MATCH PREVIEW: Lancashire Lightning v Derbyshire Falcons
Lancashire will go top of the North Group and put one foot in the quarter-finals should they make it two wins in less than 24 hours today.
Lancashire Lightning v Derbyshire Falcons
Vitality Blast, North Group
Saturday July 5, 2025, 3pm
Emirates Old Trafford
The Lightning saw off top-of-the-table rivals Northamptonshire Steelbacks in a pulsating clash at Wantage Road last night, by five wickets with three balls to spare chasing 178.
Interim head coach Steven Croft watched his side move to 24 points from eight games with their sixth win. They are level on points with group leaders Durham and third-placed Northamptonshire, who have both played nine.
This is Lancashire’s game in hand, and they’re going after a fourth successive win in this competition.
Last night’s heroes….
Saqib Mahmood with 4-49 from four overs, including four wickets off the last four balls of the Steelbacks’ 177 all out in 20 overs, Phil Salt with 80, Jos Buttler with 54 and then Luke Wells with 15 off four balls as 11 runs were needed off the last over to win.
The Lightning face a Derbyshire side who are bottom of the North Group with only two wins from eight.
Mahmood last night, meanwhile, became only the second Lancashire bowler to take a hat-trick in T20 cricket. The first was Dominic Cork versus Nottinghamshire at Emirates Old Trafford in 2004.
This is the second part of a T20 double header day with Lancashire’s women. Thunder face Essex in their Blast competition at 11am.
Opposition
This is do or die time for Derbyshire.
The Falcons embark upon a Roses weekend. This afternoon, they face the Lightning, tomorrow afternoon they welcome Yorkshire to Queen’s Park, Chesterfield.
Realistically, they have to win both to give themselves any hope of reaching the top four for a quarter-finals place.
Derbyshire will hope it’s somewhat of a good omen that their only two wins so far in this season’s Blast came on successive days midway through last month. They were away against Nottinghamshire and then ‘at home’ to Leicestershire at Edgbaston.
Despite being played in Birmingham, it was a designated home game as part of a Blast double-header day with the Bears.
Captained in this format by former England all-rounder Samit Patel, they have Australian opener Caleb Jewell and Afghanistan spinner Allah Ghazanfar as their overseas players.
Opener Jewell is their leading run-scorer with 227 from eight matches so far, while skilful former England white-ball seamer Pat Brown leads the way with 10 wickets.
Opposition player to watch
Nineteen-year-old off-spinner Allah Ghazanfar is one of a host of talented Afghanistani twirlers who are following in the footsteps of trailblazer Rashid Khan.
Lancashire have, in the past, had one of them in left-arm wrist spinner Zahir Khan, who played half a Blast campaign back in the summer of 2018.
Ghazanfar is enjoying an impressive first taste of county cricket, having taken nine wickets in eight appearances, including a best of 2-18. He has claimed two wickets in a match on four occasions.
He has played both Test Match and One-Day International cricket under head coach Jonathan Trott’s guidance since debuting during the early stages of last year.
He has had experience of a number of overseas leagues and has a T20 best of 4-12 to his name.
Previous meeting
Lancashire secured a record-breaking win over Derbyshire at The Central Co-op County Ground last month - Friday June 20 - by 80 runs on the back of their highest ever Blast total.
Opener Luke Wells smashed a superb 83 off 44 balls and Matty Hurst supplemented his good work with an equally dynamic 59 off 29 as the Lightning posted 243-7.
Wells hit eight sixes, Hurst four, the Red Rose totalling 17 in the innings. Of the eight batters used, only two of them didn’t clear the boundary.
In reply, Derbyshire’s response was spirited at 163 all out but never threatening.
Their race was run when they slipped from 48-1 to 57-6, handing the Red Rose a fifth win of the campaign.
Chris Green’s off-spin impressed with 3-16 from four overs, backed up by two wickets apiece from Luke Wood, Jack Blatherwick and Liam Livingstone.
Opener Caleb Jewell top-scored with a lone-hand 65.
Of the five wickets to fall in that aforementioned collapse, England left-arm quick Wood claimed two of them.
What they said
Ashton Turner says he is loving his time with Lancashire - and you can tell!
The overseas Australian has been a significant contributor in turning the tide on the county’s season, both in the Vitality Blast and - more so - in the Rothesay County Championship.
The experienced 32-year-old middle order batter has helped put the Lightning on course for the quarter-finals of the Blast with some valuable contributions.
In the Championship, he has been simply sensational, posting scores of 154 and 121 not out in three innings. The first came in the draw against Kent at Blackpool, the latter in the second innings of the win over Derbyshire at Chesterfield earlier this week.
Fingers crossed, Turner can have another day out against the Falcons today.
“There’s been a lot of smiles on faces,” said the Perth native.
“I know the first seven weeks of red-ball cricket didn’t play out the way the club would have planned. But, the last month or so that I’ve been here, we’ve had success and we’re winning games.
“Guys are enjoying their cricket, which, at the end of the day, is one of the fundamentals of the game.
“I’m also really enjoying being in Manchester. It’s a city I’ve spent a bit of time in over the past, and it’s a nice part of the world. Lancashire’s a big club with a proud history, and it’s one I’m really glad to be a part of.”
How’s Stat!
Different format, yes, but in posting those two aforementioned red-ball centuries, Ashton Turner became only the third player to post two centuries in their first two County Championship appearances for Lancashire.
Mal Loye did it at the start of 2003 and the late, great Andrew Symonds in mid-2005.