Stephen Parry (5-13) claimed the best figures by a Lancashire player in Twenty20 cricket, as the Lightning recorded their second-biggest victory in the format by 96 runs against Worcestershire Rapids.
Worcestershire were bowled out for just 53 inside 14 overs after Parry and Nathan Buck (3-12) accounted for the mainstay of the Rapids' batting line-up, as they failed to get anywhere their target of 150.
Alviro Petersen carried his bat in a very measured innings of 68 from 58 balls to help push Lancashire to 149/6, with his innings coming into true perspective when Worcestershire found themselves 21/4 at the end of the powerplay. Worcestershire's miserable response saw them register the lowest score in a Twenty20 game involving Lancashire, with this mammoth victory taking Ashley Giles' side into fourth place in the North Group.
Martin Guptill's final appearance for Lancashire saw the New Zealand superstar hit only 6 from 11 balls before he was caught at short fine leg by Matt Henry off Jack Shantry, as Lancashire made a stuttered start to their innings after being put into bat. Thankfully both Petersen and Karl Brown (17) were on hand to inject some flare into proceedings as Petersen hit the first of two sixes down the ground off Leach.
Brown followed suit with a maximum of his own in the same over to give Lancashire a better platform after the first six overs at 58/1. South-African Petersen then hit his second six in quick succession, this time off Brett D'Oliviera over mid-wicket, but Brown fell to the next ball when he got a leading edge that looped up to D'Oliviera off the bowling of Daryl Mitchell (1-21) at 69/2.
Liam Livingstone played a typically aggressive knock, hitting back-to-back sixes over mid-wicket to help keep the momentum in full flow, as Petersen progressed to a vital half-century in 38 balls, his first fifty in the format for Lancashire this season. D'Oliveira continued to be heavily involved in proceedings, trapping Livingstone lbw for 28 off 17 balls when he failed to connect with a ramp shot.
Captain Steven Croft made just four runs before he was caught sharply in the covers by Mitchell off Joe Leach (2-34), who then had Jordan Clark (5) out cheaply in quick succession to restore balance to the match. Lancashire were losing momentum at the wrong time, but Petersen continued to play a very mature innings, unfazed by the wickets that were falling around him and he would finish with more runs to his name than the whole of Worcestershire's team combined.
He also found solid company in debutant Tom Moores (13*), who played with urgency and looked to hit the ball hard at the death of the innings. His back-to-back boundaries in the penultimate over relieved some of the pressure from Petersen and in the end Lancashire's total of 149/5 would be more than sufficient.
Buck set the tone with the very first ball when Tom Kohler-Cadmore gloved behind to Moores for a golden duck, as Buck followed up his career-best figures against Birmingham Bears with another impressive performance with the ball. Buck took three wickets in as many overs, removing the Worcestershire skipper Mitchell (5) in his second over when he got a more conventional edge behind to Moores at 13/2.
Clark was also very economical, collecting figures of 1-8 from three overs, as he removed Alexi Kervezee (4) when he was caught well by a back-peddling Parry at mid-off to leave the Rapids on 18/3 in the fourth over. Buck's menacing spell continued into his third and final over, as Joe Clarke flashed his drive into the hands of Guptill to depart for 9.
A terrific powerplay from Lancashire's perspective saw the visitors drag their way to 22/4, but matters were made much worse when Parry was introduced into the attack. The left-arm spinner finished with figures of 5-13 from four overs, removing the hard-hitting Ross Whitely (1) with his third ball when Moores had him stumped at 25/5.
Parry struck again in his second over to leave the score at 42/6, removing Ben Cox for 6 when he picked out Brown on the leg-side boundary. D'Oliviera's score of 16 from 30 balls proved to be biggest contribution in a miserable run-chase for the Rapids and he was Parry's third victim when he skied an attempted sweep to George Edwards at short fine leg.
The visitors lost their final five wickets for 11 runs, as Parry continued to do the damage with his variation of pace on a slow wicket, which made timing the ball incredibly hard for the Worcestershire batsmen. With their side already on the brink of a devastating defeat, the tail-end batsmen fell in quick succession, as Parry took three wickets in four balls to finish with Lancashire's best bowling figures in T20 cricket.
Leach (6) picked out Guptill on the boundary, before Henry became Parry's fifth victim, smashing his first shot to Clark on the long-on fence, as Parry claimed career-best figures in the shortest format. His efforts meant that Lancashire needed just one more wicket to secure victory by a gigantic margin and two big points in the scheme of their title defence, with Arron Lilley (1-12) picking up the final wicket of Ed Barnard, who was bowled for no score attempting a reverse sweep, as Worcester were bowled out inside 14 overs for a humiliating total of 53.
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