Lightning defeated in tense encounter against Worcestershire

Worcestershire Rapids edged a nail-biting encounter against Lancashire Lightning at Emirates Old Trafford, winning by two wickets with a six off the penultimate ball of the match to secure victory.

The tie was evenly poised heading into the final over and two quick wickets seemed to tip the balance in Lancashire’s favour, but Ben Cox clobbered James Faulkner for six over mid-wicket to the longest boundary on the ground to see Worcestershire over the line in their chase of 164.

Captain Daryl Mitchell made an assured half-century to top-score for the Rapids with 53 from 40 balls, before a series of lower-order batsmen let loose, as Cox and Brett D’Oliveria – who both made 22 - scored vital runs to earn a tense win for the away side.

Lancashire posted 163/5 after electing to bat first and Karl Brown made 42 from 24 balls to give the Lightning a strong start. The hosts did not exactly get off to the fast start that they wanted when Liam Livingstone fell in the second over of the innings to Joe Leach (1-35), striking the ball skywards to Ross Whiteley for one.

A stagnated start to the innings was amended by some powerful hitting from Lancashire’s One-Day Player of the Year for 2014 as Brown hit Jack Shantry (1-38) for four and then a sweep-slog for six early on his innings.

Ashwell Prince (33) played a useful supporting role, playing inventive strokes to beat the infield inside the first six overs, as he and Brown added 71 runs for the second-wicket partnership.

Lancashire were motoring their way towards a commanding total, but that all changed when Worcestershire introduced spin. Saeed Ajmal (2-31) and Moeen Ali pinned the home side into a corner after their fast start and the lack of runs soon forced Brown to go in search off the boundary, only to pick out Leach at deep mid-wicket off Ajmal.

Prince fell soon after when he top-edged an attempted sweep off Moeen (1-22) to Shantry at short fine leg, as he returned to the pavilion for 33 with the score at 80/3. This wicket brought Steven Croft and James Faulkner together, a deadly combination after their exploits against Derbyshire last week.

The pair recorded an unbeaten stand worth 151 runs on that occasion, but this evening was a much more turgid affair as they were made to work hard for their runs. The short boundary on one side forced Worcester to bowl in a manner which made Lancashire hit towards the longer boundary, allowing the Lightning to collect singles and quickly run two’s whenever possible.

However, the absence of a boundary for seven overs had severely restricted Lancashire’s progress and when Faulkner played his first real shot in anger he too picked out the fielder, this time Ed Barnard at long-off, as he fell for 23 to Shantry at 129/4.

A career-best 94 against Derbyshire last Friday gave the Lancashire skipper good form coming into this match and he added 31 from 25 balls to help his side towards a competitive target.

A six over square-leg was one of the finest shots of the innings, but Croft was soon removed by Ajmal with a good catch by Colin Munro at deep mid-on. Wickets were falling at the wrong time as far as Lancashire were concerned, but useful knocks from Alex Davies (16*) and Jordan Clark (15*) gave the innings a strong finish, as the home side posted 163/5.

Moeen (21) and Mitchell opened the reply for the Rapids, who made a strong start with three boundaries in the first over. Faulkner pulled back the damage of these three fours from Moeen with a maiden in the next over, before the dangerous England all-rounder chipped a Tom Bailey delivery to Clark at 29/1.

Mitchell lead the charge for his side as Worcestershire posted a powerplay score of 52/1 despite the loss of Moeen and Tom Kohler-Cadmore played his part with a towering six, before he was trapped lbw by Arron Lilley (1-19) for 11.

Lilley was incredibly economical, affording only seven runs in his first three overs, but like a number of Lancashire bowlers, his figures were diminished by a late rally from the Worcestershire tail-enders.

Mitchell progressed to a 38-ball fifty with seven fours after being dropped by Prince on 37, although this was a difficult chance for the South-African, who failed to cling on to a swirling ball dropping over his head.

The Worcestershire skipper had support from Kiwi, Munro (22), who soon found the boundary after a slow start to his innings, hitting Clark for six with a reverse-sweep slog, following that audacious stroke with a much more conventional punch through the covers for four.

The visitors were desperate to find quick runs, but Munro was ran out when he and Mitchell attempted to come back for two, leaving Worcestershire on 108/3. Lancashire claimed their second wicket in quick succession when Saqib Mahmood (1-26) – playing in only his second game – trapped Mitchell lbw for 53 with the first ball of his second spell.

These fatal blows put Lancashire in a commanding position, but Worcestershire had a deceptively strong batting line-up at their disposal and also plenty of batsmen willing to swing from the hip, which proved to be the decisive factor in this evenly fought game.

Whiteley smashed Bailey for six before he was caught well by Croft in the deep for 7

seven the next ball and Mahmood’s promising evening was halted by a combination of inventive hitting a brute force from D’Oliveira and Cox as his third over conceded 17 runs at a crucial stage in the game.

Faulkner continued to be economical, but Bailey was hit for six once more – this time by D’Oliveira – a passage of play which put Worcestershire firmly in the driving set with ten balls to go and just 12 runs required for victory.

But a stunning final over from Faulkner, one which included two wickets in as many balls and a thumping six to win the game, gave Lancashire brief hope of upsetting the odds at the death.

D’Oliveira was to be second of three run outs in Worcestershire’s innings when Faulkner darted the ball to Davies, who whipped off the bails to leave the match finely balanced with six balls to go.

Worcestershire needed seven to win from the final over and Faulkner beat the bat with clever slower balls on a number of occasions, forcing Barnard to attempt a quick bye to Davies, only to be run out without scoring. He fell for a second-ball duck, one ball better than Leach, who edged behind to Davies off Faulkner for a golden duck with the score at 158/7.

Two quick wickets shifted the momentum back in Lancashire’s favour, with Worcester now needing six from two balls, but even the talents of a World Cup winner couldn’t save the Lightning from a thumping blow from Cox as he lofted the ball over mid-wicket for six to win the game with one ball to spare.

It was the first time Worcestershire have beaten Lancashire in a Twenty20 match in six completed matches and this defeat means that the Red Rose will have to bounce back tomorrow evening at Northants.