An eye-catching half-century from Liam Livingstone (52) guided Lancashire Lightning to a 33-run win against an Emirates Airline side, as the Red Rose warmed up for the Airline Tournament in Dubai tomorrow with an emphatic victory.
Lancashire largely found life tough in their warm-up game, stumbling to 49/4 as the top-order batsman struggled to adapt to conditions. But Livingstone's crucial fifty and an all-round strong display from the bowling unit ensured that the reigning T20 champions did not suffer what would have been a shocking defeat.
The tourists posted 137/8 in 20 overs and were indebted to Livingstone's knock, with several other Lancashire batsmen making starts and failing to kick on. The Emirates side were unable to chase their target of 138, reaching 104/8 at The Sevens Stadium. George Edwards was the pick of the Lancashire attack, claiming figures of 2-3 from three overs.
Winning the toss and batting first, the Lightning clawed their way to 39/2 at the end of the powerplay, after losing both openers cheaply. Alex Davies (2) was first to depart, caught at backward point by Ahmed Nizam off Nisar Khan (1-16) and former skipper Tom Smith followed at the end of the fifty over, top-edging behind off Krishna Chandran for 16.
Chandran proved to be the thorn in Lancashire's bid for a strong total, as he finished with figures of 3-15, also accounting for Karl Brown (11) and captain Steven Croft (13). The first stable partnership emerged when Jordan Clark and Livingstone came together for the fifth wicket, as they added 39 runs to give the innings a platform to build upon.
Boundaries were hard to come across, with more sixes being hit than fours, but the pair ran well between the wickets to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Clark fell lbw for a hard-fought 19, as Livingstone started to accelerate, smothering a straight six to take him to a 35-ball fifty.
However, he fell to the next delivery when he was stumped for 52, losing his bat in the process to give Silva the first of two wickets. Silva had Kyle Jarvis out to the last ball of the innings, also stumped, as Lancashire set a modest target of 138.
Any fears of a Lancashire defeat were put to rest early on in the Emirates run-chase as Jarvis started with a maiden, before Edwards removed both opening batsmen. He had Cheema caught behind by Davies without scoring and Jarvis collected his first victim when Hussain (4) was caught by Smith at mid-off.
Edwards struck again in his third over, removing Pawar for nine, with Smith once again taking the catch, a wicket which left the Emirates side in trouble at 20/3 in the sixth over. Nizel Fernendes (31) hit the first of two sixes in the ninth over of the innings, as the first true sign of danger for Lancashire emerged.
Fernendes and Chandran, who top-scored for Emirates with 32 not out after his antics with the ball, fought well to resist the high quality of Lancashire's bowlers, but the slow start to the innings made it hard for them to keep up with the run rate.
Lilley accounted for the dangerous Fernendes when he was caught by Croft at 54/4 and spin started to take ahold of the run-chase when Stephen Parry removed Ahmed Nizam for two, with both Lancashire spinners claiming figures of 1-6 from two overs.
Livingstone (1-11) added to his vital fifty with a wicket of his own, trapping Dahanayaka lbw in the 14th over. Silva then gifted Parry a routine catch, supplying Croft (1-10) with a breakthrough, as all four of Lancashire's spinners took a wicket apiece to increase the pressure on the home side.
Gavin Griffiths returned to leave another dent in the Emirates run-chase, although by the time he came back onto bowl, Lancashire were firmly in the driving seat. The wicket of Siddique at 82/8 came with the Emirates side needing 56 to win with little more than two overs left.
The hosts avoided being bowled out by Lancashire, but could only manage 104/8 from their 20 overs, as Lancashire collected a morale-boosting win in preparation for the T20 tournament tomorrow.
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