Lancashire eliminated after winning low-scoring thriller against Birmingham

Lancashire Lightning's slim hopes of defending their Twenty20 title were put to bed despite a 30-run victory in a low-scoring contest with Birmingham Bears at Old Trafford.

Setting a modest target of 125 would not have been possible were it not for an unbroken partnership for the sixth wicket between Tom Moores (39 off 32) and Jordan Clark (31 off 18) worth 65 runs in 39 balls. The Bears then laboured to 94/8, with Saqib Mahmood (3-12) excelling with the ball to send the visitors out of the competition, with Durham's victory against Derbyshire sending them through to the quarter-finals.

For only the fourth time in 15 seasons, Lancashire have failed to advance from the group stages, finishing in fifth place one point behind Durham. Early signs suggested that Lancashire had made a mess of this must-win contest, but a sluggish wicket proved to get the better of both sides, with Birmingham suffering the added disadvantage of batting under lights against an array of Lancashire spin.

Stephen Parry featured strongly in his 100th T20 appearance, leading an economical spin quartet alongside Arron Lilley (2-21), Steven Croft and Liam Livingstone. Lancashire realised that scoring runs freely was not going to be possible from a very early stage in their innings, losing Tom Smith to Rikki Clarke in the third over when he was trapped lbw for 6. 

Karl Brown (5) followed in the next over when he swept a slower ball from Ricordo Gordon into the hands of Laurie Evans at deep square-leg, leaving Lancashire in trouble at 23/2. Lancashire's nightmare continued for some time after the powerplay, with Livingstone being bowled by Jeetan Patel for 10, before captain Croft (1) fell the same way to Josh Poysden at 44/4 to leave the hosts in disarray.

Petersen's recent form in T20 cricket suggested that he would be the one to lead the recovery, but the South-African was unable to get on top of the spinners and the pressure forced him into an error, as he skied Poysden (2-21) to Ian Bell at extra cover, falling for 27 from 33 balls after being punished for trying to attempt the first real shot in anger of the innings.

At this stage it was hard to see how Lancashire were going to survive all 20 overs, let alone post a score that they could feasibly defend, but a terrific partnership between Moores and Clark ensured that the bowlers had enough to work with. Initially, boundaries were met with ironic cheers and rightly so, given that there had not been a boundary for 62 balls at one stage in Lancashire's innings.

Successive fours from Clark helped Lancashire to progress beyond their lowest ever score in T20 cricket - 91 v Derbyshire in 2003 - before the all-rounder hit a straight six to bring up the 100 for Lancashire in the dying embers of the innings. Moores overcame a scratchy start, timing the ball superbly down the ground for the majority of his stay at the crease, with a straight boundary bringing up the fifty-partnership in 34 balls with Clark, who had hit 18 runs from the previous over.

Moores continued to hit the ball with tremendous power, dispatching a straight six off in the final over from Gordon to take the score to 124/5, a total that was far from ideal, but in hindsight it was more than enough. The early signs were worrying when the Bears took 12 runs from Nathan Buck's first over, but Mahmood started a memorable evening with the ball by removing Bell with his very first delivery, forcing the skipper to edge behind to Moores for 13.

Sam Hain then led the pursuit for the Bears, hitting back-to-back fours off Lilley, but a mix up with William Porterfield (5) saw the Irishman comfortably short of his ground after Parry threw the ball to Moores for a run out at 33/2. Lancashire had to endure a worrying spell of seven overs without a wicket, with the dangerous Australian Matthew Wade occupying the crease alongside Hain.

However, the two boundaries hit by Hain in Lilley's first over - the fifth over of the innings - would prove to be the last boundaries of the Warwickshire innings, as the rotation of Lancashire's four spinners proved to be infuriating for the Bears. Mahmood followed up his wicket with a rare maiden in his next over and the pressure started to build on Birmingham when boundaries and any form of runs began to dry up.

Livingstone came into the attack and made an impact with his fourth ball, forcing an edge from Hain (28) through to Moores, who had to take a smart catch to leave the Bears with an uphill struggle at 61/3. The run rate started to climb sharply and the added pressure saw wickets fall at an alarming rate, with Wade falling three balls later to Croft when he was bowled for 16, a crucial wicket in the scheme of the game.

Soon enough, the Bears needed to score nearly ten runs per over and the loss of their remaining big-hitters resigned the contest to a comfortable victory for Lancashire, who could not have imagined such a margin of victory at the halfway stage in the match. Evans tried to ramp Lilley, but could only find Smith at short fine leg to send him back to the dugout for 7 and the off-spinner had two wickets in as many deliveries when Clarke was caught brilliantly in the deep by Livingstone to leave the Bears on the brink at 80/6.

Mahmood returned to buffer his already impressive figures, forcing Javid (4) to mis-time his stroke to Livingstone at the end of the next over. The England Lions seamer then claimed his third and final victim in the final over of the match, with Parry getting under a skied shot from Gordon (3) at 92/8.