Lancashire Lightning recorded their first NatWest T20 Blast win of the season, beating rivals Yorkshire Vikings by 26 runs in front of a sell-out crowd at Emirates Old Trafford.
The hosts posted a mammoth 204/7 after being made to bat first, with Karl Brown (54) and Liam Livingstone (55) both making eye-catching half-centuries, sharing 98 runs for the third wicket. Livingstone's 21-ball fifty was the fastest by a Lancashire batsman in Twenty20 cricket and helped the hosts to set a daunting target of 205.
Joe Root made a scintillating 92 not out from 51 deliveries, underpinning a spirited Yorkshire run-chase, but his efforts were in vain, as the Vikings made only 178/7.
Lancashire made a strong start to their innings, with Alviro Petersen sweeping Root for six at the end of the first over, while Martin Guptill found the boundary twice in his run-a-ball 13. The Kiwi batsman looked to get Lancashire off to a fast start after scoring a fifty on his debut last week against Durham, but he fell to Tim Bresnan (3-24) when Alex Lees took a stunning catch, running backwards and diving in the deep at 24/1.
Petersen then fell in the next over to Steve Patterson (2-35), edging behind to Jonny Bairstow for 16, but Brown and Livingstone combined superbly to continue Lancashire's early momentum. Brown brought up the 50 with a six over mid-wicket, repeating the shot two balls later to help the Lightning move to 62/2 after seven overs.
Livingstone hit a six of his own - the first of four maximums in an innings of 55 from 23 balls - slashing Ben Coad for a huge maximum in the ninth over. A fifty-partnership in 28 balls came when Livingstone hit Adil Rashid's third ball into the stands with a heave into the leg-side, helping Lancashire to reach 95/2 at the halfway stage.
Sixes continued to flow for the home side, with Livingstone rocking onto the back-foot and smashing Rashid for a straight six to move to 45 from 18 balls. The hard-hitting batsman then converted this into a 21-ball half-century, his maiden Twenty20 fifty, bringing up this milestone with a fourth six. Livingstone departed soon after reaching his fifty, skying a delivery from Liam Plunkett (1-39) to Ben Coad at mid-off, after he and Brown had added 98 runs in nine overs for the third wicket.
There was little respite for Yorkshire, as this wicket brought Jos Buttler to the crease and he added 23 from 11 balls to keep Lancashire's innings ticking along nicely. One of his first shots, a trademark ramp, brought Buttler his first boundary and he repeated the shot off Plunkett in the same over, lifting the ball over the ropes with ease.
Buttler's typical flamboyance at the crease brought valuable runs to the score, before he was caught in the deep by Bresnan, with Coad (1-36) deceiving Buttler with a slower ball to leave the score at a healthy 160/4 in the 16th over. Brown reached his first T20 fifty of the summer in 36 balls, but he was out for 54 from 38 balls to Patterson when Gary Ballance took a good catch at backward point.
Yorkshire were unable to stem the flow of runs, with Jordan Clark adding 28 in 14 balls, helping to take Lancashire beyond 200 in the final over of the innings, before he was caught behind off Bresnan. Neil Wagner (2) gave Bresnan his third victim when he was caught in the deep on the leg-side by Root, leaving Steven Croft unbeaten on nine, as Lancashire posted 204/7.
There was certainly enough hitting in Yorkshire's side, with David Willey (10) opening the batting, but regular wickets ensured that the Tykes were always behind the asking rate. Both Willey and Lees (16) were out in successive deliveries to George Edwards and Wagner respectively, but Root's introduction to the game signalled a potential threat to Lancashire's bid for victory.
Whereas Brown and Livingstone hit the ball hard and found regular sixes, Root's game was all about picking the gaps and playing the ball late, an approach that was well rewarded and kept Yorkshire in the game for longer than the home crowd would have anticipated. Partnered by England teammate Bairstow, the duo began a dangerous partnership for the third wicket, but Bairstow's cameo of 18 from 17 balls was ended when he was caught behind by Buttler off Arron Lilley (2-32) at 69/3.
By the end of the tenth over, Yorkshire were already facing a difficult task, requiring 12 runs per over from the second half of their innings. Regular wickets continued to hamper their progress, with Ballance (8) falling to Stephen Parry (1-32) at 86/4 when Petersen took a good catch in the deep. Yorkshire then lost the hard-hitting Bresnan (3) cheaply, guiding a ball from Lilley into the hands of Brown on the boundary, leaving Yorkshire in trouble at 98/5.
Root and Plunkett played valiantly to keep Yorkshire's minimal hopes alive, adding 76 runs for the sixth wicket in seven overs, but even with their efforts the Vikings continued to slip further and further behind their rivals. Root reached fifty from 30 balls with six fours, with his deft-touch approach developing into a much more belligerent one towards the death of the innings.
The England batsman hit eight fours and three sixes during his unbeaten innings of 92 from 51 balls, with two of his maximums coming in the penultimate over of the innings to take him into the nineties. Even after all his courageous and talented efforts, Yorkshire still needed 31 runs from the final over and Edwards delivered a terrific final over for Lancashire, removing Plunkett for 22 and Will Rhodes for a first-ball duck, finishing with 3-33.
Lancashire cruised to victory by 26 runs, earning them their first Twenty20 win of the season in front of a sell-out crowd. It was exactly what Ashley Giles' side needed after two heavy defeats in their first two matches and the perfect way to get the defence of their crown up and running. The Lighting are back in action against Nottinghamshire Outlaws tomorrow at Trent Bridge.
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