Arafat was hit for 18 runs, which put the game beyond hope for Lancashire. Tom Smith was able to take wicket of Lumb who scored 22 before edging behind to Cross, but the over went for 13 and Notts required just 2 from the final over. A valiant effort from Oliver Newby would never be able to prevent Riki Wessles and Notts captain Adam Voges from scoring these runs and the Outlaws won with 2 balls to spare, winning by 8 wickets on the Duckworth Lewis method.

Lancashire played brilliantly today and need to take the positives out of this game with a massive game against rivals Yorkshire on Friday and Durham on Sunday. After batting superbly under the circumstances Lancashire can only feel that they were unfairly credited with a loss today. To score 178 runs and lose is harsh but if they can bat that well in their remaining two games, you would feel that they stand a strong chance of qualification.