Liam Livingstone hit a List A best of 98 to help Lancashire Lightning reignite their quarter-final aspirations in the Royal London One-Day Cup with a crucial 27-run victory against Derbyshire.
The Falcons could only muster 254/9 chasing under the floodlights at the 3aaa County Ground, after Livingstone and Lancashire captain Steven Croft (68) had guided the visitors to a strong total of 281/8 with a partnership worth 133 runs for the fourth wicket.
Kyle Jarvis then took 4-31 to thwart the Derby run-chase, with opener Billy Godleman making 91 at the top of the innings, sharing a potentially dangerous partnership with Kiwi batsman Hamish Rutherford (47) for the second-wicket stand, one that added 79 runs to put the home side in a good position in their pursuit of 282 after the Lightning chose to bat first.
On a slow pitch with a green tinge, scoring proved to be difficult in the opening stages of the game, a situation that was not helped by the early loss of Alviro Petersen (3) when he was trapped lbw by Ben Cotton (3-62) looking to play into the leg-side. The Derbyshire seamer struck again in his next over to remove Karl Brown (6) via the same mode of dismissal with a slightly straighter delivery, as Lancashire stumbled to 32/2 inside the opening powerplay.
A circumspect start reflected the difficulty of timing the ball, but Livingstone helped to inject some impetus with back-to-back boundaries off Shiv Thakor. Smith, who came into this game on the back of a century for the Second XI and a fifty against Leicestershire, showed initial signs of leading the Lancashire innings, but he was run out for 32 when he was sent back by Livingstone attempting a risky single at 74/3.
It was therefore vital that Livingstone and Croft established a strong platform for Lancashire amidst the regular wickets that were falling, with the pair adding 133 runs in 22 overs for the fourth wicket. Livingstone brought up his half-century off 54 balls in style, clobbering Thakor for a straight six after paddling the seamer for a boundary to demonstrate his credentials in front of the Sky cameras.
Not to be outdone, Croft hit the first of his three sixes when he dispatched a half-tracker from Matt Critchley (1-66) to the longest boundary on the leg-side, with the Lancashire skipper hitting the spinner for another maximum, this time over mid-wicket. Livingstone made it two sixes in the same Critchley over two balls later when he smashed a huge six over long-on.
Derbyshire's fortunes continued to worsen when wicketkeeper Harvey Hosein had to leave the field with a fractured thumb, with Wayne Madsen taking the gloves in his place. Sixes continued to come regularly for Lancashire, as Livingstone welcomed Cotton back into the attack with a maximum that signalled the hundred-partnership from 96 balls.
Croft advanced to an important fifty of his own in 57 balls after his two sixes off the spinner, while Livingstone progressed to a new career-best score in List A cricket when he reached 92, beating the 91 he made against Kent at Canterbury last summer when he made his List A debut for Lancashire. Croft's third six, another lusty blow over the leg-side boundary, was followed by the unfortunate dismissal of Livingstone, who fell two runs shy of his first one-day century when he was judged lbw to the economical Alex Hughes (1-38) at 207/4 for a run-a-ball 98.
Croft followed three overs later when he tried to sweep slog Critchley for a fourth maximum, only to find Hughes at deep mid-wicket, as the Falcons continued to take important wickets towards the end of the innings. A useful stand worth 39 runs between Luke Procter and Jordan Clark allowed Lancashire to continue their momentum into the latter stages of their innings, with Clark hitting 29 off 17 balls to lead the charge.
The all-rounder dispatched a low full toss off Tony Palladino for a huge six onto the roof of the old player's pavilion, the seventh and final maximum of Lancashire's innings. Procter's useful cameo of 27 from 25 deliveries was ended when he edged behind off Thakor at 272/6 and two balls later Thakor had another victim, as Clark picked out sub fielder, Neil Broom, on the long-on boundary.
Tom Moores (6) fell in the final over to Cotton, who extracted a third wicket when he had the Lancashire 'keeper caught in the covers by Hughes, with the visitors posting 281/8 from their 50 overs. Godleman set about putting an early dent in the target of 282, hitting three fours in the fourth over off Saqib Mahmood to help the Falcons get ahead of the rate.
Jarvis claimed the first of four wickets when he bowled Ben Slater for 7, clipping the top of the bails to leave the score at 35/1 in the seventh over. Godleman continued to be the key man for Derbyshire, hitting two straight sixes in the same over off Clark on his way to a 49-ball fifty, with Rutherford providing useful support to his efforts.
Rutherford, who scored 47 off 27 balls when the sides met two weeks ago in the T20 Blast, was on exactly the same number of runs when he squirted a delivery from Stephen Parry into the hands of Mahmood at point, a vital wicket for Lancashire after the second-wicket stand had survived countless near-misses to add 79 runs at a good pace.
Lancashire continued to chop and change their bowlers in an attempt to not allow Derbyshire to settle, an approach which seemed to be working for the most part, although Godleman's wicket would hold the key in securing victory. Parry (2-38) struck his second breakthrough when he had Madsen caught brilliantly in the deep by Livingstone for 26, before Croft (1-28) had Godleman bowled for 91 in the following over to put Lancashire in charge in the ever-fading light.
These two quick wickets meant that, with ten overs to go, Derbyshire were facing an uphill struggle, needing to score 84 runs to win with two new batsmen at the crease. Jarvis returned to hurt the Falcons' fleeting chances of forcing an unlikely win, bowling Thakor for 15 at 202/5, before a late burst from Clark with the ball ended the contest for the home side.
Clark struck in successive overs to remove Wes Durston (9) and Hughes cheaply, finishing with 2-37 after bowling the Derbyshire captain and forcing Hughes to top-edge to Mahmood at third man for 12. Jarvis' third wicket arrived when he bowled Palladino for 1, with Critchley (17) making it four wickets for the Zimbabwean paceman when he was caught in the covers by Parry.
With Derbyshire nine wickets down and still needing 44 runs to win, the injured Hosein was forced to bat alongside Cotton, although the Falcons were forced to turn down singles for fear of forcing their wicketkeeper to exacerbate his thumb injury with another blow to the hand. Although Lancashire were unable to take the final wicket, the margin of their victory by 27 runs signalled a commanding performance, one that takes them off the bottom of the North Group ahead of two more must-win matches against Worcester on Sunday and Durham on Monday.
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