Bears win by one run in low-scoring affair against Lancs

Birmingham Bears emerged victorious by a margin of just one run in the replay between last year’s Twenty20 finalists at Emirates Old Trafford as Lancashire failed to chase a relatively easy target of 138.

Brendon McCullum made an eye-catching 18 from 14 balls on debut to help the visitors in their innings of 137/8, as captain Varun Chopra top-scored with 40 from 33 balls in a turgid display from the current winners of the Twenty20 cup.

However, if Warwickshire’s display was turgid, then there was hardly a superlative to describe the way Lancashire approached their run-chase as they fell one run short despite some late hitting from Liam Livingstone (13).

Livingstone hit the penultimate ball of the match for six to leave Lancashire a target of three runs from the final ball, but he could only scamper a single as the home side were edged out by a narrow margin for the third time in four matches to hinder their chances of progressing from the North Group.

James Faulkner top-scored for Lancashire with 34 from 25 balls, but when he fell to Ricordo Gordon (4-20) the away side reclaimed control of the game. Chopra chose to bat first after many of the Warwickshire players had been caught up in traffic on the M6, which caused the game to be delayed by half an hour to a 7pm start.

Lancashire were able to contain Warwickshire well in the first six overs and deprive McCullum of the strike, although the New-Zealander found his range with three fours in succession off Kyle Jarvis in the second over.

The home side claimed his crucial wicket when he skied a delivery from Jordan Clark (1-16) to Steven Croft, who had to make up a lot of ground to take a good diving catch at 49/1.

Birmingham made good progress in the first six overs despite the loss of McCullum as Chopra and William Porterfield (36) made good progress after the powerplay to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

They added 20 runs for the second-wicket partnership before Chopra was caught by Arron Liley at long-off to give Stephen Parry his first wicket of the match and Croft (2-21) collected the first of his two scalps when he had Rikki (8) Clarke stumped after a wild swipe from the Warwickshire all-rounder.

Warwickshire were made to work hard for their runs as the Lancashire spinners continued to add pressure and also take wickets at regular intervals. Laurie Evans played a key role in last year’s final, but Lancashire saw the back of him for just eight when he top-edged to Jarvis at short third-man off Parry with the final ball of his four-over allocation, finishing with economical figures of 2-19.

Porterfield plodded along at a run-a-ball, accumulating runs with determination as batsmen departed around him, Ateeq Javid (9) the next casualty when he was comfortably run out with the score at 125/5.

Lancashire claimed four wickets for as many runs at the death as Porterfield felt the pressure as the Bears failed to post a strong total, although the pitch did offer assistance for the bowlers as the ball stuck in the pitch and didn’t come on to the bat as well as it usually does at Old Trafford.

Nevertheless, Porterfield was caught at long-on by Ashwell Prince off Croft for 36, as Lancashire took charge with their second wicket in three balls. The Lightning repeated this feat in the next over when Faulkner returned with purpose to remove Jeetan Patel (3) and Tim Ambrose (1) cheaply, as he collected 2-26 in his four overs.

Gordon hit the second-to-last ball of the innings for six to boost Warwickshire’s semi-competitive total, a hit which ultimately made the difference for the Bears as well as the four wickets he went on to claim in Lancashire’s innings.

A target of 138 seemed a friendly task for Lancashire, who made light work of Durham yesterday at Chester-le-Street, but their approach made this relatively easy task look much harder.

Prince (11) made a bright start at the top of the order, backing up his half-century against Durham with a six off Oliver Hannon-Dalby in the second over of the innings, but he fell the next ball when he guided the ball into the hands of Porterfield at backward-point.

Lancashire struggled to get off to a fast start and could only hit 32 runs inside the first six overs. Paul Horton made 24 off 26 balls and failed to capitalize on the fielding restrictions, while Karl Brown (6) repeated the fate of Prince before him, falling to Gordon after hitting him for six in the same over.

Horton was eventually run out for 24 with the score at 52/3, by which stage Warwickshire had put the match back in the balance. Croft shared Horton’s frustration adding 15 in 20 balls before he fell to Javid (1-11) and Clark played a similar innings of 16 from 20 balls to add to Lancashire’s misery.

Clark was eventually caught by Patel to give Gordon his second breakthrough of the innings after the Cumbrian all-rounder had added 39 runs for the fifth-wicket partnership with Faulkner.

The Australian was left with a difficult task - one which he was more than capable of rising to - but given the meager total assembled by the visitors, Faulkner should only have been required for a finishing role.  

Lancashire required 20 runs from the final two overs after Faulkner had hit a towering six over mid-wicket off Patel but when the Aussie all-rounder departed for 34 the Bears looked strong favourites.

Faulkner picked out Evans at long-off and Gordon collected his fourth wicket with the final ball of his allocation to dismiss Alex Davies (6) when he edged behind to Ambrose.

Just three runs were score in the penultimate over and so 17 runs were required from the final six deliveries. The Lightning cut that target down to nine from two balls, but they lacked the boundaries which would allow them to win the game.

Livingstone stepped up to the mark and smashed Hannon-Dalby for six to give the home crowd hope of achieving revenge over the side who beat them by four runs in last year’s final. But Lancashire were to lose by an even more disheartening margin, as Livingstone could only run a single and was run out in his vain effort to come back for two after picking out the fielder in the covers.