Lancashire Lose To Tournament Hosts.

Lancashire Lose To Tournament Hosts.

After yesterdays performance, Lancashire were keen to make amends, but this was initially out of their control as their opponents, Fly Emirates, won the toss and chose to put Lancashire into bat first. Agathangelou’s fantastic performance vs. Sussex of 42 runs, saw him replaced by Tom Smith at the top of the order and the Lightning got off to a much more impressive start this time around. Stephen Moore not only avoided a golden duck but assisted by Smith, he helped Lancashire to reach 36 before losing their first wicket. Initially dropped on 12, Moore was eventually caught at mid-off, from Syed’s bowling, in the 6th over. Smith (22) was then bowled by Syed, who claimed his second wicket in three balls, to leave Lancashire 41-2.

With Steven Croft and Karl Brown now at the crease, Lancashire were nicely poised to make a total that was more impressive than the 118-9 from yesterday’s match. The Lightning managed to acquire a further 16 runs, before Brown was bowled by Khan, after smashing him for six the previous ball. Paul Horton joined captain Croft, but when he was stumped Lancashire had stumbled to 68-4. Keeper, Gareth Cross and Croft managed to form a partnership of 31, including some big hitting from the former, who swept a huge six to the square-leg boundary. But Cross fell later in the same over for 18, with the score at 99-5 and just over 2 overs to play.

10 runs on and Croft was dismissed for 29 when he was bowled by Sikander’s spin, with 9 balls left. It seemed as though Lancashire were going to replicate yesterday’s batting performance, by achieving less than a run a ball over the course of their 20 overs. After Luke Procter and Kyle Hogg were dismissed Lancashire were on an unquestionably average score of 116-8, with just 3 balls left in the innings. But the surprise efforts of spin bowler, Stephen Parry, gave Lancashire’s batting a much needed, albeit late boost, as he scored 10 off the last two balls, to give Lancashire a score of 128-8.

Rahul and Javad opened the response, as the Fly Emirates XI attempted to chase 129 runs. Much like Sussex, the opponents seemed a much stronger batting side, which was emphasised by the score of 42-0 after 5 overs. The introduction of Tom Smith into the bowling attack gave Lancashire their first breakthrough at 47-1, when Javad tried to hook the ball and was subsequently caught behind, edging to Gareth Cross. Once the Lightning took the first wicket, their seemed to be a different air on the pitch which was helped further when Rahul was run out by Stephen Moore, with just one more run added to the total. Smith then claimed another wicket at 56-3, when he cleanly bowled Khan and at the half way stage, the Lightning were looking the better side.

The Fly Emirates XI added to their total, slowly but surely, loosing another wicket on 86, as Luke Procter took a fantastic catch off the bowling of Wayne White. It looked as if Lancashire were turning the screw, but the Emirates were able to build a solid 5th wicket partnership, which saw them past 100 and in to the latter stages of the innings. Needing 21 from the final 3 overs, both teams had the potential to win, but with 6 wickets in hand, Lancashire were now second favorites. Unlike yesterday, the Lighting took the game to the final over, where Croft was able to find a run out, taking the game to the penultimate delivery, but they could not prevent the Emirates from earning a five-wicket victory.

Having lost this match, the semi-final, Lancashire will not feature in the final, which is due to take place this afternoon between the Fly Emirates XI and Sussex. They will however play the MCC Young Cricketers tomorrow morning, in a 40 overs match, where Lancashire will be hoping to improve on their recent performances as the start of the season continues to draw closer.