Lancashire Lightning progressed to the quarter-finals of the Natwest T20 Blast by virtue of a superior net run rate as both their and Nottinghamshire's final group games were abandoned due to torrential rain.
It is the tenth time in the 13 years that the Twenty20 tournament has been running that Lancashire have reached the knockout stages of the campaign. Lancashire will play Kent Spitfires on 15th August at Canterbury after Kent finished top of the South Group. It will be the first time these two sides have faced each other in T20 cricket.
Lancashire have reached Finals Day five times in the history of the tournament, but are yet to win the trophy, reaching the final on two occasions. An inspection was called at 6.40pm at New Road to determine whether there was any hope of getting a game in, but play was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
At Grace Road, Nottinghamshire were hopeful of a five-over slog in order to edge Lancashire out by one point. The Outlaws beat Lancashire by three wickets earlier this month to give them a strong chance of overthrowing the Red Rose, but a crucial win at Edgbaston for Ashley Giles's side maintained a fourth-place finish heading into the final round of matches.
However, Nottinghamshire's game was also abandoned at the same time as the fixture at Worcester, which means the Outlaws have been eliminated from the tournament in spite of their pedigree and undeniable talent in white-ball cricket.
Out of the eight games due to be played across the country, only one game had any play on a dreadful day of weather across the country. Yorkshire played league-leaders Birmingham Bears at Headingley and six other games have been called off without a ball being bowled.
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