Buttler and Prince Guide Lancashire to Finals Day.

Crucial knocks from Jos Buttler and Ashwell Prince proved pivotal in Lancashire's trumiph in tight finish at Canterbury.

Kent were bowled out for 142 after being inserted by the visitors, who made breakthroughs at regular intervals to limit the success of the side who finished top of the South Group.

James Tredwell led the Kent recovery, with his unbeaten 31 being the best score made by the home side after the hosts had slumped to 86/7.

The Kent off-spinner manufactured a 52-run stand with Fabian Cowdrey (27) but limited support from the top-order batsmen left Kent wanting more runs in order to prevent Lancashire from reaching a sixth Finals Day.

The Lightning needed to make early progress with a plethora of talented batsmen at Kent's disposal and early pressure through the lack of boundaries allowed Kyle Jarvis (2-23) to strike twice in successive deliveries to give Lancashire a strong start.

Karl Brown held a good catch to remove Daniel Bell-Drummond (8) in the fifth over and opening partner Joe Denly fell to the very next delivery when Jos Buttler took the catch behind the stumps, with these two wickets leaving Kent on 25/2.

Kent opener Daniel Bell-Drummond punches an earlier boundary for Kent.

The pairing of Kent skipper Sam Northeast and England hitter Sam Billings promised a great deal and they added 28 for the third wicket before Arron Lilley (2-21) struck with his first delivery. The off-spinner had Northeast out for 14 when the Kent captain was trapped lbw at 53/3 and the visitors had another wicket not long after this important scalp when a superb piece of relay fielding removed Darren Stevens cheaply.

Stevens, another potential match-winner in Kent's ranks, slashed a poor delivery from Parry (3-31) to the square-leg boundary and, although the ball seemed destined to clear the ropes, Lilley pushed the ball back to Brown with one hand, a stunning piece of fielding which left Kent on 58/4.

It proved to be impossible to keep Lilley out of the game and he claimed his second wicket when he had the big-hitting Alex Blake out lbw for two, a crucial wicket after he had hit 89 against Lancashire in the 50-over contest earlier this week.

Billings delivered on his recent one-day prowess, hitting the first six of the innings in the 13th over, before favouring the reverse-sweep for a boundary four soon after. However, it was this shot which resulted in his demise when he top-edged to Buttler, handing Parry his second wicket at 84/6.

A disastrous start was made even worse when another potentially destructive batsman in Matt Coles attempted to shift through the gears too quickly, picking out Alex Davies at long-off, as Parry struck his third blow after this reckless shot from Coles.

Kent were very much in danger of failing survive the full 20 overs, but Tredwell and Cowdrey combined superbly to give Kent a fighting chance. Their runs became more and more useful and a combined total of seven fours and one six between the two Kent batsmen allowed the hosts to post a competitive score.

Tredwell's innovation was the highlight of the partnership as the lower-order batsman hit James Faulkner (2-28) for six and then a four in consecutive deliveries. Kent may well have made more than 142 if Tredwell had been able to maintain more of the strike but he was left stranded on 31 not out as three wickets fell in the final over.

The first of these wickets was that of Cowdrey who departed for 27 when Faulkner reacted quickest to run out the young batsman, ending his stand with a Tredwell after the pair had added 52 runs for the eighth-wicket stand.

Mitchell Claydon fell next after edging his first ball for four he was then bowled by Faulkner. Ivan Thomas departed in similar fashion when he was bowled first ball by the Australian all-rounder, bringing the Kent innings to a close.

Lancashire started their innings with a wide ball from Coles a run that Kent could ill afford to give away given the way the innings would unfold.

Ashwell Prince (62) and Alex Davies (2) opened the batting for the Lightning and they soon found themselves one down. Davies who had struggled to beat the infield on numerous occasions was trapped LBW to Coles (3-22) attempting a scoop shot over the keepers head, leaving Lancashire 12/1 after 3 overs.

Karl Brown (1) joined Prince at the wicket but was soon making his way back to the pavilion having been bowled middle stump by slower leg cutter from Darren Stevens (1-20). At this stage Lancashire were 35/2 and Prince had contributed 29 of the runs in what was to prove a crucial innings.

Liam Livingstone (12) was the next man to join Prince. The pair added 22 runs before Tredwell (1-28) trapped the former LBW.

With the score on 57/3 in the 10^th over Kent fans started to believe that they were in the game, until Jos Buttler (53) was seen to be the new man making his way the crease. Buttler was soon showing why he is considered one of the best T20 players striking the final ball of the 10^th over for a maximum.

Prince and Buttler added 73 runs for the 4^th wicket partnership in which Prince brought up his 4^th fifty of the campaign from 40 balls including 5 boundaries and 1 maximum.  This partnership was to form the backbone of the reply taking the score all the way to 130/4.

Prince was eventually caught in the deep by Denly from the bowling of Claydon. Not before he had escaped what seemed a very good run out appeal from Thomas (0-26) who claimed to have deflected the ball back onto the stumps at the non strikers end with Prince clearly short of his ground. The TV replays were not conclusive enough to give the wicket.

The Prince wicket sparked set the way for a domino effect that would again give the home support something to cheer. Steven Croft (4) joined Buttler at the crease with 13 runs needed from 11 deliveries thanks to another boundary to Buttler this was reduced to 6 runs from the final over.

The boundary also marked Buttler’s 2^nd fifty in as meaning appearances for Lancashire in this years completion. Coming from only 36 balls with 5 boundaries and 3 huge sixes.

The final over was to give both sets of supporters a rollercoaster of emotion. Croft managed a single from the first ball from Coles, this brought Buttler onto strike. Buttler decided that he wanted to end the game with one blow however he found Alex Blake at long-on the batsmen had crossed meaning James Faulkner (4*) joined Croft at the non strikers end. Croft too decided he wanted to win the game with a maximum but followed the example set by Buttler, he holed out to Cowdrey on the deep extra cover boundary. Bringing Arron Lilley (0*) to the wicket at the non-strikers end.

With this the home fans sensed that something magical could be happening Lancashire still needed 5 runs to win and only had 3 balls to get them. The only thing standing between them and an unlikely victory was ‘The Finisher’. Faulkner swung viscously at his first ball, which went straight through to Billings behind the stumps. The penultimate delivery was carved into the leg side and both Faulkner and Lilley sprinted two.

At this point the Northeast appeared to check with the umpires what would happen in the event of a tie. He seemingly wasn’t aware that the fact Kent had lost all 10 wickets meant they could only afford to concede a single. With this news the Kent skipper signaled his deep fielders on the leg side to come up and protect the second run.

The final ball of the game was hit straight back down the ground to long on, the fielder had to move just far enough to his left that the Lancashire pair had time to scamper back for two.

The game was tied 142-all out to Kent and 142-6 to Lancashire. But the Lancashire dugout were able to celebrate the victory on virtue of losing fewer wickets.

Sky Sports Man of The Match Jos Buttler being
interviewed by Nick Knight after the game.

Shortly after the game the draw for T20 finals day was made. Lancashire Lightning will meet the Hampshire Hawks in a repeat of last years semi-final, which was won by Lancashire. With the possibility of a repeat of last years final on the cards with Birmingham Bears meeting the Northants Steelbacks in the other game to be played at Edgbaston on August 29^th.