MATCH REPORT: Buttler blast propels Lancs to T20 win
A hard hitting 58 from England one-day captain Jos Buttler led Lancashire to an exciting and much-needed four-wicket Vitality Blast victory with three balls to spare over early front-runners Worcestershire Rapids at sunny Blackpool.
Buttler received solid support from local hero Steven Croft (40) with Lightning skipper Liam Livingstone hitting a quickfire 23 and overseas all-rounder Daryl Mitchell finishing the job of chasing down the visitors challenging 177-9.
After four defeats it was a welcome return to winning ways that extended the Lightning’s unbeaten home run to 18 matches.
Phil Salt (5) and Luke Wells (3) fell cheaply to leave Lancashire in early difficulties on 38-2 by the end of the powerplay.
Jos Buttler, having ramped Pat Brown for six in the fourth over repeated the feat in the 11th, the ball after he had also pummelled a six off Brown into the pavilion during a 37-ball half century.
It was a much-needed brace with run scoring up to that point proving difficult in the face of some good Rapids bowling that had restricted Lancashire to just 59-2 at the halfway stage with another 119 needed.
Steven Croft drove Brett D’Oliveira for six in the 12th and launched left-arm spinner Michael Bracewell for another in the 14th to keep the Lightning in the hunt with 65 required off 36 balls.
Buttler, having struck 5 fours to add to his three maximums, edged behind off Dillon Pennington for 58 at that point, followed back to the pavilion two balls later by Croft for 40 after a running mix-up with new batter Mitchell.
And with overs running out Mitchell and Liam Livingstone responded in brilliant fashion with a series of boundaries as they took 43 from the next 18 deliveries.
Mitchell hit Santner for a straight six in 17th over while Livingstone drove Brown for a four and a straight six in the 18th to reduce the Lightning task to 21 off 16 balls.
In a thrilling finale, Brown removed Livingstone and Tom Hartley from consecutive deliveries but overseas pair Mitchell and Colin de Grandhomme held their nerve, taking 14 off the penultimate over from Adam Finch and calmly clinching the victory with three balls remaining when Mitchell (33 off 14 balls) drove Brown for four.
Worcestershire had been indebted to their New Zealand all-rounder Mitchell Santner who smashed a 33-ball 57 to lead the Rapids to 177-9 and pull around an innings that looked to be in danger of stalling with five overs to go.
But the visitors took 51 off the final 30 balls powered by an extraordinary 18th over where Santner hammered fellow Kiwi de Grandhomme for 28 runs including three huge sixes.
That left Lancashire rueing twice dropping Santner on 7 and 10, the only real blemishes on an otherwise good performance in the field.
Both Brett D’Oliveira and New Zealand opener Michael Bracewell drove de Grandhomme into the hands of Wood at long-on for 17 and 11 respectively as Worcestershire reached 47-2 in the powerplay with left arm paceman Wood producing an excellent three over opening spell that only went for 14 runs.
Jack Haynes lofted left arm spinner Tom Hartley to Steven Croft at long-off for 19 in the ninth over to have the Rapids on the back foot at halfway on 64-3.
But Adam Hose combined well with Santner to add 61 off 35 balls, the former climbing into Livingstone in the 11th over when hitting two massive sixes that cleared the Stanley Park pavilion.
Santer pulled de Grandhomme for the first of his four sixes at the start of the 14th over followed Hose smashing a hole in the sightscreen with his third six in the 15th off Wells, before the bowler gained immediate revenge by having the batter caught for a hard-hitting 42 off 29 balls by Mitchell running in from long on.
Mitchell struck with a three-wicket burst during the closing overs with Santner skying a catch off Wood to Buttler in the final over after leading the Rapids to a competitive total.
“Winning games of cricket is what you want to do, and it’s a much better dressing room,” said Jos Buttler.
“The competition is quite even when you look at the table, and there’s still plenty of time left for us.”
And Buttler feels in good shape as the T20 season unfolds.
“I’m pleased,” he admitted. “I had a really long hit yesterday and hit the ball well.
“Sometimes you just don’t get the runs you want to score. Today, I didn’t feel anywhere near my best. But it was nice to get some runs under my belt and time in the middle.
“It’s very easy to get caught up in the scores. That’s what everybody else looks at.
“Personally, I have the discipline to look at my own game without getting too caught up in results.
“At the start of the IPL, I probably felt as good as I’ve ever felt with the bat. Then the back half fell away. Not just the results were different, but something felt different for me.
“But since I’ve been back in the UK, I’ve felt great even though I hadn’t got a score until today.”
Ken Grime
Photos: George Franks