MATCH REPORT: Leicestershire spin Lancashire to a five-wicket Vitality Blast defeat
Leicestershire eased to a five-wicket victory in a tense low scoring affair at Emirates Old Trafford to inflict a first Vitality Blast defeat of the season on Lancashire.
On a wicket favouring spin the Foxes fought back after Lancashire had made a promising start to their innings with their spinners combining to return figures of 7-64 to restrict the Lightning to a below-par 145-7.
And when Lancashire had the visitors on 63-4 early in the 8th over of their reply the game was still in the balance.
A solid partnership of 59 between Ben Cox and the returning Rehan Ahmed turned the game the Foxes way as they reached their target in the 19th over with nine balls to spare.
Their reply started poorly with Green, introduced as early as the second over trapping Rishi Patel lbw for 7 with his third delivery while Sol Budinger holed out to Josh Bohannon on the square leg boundary off James Anderson for 3 in the next.
Louis Kimber pulled Anderson for six and was promptly dropped next ball when Green couldn’t hold onto a one-handed diving effort at deep midwicket. The Foxes skipper then thumped a six off Green in the sixth over before the Australian overseas player bowled Shan Masood for 4 as Leicestershire ended a frenetic powerplay on 52-3.
Kimber hit his third maximum over square leg before top edging Tom Hartley to Luke Wells at short third man after making a valuable 40 off 22 balls.
Ahmed responded with a driven six over extra cover off Barnard as Leicestershire reached halfway on 86-4 needing a run-a-ball 60 and from that point Cox and Ahmed steadily picked off the runs to take their side to the brink of victory with 24 needed when Charlie Barnard bowled Ahmed for 27.
The experienced Cox judged the run chase perfectly to finish unbeaten on a run-a-ball 38 alongside Liam Trevaskis (22 not out off 11 balls) with Leicestershire finishing on 149-5 when Trevaskis hit the winning runs.
Lancashire suffered an early setback to their innings when Wells fell into the deep midwicket trap set by Kimber for 5 but Keaton Jennings was quickly into his stride hitting a six and consecutive fours in taking 15 runs off the Foxes captain’s second over.
But having then taken consecutive boundaries off Matt Salisbury in the following over Jennings departed for 39 off 19 balls when slicing the bowler to Patel at gully.
Matty Hurst pulled Logan van Beek for six as Lancashire made a promising start to be 61-2 at the end of the six over powerplay but that changed once Ahmed found turn as soon as he was introduced in the seventh over, bowling both Michael Jones with his fifth delivery and Ashton Turner with his tenth for 2.
With Kimber and Trevaskis forming a potent spin trio, Lancashire started to struggle on a slow pitch going six overs without a boundary until Hurst hit the latter straight for four at the start of the 11th over only to bottom edge a catch behind off Trevaskis for 32 five deliveries later.
When Josh Bohannon was stumped for 10 off a turning Trevaskis (2-17) delivery two balls into the 14th over Lancashire had stuttered to 95-6. Hartley was bowled by the excellent Ahmed (3-16) for 10 at the end of the 17th over and it was left to Green to put some impetus back into the final overs.
The all-rounder hit one boundary, a six off Salisbury – who conceded 14 runs in the 19th over – in making a valuable unbeaten 36 off 29 balls capped by a crazy all-run four off the final ball of the innings with Lancashire finishing on 145-7.
But it was not enough to keep the Foxes at bay.
“I thought we were close,” said Chris Green.
“But I think you've got to give credit where credit's due. I thought they bowled really well, particularly the spinners through that middle phase.
“We got off to a great start, but just lost regular wickets through that middle phase, which made it pretty difficult to get to a 160 sort of total. I think 145 was competitive, but slightly under par.
“They saw how that wicket was, how it played throughout their innings, and I thought they managed it pretty well throughout all the different phases.
“At the halfway stage I felt like we were in the game.
“Before the fifth over, we were in a very happy position, knowing that we got 60 off our powerplay and you're taking wickets.
“Even when Rehan Ahmed and Cox were batting, we knew if we just got one wicket at a run a ball, it's still pretty tough. But they just got it deep enough and that total small enough to knock us off.
“I think we've had a great start and it's okay to be humbled and stop and reflect, smell the roses and sort of check in with where we're at.
“We've had a fantastic start with different guys standing up in different phases of the game.
“And I think the one positive that comes from a loss at this stage of the campaign, where we are playing good cricket, is you can stop and see what you're doing well, where you need to polish up and lift a few things.
“We've got a really great blueprint here at home. And it hurts to lose a game at home. But I think going into Sunday, we can take a lot of positives from this game, but also the two prior to it.”
Ken Grime
Photos: Luke Adams & Dan Adams