Lancashire beat Yorkshire in T20 Blast with record-breaking score

Lancashire Lightning recorded their highest score in Twenty20 cricket of 231/4 to beat Yorkshire by 29 runs at Emirates Old Trafford in front of a sell-out crowd.

The Red Rose achieved the double over their Roses rivals after superb knocks from Ashwell Prince, who raced to a 26-ball fifty – only to be outdone by Karl Brown, who hit three sixes in succession to race to fifty in 25 balls in a T20 career-best innings of 69 from 35 balls.

Yorkshire gave a valiant effort in their chase of this colossal target, reaching 202/8 after Tim Bresnan thumped 51 off 24 balls, but after Stephen Parry (3-29) removed the dangerous Australian duo of Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell in the same over, the game was heading in favour of the home side.

To make matters worse, Yorkshire skipper Andrew Gale decided to bowl first after winnings the toss, although he could hardly be blamed for this decision after the Vikings chased 180 to win at Old Trafford last season.

It looked to be a tall order for Lancashire, who were without their own dangerous Australian all-rounder, James Faulkner, who missed the game after being charged for drink-driving. Faulkner is due to appear in court on July 21, which means he would miss Lancashire’s four-day match against Glamorgan at Colwyn Bay.

But Lancashire made a blistering start in the first six overs, reaching 75/0 at the end of the powerplay as Prince and Paul Horton hit a combined total of eight fours and three sixes to give the 16,000-strong crowd plenty to smile about.

Horton hit his first two balls for consecutive boundaries and Prince smashed the first of his four sixes off the final ball of the first over, which conceded 16 runs. Lancashire’s pulsating start continued as Prince hit Bresnan for six off his very first delivery, taking Lancashire to 42/0 after four overs.

Prince and Horton took Lancashire to 51/0 after only 28 balls and Prince increased the pressure on Yorkshire by smashing Richard Pyrah for six in the sixth over, as the Lightning raced to 75/0 after six overs.

A superb innings of 27 from 17 balls from Horton, an innings including five fours, came to an end when he was caught in close by Gale off Maxwell (1-26), with Lancashire losing their first wicket at 76/1.

Every Lancashire batsman came to the crease with purpose a savage intent, none more so than Brown, who played a backseat role in the initial stages of his innings as Prince went to fifty for the … time in the T20 Blast this summer with three fours and four sixes.

Prince was in line to record a rare T20 century, but he top-edged a delivery from Pyrah (1-52) into the gloves of Bairstow, as he departed for 59 off 30 balls at 104/2. Brown hit the first of five sixes when he punished a short ball from Bresnan to the shorter boundary on the leg-side, scoring 24 runs in the 11^th over with a boundary four sandwiched between another huge six, as Brown timed a sweep-slog perfectly to add to Bresnan’s misery.

As if that wasn’t enough, Brown then hit three sixes in a row, followed by consecutive fours off Pyrah, hitting 27 runs in the 13^th over – his third six in succession taking him to a remarkable half-century in 25 balls.  

This incredible over saw Brown and Alex Davies achieve a fifty-partnership in just 18 balls and 11 minutes, with Davies scoring only three of these runs. Brown picked the gap at deep mid-wicket for his fifth boundary four of a brilliant innings, but he was caught by Maxwell on the boundary off Finch (1-9) trying to smash the sixth maximum of his innings.

Davies joined in with two boundaries in three balls off Middlebrook (0-33) before falling for 22 off 14 balls when he was caught by Bresnan off Matt Fisher (1-25) with the hosts reaching 187/4.

Lancashire’s previous best score in the shortest format of the game came against Worcestershire at New Road last season in Andrew Flintoff’s comeback match and the Lightning matched this total of 229/4 perfectly with one ball to spare after some late hitting from skipper Steven Croft (27*) and Liam Livingstone (13*)

A quick piece of running gave Lancashire another two runs, setting Yorkshire a daunting target of 232 runs, although there was sense of belief that with Finch and Maxwell in Yorkshire’s ranks that any target was in the realms of possibility.

Finch made a quick start with three boundaries off Tom Bailey in the second over of the innings and Gale was no slouch hitting Kyle Jarvis for six over long-on in the fourth over to leave the match hanging in the balance.

A narrow run-out call went in favour of Finch, who hit the next ball for four after Gale had been dropped by Parry, but the left-arm spinner made amends, claiming two wickets for only three runs in his first over, removing both Finch and Maxwell to leave a serious dent in Yorkshire’s bid for victory.

Finch was the first to depart for 33 off 19 balls when he miscued to Arron Lilley, who had to make up a lot of ground to take the catch at deep extra cover and Parry had Maxwell (1) back in the pavilion four balls later when he was caught behind by Davies.

Jonny Bairstow remained Yorkshire’s biggest threat with the bat and he added a brisk 25 from 16 balls including two sixes before he was bowled by Croft (1-50), who would later feel the force of Bresnan’s vain attempts to keep Yorkshire alive.

Gale’s momentum had been halted by the loss of the Australian overseas stars, but nobody could have anticipated the stunning piece of fielding from Lilley, which accounted for the Yorkshire captain who was run out for 35 with a direct hit.

The wicket of Andrew Hodd, who was caught by Croft without scoring, gave Parry his third wicket for 17 runs in 2.2 overs and Bairstow was next to depart, as this time Croft claimed the wicket off his own bowling, knocking back Bairstow’s middle-stump at 102/5.

Parry finished with figures of 3/29  on the day he received his county cap, a statement of intent from the left-arm spinner, who has said he is interested in a loan move away from Old Trafford to play more Championship cricket.

Jack Leaning (16) gave Lilley the first of three wickets, as he finished with figures of 3-31, with Croft in action once again to take a smart catch at long-on. Croft was then hit for back-to-back sixes by Bresnan in the 15th over, an early indication that the England all-rounder was refusing to give up against all odds, but with wickets continuing to fall, it was hard to see how the visitors were going to recover.

Pyrah’s miserable night continued when he top-edged Lilley to Jarvis at short third-man with only three runs to his name, leaving Yorkshire the unfriendly target of scoring 79 runs off 18 balls.

Consecutive sixes for Bresnan off Croft guided the Yorkshireman to a 50 off just 22 balls an innings applauded by the entire stadium in appreciation of his tenacity and refusal to surrender in the face of adversity. Middlebrook joined in with arguably the biggest six of the match into The Point.

With four balls to go Bresnan was still finding his range, although by this stage it had become impossible for Yorkshire to win and the final nail in the coffin came when Prince held on to a stunning catch inches from the boundary rope off Lilley at 194/8 after Bailey dropped Bresnan in the previous over.

Lancashire cruised to a 29-run win despite Yorkshire’s best efforts, a victory which launches them to third place in the North Group, with a trip to Leicestershire next Friday their next match in this format.