Lightning strike revenge on Panthers in CB40 match.




(c) Daniel Adams 2012
 Man of the match, Stephen Parry (above)
takes 4-21 as Lancashire go second in Group A.

  After a humiliating defeat of 167 runs at Lords in June, Lancashire have responded with a comfortable victory of their own to put them into second place in Group A of the CB40 campaign. The threat of rain that surrounded Old Trafford prior to the start of play certainly influenced Lancashire’s decision to bowl first, in the hope that for once Duckworth Lewis would help the Lightning. Captain, Glen Chapple was as ever adaptable to all formats of the game starting with a maiden that set the tone for a slowly paced innings. Tom Smith likewise made an economical start conceding just four runs and for three more balls at least, Chapple was yet to concede a single run.But this season has been full of rain and this continued  as the sides were only able to muster 15 balls before coming off.

As rain continued to fall the slow start made by the Panthers was becoming more and more regrettable and when play finally resumed in this CB40 match, the game had been reduced to 16 overs per side. Middlesex openers, Joe Denly (11) and David Malan (48) were therefore keen to improve on their slow start, but with little success due to more constricting bowling from Chapple and Ajmal Shahzad. Lancashire were unable to take any early wickets and as confidence built for Middlesex, Malan took responsibility for finding the boundary in an innings with 4 fours and 2 sixes to get the Panthers underway.

The first breakthrough for the Lightning came when Denly’s attempted slog over mid-wicket to spinner, Stephen Parry, resulted in him being stumped by Cross for 11. The fear of Paul Stirling’s capabilities, after scoring 119 in the reverse fixture at Lord’s were certainly present, but he was unable to replicate this contribution after edging behind to Cross off Parry for only 6. Malan continued to be the only source of runs for Middlesex and his batting partners, in contrast, were finding it tough. Malan’s lonely cameo came to an end when an attempted slog off the expensive Shahzad was caught by Ashwell Prince. Matters were made worse when former Lancashire player, Steven Crook, was superbly caught in the deep by Karl Brown off Gary Keedy for 4, with Middlesex on 70-4.

The curious decision not to send out Chris Rogers was confusing to say the least, with very little batting power beyond the Australian one day specialist. Tom Smith’s economical contribution was rewarded when Paul Horton caught Neil Dexter for 8. Lancashire’s stand out bowler, Stephen Parry, who finished with 4-21, claimed the late wickets of Ollie Rayner who was bowled off a slower ball for 12 and John Simpson who was caught by Shahzad for 2. In an attempt to come back for two off the last ball Chris Berg was run out for 4 as Middlesex finished on 97-8. An additional 5 runs were awarded to the Panthers through Duckworth Lewis as Lancashire were set 103 to win from 16 overs.

In response, the home side opened with a 20 over mentality as Stephen Moore and Tom Smith commenced proceedings. But Lancashire’s start was anything but flamboyant, when Moore skied Roland-Jones to sub fielder, Oliver Wilkin, for a 5 ball duck. Lancashire found it hard to make any sort of contact with the ball in the preliminary stages of their reply and when Tom Smith was astoundingly caught by Gareth Berg off Crook for 12 things were looking bleak for the Lightning.   

Steven Croft (45) and Karl Brown (36*) were solely focused on building a partnership that would steer the home side back in the right direction and they did so with great success. Brown was also able to find consecutive boundaries from spinner, Tom Smith, to put the game back in the balance. A minor rain delay resulted in the loss of one more over, revising Lancashire’s target to 97 from 15 overs. After the break Croft and Brown continued to build Lancashire’s response in a partnership worth 79 as the required run rate continued to fall progressively.

The very late dismissal of Steven Croft, who was caught by Stirling off Dexter, had no impact on the end result, with Lancashire on needing just 2 runs from 10 balls. Paul Horton faced two successive wide balls from Dexter ended the match in an anti climactic fashion, but Lancashire will be ecstatic to win a game that takes them to second place, with 3 games in hand over Group A leaders Holland. A man of the match performance from Stephen Parry set the game up nicely for the home side and in the end the scenario of the Duckworth Lewis was not necessary as Croft and Brown easily guided Lancashire to their 4^th CB40 victory this season.