Taylor heroics secure victory for Outlaws

James Taylor (33*) held his nerve to guide Nottinghamshire Outlaws to a pivotal three-wicket win against Lancashire at Old Trafford, hitting the final ball of the game for four to secure victory for his side.

The Outlaws inflicted yet another defeat on Lancashire, their fifth in succession against the Lightning, to make an important leap towards progressing from the North Group after chasing their target of 138.

Lancashire posted 137/4 after winning the toss on a wicket which has never been used before and was predicted to offer plenty of runs. In reality, it was the complete opposite; a slow pitch which made runs very difficult to come by, although a sluggish start from the home side proved to be very costly.

Half-centuries from Karl Brown (51) and Steven Croft (50*) were crucial after Lancashire had fallen to 13/3 inside the first three overs of the innings.  Ashwell Prince (1) departed in the first over of the innings when he chipped a delivery from Samit Patel to Michael Lumb and opening partner Paul Horton soon followed to Harry Gurney when he was bowled, also for just one run.

Brown hit back-to-back fours to give Lancashire a much-needed boost inside the first six overs, but the loss of Alex Davies inflicted another dent to their progress. The young wicket-keeper fell for no score without even facing a ball when he was run out, attempting to come back for two, a breakthrough which left Lancashire in deep trouble at 13/3.

Lancashire were 75/0 at the end of their last powerplay on home soil in this format of the game; by stark contrast they had faltered their way to 36/3 after the first six overs of this match and this was even with the efforts of Brown, who continued to rally under the pressure.

He hit eight boundaries on his way to a 39-ball fifty, his third of the tournament so far and a vital contribution in the context of the innings, but support had been far and few between from the rest of the Lancashire batsmen, that is until captain Croft came to the crease.

He and James Faulkner (32) added an unbeaten partnership worth 67 runs for the fifth-wicket stand, but these runs came at a patient and frustrating rate for the home side, who finished just below par.

The introduction of former Lancashire all-rounder, Steven Mullaney, proved decisive for the Outlaws as he collected figures of 1-14 from his allocation, claiming the vital wicket of Brown soon after he had made fifty.

Brown tried to find the mid-wicket boundary, but he could only pick out Riki Wessels, who took a comfortable catch inside the rope to remove Brown for 51. By the end of the 14th over, Lancashire had only hit eight fours, all of which came from Brown, but a big six from Croft went a long way towards improving their chances of posting a respectable total.

The Lancs skipper moved to his fourth half-century of the campaign in 45 balls with two fours to accompany his six, but it was incredibly tough to score runs even with a number of wickets in hand. The visitors mastered their slower and yorker-length deliveries, making life unfriendly even for the likes of Croft and Faulkner, who are both regarded as brilliant hitters at the end of the innings.

Faulkner capitalised on a rare half-volley, thumping a six to the short boundary over mid-wicket in the penultimate over of the innings, but Lancashire could only muster 137/4, which represented a tremendous effort after a miserable start.

Nottinghamshire found life similarly difficult in the first six overs, although they didn’t lose as many wickets. A plethora of talented hitters gave the Outlaws a strong chance of winning at the halfway stage, but the early loss of Lumb suggested that the game was far from over.

A veteran of Twenty20 cricket and a World-Cup winner for England, Lumb failed to negate a slower ball from Kyle Jarvis, as the fast bowler hit middle-stump with a yorker to remove Lumb for 11, with the score at 16/1.

Nottinghamshire progressed to 26/1 at the end of the powerplay, a refection of how difficult it was to score runs on the pitch, even with Alex Hales at the crease. He made an important contribution of 30 from 28 balls and Wessels contributed 28 to the total before he fell to Jordan Clark (2-15) in the 11^th over, picking out Croft at backward-point.

Stephen Parry (1-34) then accounted for Hales when Horton held on to a juggling catch at short-extra cover, a huge breakthrough for Lancashire if they were to stand any chance of winning the match. The visitors lost their third wicket for 19 run s when another experienced batsman fell, this time Patel, who repeated the demise of Wessels by finding the safe hands of Croft off the bowling of Clark.

Faulkner returned to claim the wicket of Dan Christian (8) when he was bowled by a superb yorker from the Australian all-rounder, but Taylor held the key for the Outlaws, who continued to run between the wickets with greater purpose than their hosts.

Taylor finished unbeaten on 33 from 21 balls, hitting the final two balls of the match to the boundary to secure a vital win for the visitors, although Lancashire will be bitterly disappointed to have lost yet another game by such a tight margin, particularly when you consider that the Outlaws required 13 runs from the final over.

Late drama saw Chris Read depart for 11 when Arron Lilley held on to the catch of the season at deep mid-wicket, running backwards and diving through the air to hold on to an important catch at the death. Having removed Read, Faulkner then held on to a catch of his own at mid-off from Jarvis in the final over to remove Mullaney (6).

But the visiting captain remained composed and delivered a sucker punch to Lancashire with successive boundaries at the death, thumping Jarvis down the ground and whipping a second four off his pads to square leg to win the game off the last ball of the match.