MATCH REPORT: Lancs ease into the Vitality Blast quarter-finals with eight wicket win against Notts
Luke Wood, with a season-best three for 23, led a superb bowling and fielding performance as Lancashire romped into the Vitality Blast quarter-finals with a comprehensive eight-wicket demolition of Notts with both Phil Salt and Liam Livingstone hitting rapid half centuries in a convincing victory.
The win is Lancashire’s 150th victory and they are first team to reach this landmark since the T20 competition was launched in 2003. It is also the team’s 15th consecutive T20 Group match victory at Emirates Old Trafford, and they are now unbeaten in their last 26 home group games.
Having restricted the Outlaws to a below-par 131 for seven, returning England duo Salt and Livingstone had the Lightning racing along towards their target with a 112-run partnership in 11 overs as victory was sealed with 33 balls to spare.
The foundation for the win came from Lancashire’s bowlers who backed up Keaton Jennings decision to put Notts in to bat with an early demolition of the visitor’s top order by taking four early wickets.
They had Notts struggling from the moment leading run scorer Joe Clarke fell for a duck to his first ball from Saqib Mahmood when the Notts skipper edged an attempted cut to wicketkeeper Salt.
Jack Haynes clipped Wood into the hands of Livingstone at deep square leg for 2 in the following over followed by Ben Martindale, bowled round his legs sweeping at Chris Green, for 12 and Matt Montgomery who pulled Tom Hartley to new-signing George Dockrell on the square leg boundary for 2.
That left Notts, who have struggled for runs in the Blast this season, in deep trouble on 31 for four by the end of the six powerplay overs and left Lyndon James and Tom Moores facing a massive rebuilding job.
The pair responded positively to double the total by the ten over stage with Moores hitting a short ball from Green for a straight six and James pulling Mahmood over backward square leg for a superb six.
Their partnership had reached 53 off 44 balls when Moores skied a catch off Livingstone to Steven Croft at long-off for 26 to leave Notts 81 for five midway through the 13th over.
Liam Patterson-White helped add a further 26 until he sliced a drive off Wood to Livingstone at deep point for 17 while James reached his maiden T20 fifty off 37 balls when striking Wood for four at the start of the 19th over.
Livingstone produced a stunning, full length, diving catch when James, on 51, hit the following back-of-the-hand delivery from Wood to deep midwicket as Notts finished on a well below par total of 131.
Nearly all the bowlers enjoyed success with just Wells going wicketless but only conceding 13 runs from three excellent overs of spin.
Eleven runs had already taken from the opening over by Olly Stone in the Lightning reply before Wells was caught at backward point for five off overseas pace bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi.
But it mattered little as Salt and Livingstone made short work of the run chase from the moment they came together, reaching their fifty partnership from 29 balls when Livingstone drove Calvin Harrison for a straight six, with the pair’s century alliance arriving from just 61 balls after Salt had savagely cut consecutive Luke Fletcher deliveries for six.
Salt fell for a fabulous 70 from 42 balls that contained 5 sixes and 3 fours when he nicked Patterson-White to wicketkeeper Moores with just six runs required.
Livingstone (54 not out) applied the final finish in style pulling Fazalhaq for six to both win the match and seal his fifty off 37 balls (3 sixes, 3 fours) from the third ball of the 15th over.
The result means Lancashire will gain a home tie in the quarter-finals should Northamptonshire Steelbacks lose tomorrow against Birmingham Bears.
If the Steelbacks are victorious tomorrow, that will leave Friday’s final group game at Emirates Old Trafford a showdown for second place. Could be quite a game.
Luke Wood remains focused on the Vitality Blast quarter-finals after playing a starring role in tonight’s game.
“We needed one point before the game started to qualify, but our sights are set on a home quarter-final, which gives us a big advantage,” he said.
“One step closer to that, and hopefully Birmingham can beat Northamptonshire tomorrow night.
“That’s a big step in the right direction. It was a big game for us tonight, and we’ve won pretty convincingly.
Wood also hailed the contributions from the whole squad that have got Lancashire through to the knock out stages for the seventeenth time in 22 years.
“We’ve said a few times that our full-strength team would be pretty hard to beat on our day,” he added.
“And we’re still missing Jos (Buttler) out of that line-up. We’ve got all bases covered and such depth in batting and bowling.
“Salty and Livvy are world-class players. It’s very rare that Salty doesn’t score any runs at the moment, and it’s great to have them back.
“There was a distinct difference in the way both teams played. You could see the class of those two putting on 100 and the intent they showed.
“We took early wickets, but it didn’t feel like they put that much pressure on us. We know that 160-180 is a decent score, so to keep them to 130 was pretty below par.”
Ken Grime
Photos: Luke Adams, Dan Adams