MATCH REPORT: Lancashire lose T20 Roses encounter by 19 runs
Lancashire found themselves on the wrong end of a record-breaking T20 Roses encounter as Yorkshire ran up a record score against the Lightning in the Vitality Blast on their way to a 19-run victory.
Jonny Bairstow and Will Luxton re-wrote the Yorkshire record books with Bairstow hitting 116 - the highest score by an opposition batter against Lancashire in T20 - and the pair also posting the highest ever partnership of 167 conceded by the Lightning.
The defeat leaves Lancashire second in the table with the top six teams separated by just four points with the Lightning having played one game less than the third-place Bears and fourth placed Northamptonshire Steelbacks with three games left.
Sunday’s encounter with group leaders Durham at Emirates Old Trafford looks crucial.
Lancashire had an early success when Dawid Malan edged a seaming, swinging delivery from Luke Wood to Jos Buttler for 1 midway through the third over but Bairstow got the Yorkshire score moving with two sixes off James Anderson while Will Luxton pulled his second ball off Wood over the backward square leg boundary. The visitors had 50 on the board in the fourth over when Bairstow pulled the first ball from Tom Hartley into the midwicket stand.
That flurry of runs saw Wood return for a third over in the powerplay as Lancashire hunted for a wicket, but two further fours saw Bairstow reach his fifty from just 24 deliveries with Yorkshire posting an impressive 72-1 from the first six overs.
The runs continued to flow as Luxton belted three Hartley deliveries for six to have the visitors on 115-1 at the halfway stage of their innings.
Luxton was dropped on 45 off Jack Blatherwick who then felled Bairstow with a delivery that kept low in an eventful 11th over, while Luxton reached his fifty one ball quicker than his partner when cutting Green for four in the next.
But Bairstow then took over the scoring with some spectacular hitting, taking 25 balls to go from fifty to his hundred off 49 balls that included 8 massive sixes and 8 fours.
Bairstow add two further sixes before holing out to Phil Salt at deep midwicket off Green for an outstanding 116 off 54 balls in the 16th over with the 167-run stand between Bairstow and Luxton now Yorkshire's highest ever T20 partnership.
Following Bairstow’s fireworks, Luxton – dropped again on 64 and 89 – took over the scoring duties to finish unbeaten on 90 from 46 balls with overseas batter Abdullah Shafique adding 21 while a last over flurry of wickets saw Green finish with 4-34 on a day none of the Lightning bowlers will remember fondly as Yorkshire closed on 236-6.
Salt and Keaton Jennings took 31 runs off the opening two overs of the Lancashire reply, Jennings hitting two sixes, before the Lightning skipper was well caught for 19 by Dom Bess running back from mid-off off Will Sutherland from the first ball of the third over.
Buttler and Salt kept up the attack to steer Lancashire to 70-1 by the end of six over powerplay although Buttler received a reprieve on a day of dropped catches when put down on 13.
Salt hit his first six off spinner Dan Moriarty in the seventh over but perished for 38 off 20 balls in the tenth when hitting Jordan Thompson to Bess at long-on with Lancashire 103-2.
Buttler followed with his first six, driving Thompson straight to reach his fifty off 31 balls but then pulling the same bowler high to be caught by Bairstow running across to short fine leg for 55.
That left Lancashire on 124-3 five balls into the 12th over, and Luke Wells followed the six and out pattern when hitting consecutive balls from Bess to James Wharton at long on with the first one caught just over the boundary and thus a six, but the second taken with a nicely judged diving catch.
Michael Jones fell for 6 to Jafer Chohan, Green was run out for 6 while Ashton Turner made 33 off 24 balls as the game steadily petered out with Lancashire having far too much to do needing 64 runs off 22 balls.
Blatherwick (34 not out) walloped three late sixes to try and prevent Lancashire’s net run rate – which could prove crucial – from suffering too much damage as the Lightning closed to within 19 runs on 217-7.
The losing margin felt much bigger than that.
“You want a positive result, particularly at home. So we’re bitterly disappointed with the result, particularly with the great crowd and atmosphere out there,” admitted Chris Green.
“I really enjoyed it. Last year was sort of a teaser with a washout, so it was great to get my first taste of it, but falling on the wrong side was disappointing. But the good thing is we've got a good opportunity to bounce back Sunday.
“I think the chanceless 116 he (Bairstow) got, in quick time too, is pretty special.
“He hit the ball cleanly from the get-go and it's why he's one of the best players in the world and most dangerous T20 players in the world as well.
“We tried what we could to slow him down and at the other end we missed out on some costly fielding opportunities, which, in hindsight, you never know. That could be 20, 30 runs as we get further into their middle order.
“Perhaps it could have put more pressure on Jonny, but fair play to the youngster (Luxton). I thought he hit the ball really well as well.
“We've spoken about going hard at the ball, giving ourselves opportunities to take some good catches and we've taken some spectacular catches already this season.
“We've got some good run-outs and there are going to be moments where we do make mistakes. We are human at the end of the day and it's no one's fault, but naturally that's the game and it can be costly if you do drop good players. As I said, fair credit to them.
“I thought they batted really well and that was a formidable total. We were in the hunt for a period there and as you saw, as that rate gets up to 14, 15, 16 and over, it gets pretty hard to stay with it or get ahead of it.
“The old saying in T20 cricket, keep hitting fours and sixes but make sure you don't get out. I think that's what happens when you chase 230. The rate is always there.
“Even though we're right in it and amongst the rate there, with two high-class players, as soon as you lose a wicket, it's tough to come in and hit from the get-go. We saw that with their batters as well.
“That's where we were able to slow them down when we did eventually break that partnership.
“As I said, that was arguably the game.
“I think it's a great opportunity for us to bounce back with our last home game of the regular season on Sunday against a team who are also in the top four, I believe.
“It's a good opportunity for us to really be tested in the last three games and be pushed. I'm looking forward to a response from all of us.”
Ken Grime
Photos: Luke Adams & Dan Adams