MATCH PREVIEW: Lancashire Lightning vs Notts Outlaws
Lancashire just need one more point from their remaining two games to secure a place in the quarter-finals, while they know that winning the last two games will secure a home tie in the last eight.
Lancashire Lightning v Notts Outlaws
Vitality Blast, North Group
Wednesday July 17, 2024, 6.30pm
Emirates Old Trafford
The Lightning’s progression in the Blast has been somewhat stunted by having three of their last four games rained off, including Friday night’s Roses clash with Yorkshire at Emirates Old Trafford.
Still, they have been picking up points and, sat in second on 15 points from 12 games with six wins, remain on course for a 17th quarter-final place in 22 seasons of Blast cricket.
Standing in their way tomorrow night are Nottinghamshire. They sit bottom of the table with only two wins from 12.
Peter Moores’ side are on a three-game losing streak, including being bowled out for 57 in one of those games by North Group leaders Birmingham Bears.
But they remain a dangerous side. Their past pedigree and the names on paper tell you the Outlaws cannot be taken for granted in this penultimate round fixture.
Opposition
Nottinghamshire’s performance in this season’s Blast has been a significant surprise.
Before a ball was bowled, they were amongst the favourites for the title, one they had won in both 2017 and 2020. They had also qualified for at least the quarter-finals in seven of the last eight years.
But, as we mentioned in the preview for the away game at Trent Bridge earlier in the campaign, they had lost a significant amount of experience in recent seasons.
Australian captain Dan Christian departed a couple of years ago, while former England duo Jake Ball and Samit Patel left Trent Bridge over the most recent winter.
Another former skipper Steven Mullaney has transitioned more into a coaching role with the the county. While he is still registered as a player, he hasn’t played a first-team match all season.
Alex Hales only played the first half of this season’s Blast before departing to play in the ongoing Sri Lankan Premier League.
Captain Joe Clarke, the opening batter, has been the Outlaws’ leading run-scorer in this season’s Blast with 304. Fast bowler Olly Stone has been their leading wicket-taker with 14.
They have used three overseas players in this season’s Blast; New Zealand duo Ben Lister and Will Young and Afghanistan international Fazalhaq Farooqi.
Only fast bowler Farooqi has been playing in their recent games, claiming three wickets in four appearances.
Opposition player to watch
Left-arm quick Fazalhaq Farooqi signed on at Trent Bridge for the final six North Group games of this campaign.
Coach Peter Moores described him as a “world-class” performer when announcing his signing in late March, and the 23-year-old has since proved him right.
In the recent T20 World Cup, he claimed 17 wickets - the joint most in the competition alongside triumphant Indian seamer Arshdeep Singh. Farooqi’s haul ensured his country reached the semi-finals, only to be beaten by South Africa.
Farooqi has played in a number of overseas franchise leagues, including at the IPL, the Big Bash and the Pakistan Super League.
He bowls with good pace - perhaps quicker than you think he might be - and skill.
He has claimed a wicket in three of four appearances so far for the Outlaws.
Previous meeting
Lancashire won by six wickets at Trent Bridge early last month as they built valuable momentum during the opening stages of this season’s North Group.
This was one of five wins in the opening six matches, with captain Keaton Jennings the standout performer in this particular fixture with 64 off 49 balls in a successful pursuit of 154, achieved with nine balls remaining.
Jennings, from number three, underpinned a chase which slipped to 35-2, arguably the only concerning moment of a contest which started the Outlaws scrambling to recover from 6-2 and 80-6.
In fairness, they did a good job, with Jack Haynes making a measured 45 and, down the order, Liam Patterson-White crashing 44 not out off 21 balls.
Saqib Mahmood and Chris Green claimed two wickets apiece for the Red Rose.
What they said
Luke Wells believes Lancashire are yet to reach the peak of their powers in this season’s Vitality Blast, despite their position of strength in the North Group.
The Lightning have won six of 12 games, losing only three times, and are on course for the quarter-finals.
“We’re all desperate to get out there,” said batting all-rounder Wells.
“The squad breaks up after this week for the Hundred and One-Day Cup, so it would be good for the vibe of the group to get two wins.
“Even yet, apart from the first game of the campaign against Durham, we haven’t really put a full performance together. You know, the type where we get 200 plus and defend it really easily.
“But it’s all about how you finish competitions and not how you start. Hopefully, we put it together at just the right time.”
Wells admitted frustration following recent rain.
“We had that one game against Worcester, and the other three have been rained off,” he said. “Southport in the Championship was massively rain-affected as well.
“It feels like it’s just rained since Kent away in the Championship.
“But in the times we have been out there, we’ve had some positive results and played some good cricket, including in the Championship. That Kent game we won, we were massively up in the game against Notts thanks to Jimmy’s incredible spell. We beat Worcester in this competition.
“Yes, we’re confident, and sometimes from a purely physical point of view sometimes rain days can be helpful when the schedule’s very hectic.
“But we want to get out there.”
Wells is having an impressive campaign with bat and ball, scoring 212 runs at the top of the order added to nine wickets with his leg-spinners. That’s in addition to six catches.
This week, he will open the batting with current England opener Phil Salt, whose return to county colours has been delayed by last week’s rain-offs against Derbyshire and Yorkshire on Thursday and Friday.
“I’ve played with Salty for a long time. We were together at Sussex before here,” he added.
“We’ve batted together a lot in red ball cricket, but not loads in T20 cricket. Obviously, I didn’t play much T20 cricket when I was at Sussex.
“We’ve opened together a couple of times for Lancs, but I ended up coming in lower down when Jos came back as well.
“I’m really looking forward to batting with him.
“I’ve just loved watching him turn himself into one of the best T20 batters in the world. Everyone knew how talented he was as a player, but watching him mature and get better and reach the apex of cricket - the world’s his oyster right now - it’s been unbelievable.
“To be at the other end, it’s the best seat in the house. Hopefully we can put on a show this week.”
How’s Stat!
There are a couple of batting milestones heading our way, hopefully, tomorrow.
Steven Croft needs just five runs to reach 5,000 Vitality Blast runs.
Phil Salt also needs 11 to reach 6,000 T20 (all competitions) runs in his career.