MATCH REPORT: Salt sends Lancs racing into Vitality Blast quarter-finals
Phil Salt smashed a 51-ball 74 as Lancashire chased down Northants below-par 138 for seven with twenty balls to spare to clinch a home Vitality Blast quarter-final, almost certainly against Surrey at Emirates Old Trafford next Friday.
Our opponents will be confirmed following tonight’s final game in the South Group, but the table suggests strongly that Surrey rather than Kent will travel north in five day’s time.
Salt’s T20 best for Lancashire followed an excellent effort with the ball from the Lightning attack led superbly by Luke Wood to extend the team’s unbeaten home run to 21 matches.
Northants struck two early blows as the hosts set off in pursuit of their target, Jos Buttler cracking a short ball from David Willey to Saif Zaib on the cover boundary for 11, immediately after he had hit the bowler for six and four from consecutive deliveries.
Steven Croft swiftly followed after top edging Tom Taylor to AJ Tye for 5.
That left the Lightning ending the powerplay on 43 for two but Salt picked up the scoring with a six off Freddie Heidreich during a 35-run partnership in five overs with Liam Livingstone.
Livingstone, the stand-in Lightning skipper, went for 11 slicing Taylor to Ricardo Vasconcelos at gully as Lancashire reached halfway on 74 for three but Daryl Mitchell was quickly into his stride driving Taylor for six into the pavilion seats.
Salt continued to score freely as the hosts reduced their target to a-run-a-ball 44 before a mix-up saw Mitchell run out for 17.
Undeterred, Salt reached a 40-ball half century by smashing AJ Tye for six over long-on, and then took four, six, four off Justin Broad in the fifteenth over as the Lightning raced towards their target.
The opening bat ended the contest in style with six off Taylor in the seventeenth over to finish unbeaten on a Lancashire-best 74 alongside Dane Vilas (10 not out).
A fine opening spell of two for 14 from three overs by Wood, after Livingstone had put the visitors in to bat, had Northants quickly on the back foot at the start of their innings.
Vasconcelos was brilliantly caught for 12 by wicketkeeper Buttler diving to his left, followed by Emilio Gay who chipped the left arm quick to Luke Wells at mid-on two balls later.
Northants then suffered a big blow when Willey departed for 10 attempting to hit Liam Livingstone over midwicket to leave the Steelbacks struggling on 47 for three, midway through the seventh over.
Chris Lynn led an initial fightback launching Livingstone for consecutive sixes in the ninth over but he was then bowled for 35 aiming a big heave at Luke Wells with the visitors on 74 for four, one ball into the eleventh over.
Saif Zaib pulled Mitchell to Wells at fine leg for 12 and the Steelbacks only managed to get any impetus into their innings during a 40-run partnership for the sixth wicket between McManus and Broad.
McManus hoisted a slower ball from Tom Bailey into the hands of Wood at long-on having made 22 while Broad smashed a six over midwicket in his unbeaten 34 off 26 balls.
Wood (three for 17) returned to bowl Tye for 1 as Northants closed on 138 for seven.
That proved to be insufficient as Lancashire marched into the quarter-finals for the sixteenth time in 20 seasons.
“It was set up beautifully by Woody and the rest of the lads with the ball,” admitted Phil Salt.
“That was a total we felt we were always going to chase here. We lost one or two more wickets than we’d like to, but it was a job well done.
“If one of their top four had gone on, we could have been chasing 30 or 40 more.
“But at the halfway stage we were confident. We didn’t choose to defend today, and it’s nice to know we’ve got the skills to adjust batting second.”
Salt feels the T20 campaign is finally coming together after some mixed results.
“We know we’ve not played our best cricket throughout the competition,” he said. “But I feel we are peaking at the right time.
“We’ve got match winners from one to eleven and Surrey are similar in that regard so the dressing room is very excited that we’ve got them next week.”
Ken Grime