Lancashire Lightning lose by 1 run in tense last-ball finish at Trent Bridge
Notts Outlaws held off Lancashire Lighting in a last-ball finish to stretch their winning streak to six in the Vitality Blast North Group, winning by a one-run margin at Trent Bridge.
The victory keeps the Outlaws top of the North Group after Scotland international George Munsey continued his current hot form with 51 off 39 balls - his fifth half-century in six innings - backed up by Tom Moores (40 off 36) and George Linde (37 off 24) as Notts made 181 for six.
Liam Livingstone (47 off 31) and Keaton Jennings (42 off 29) did much of the heavy lifting for Lightning, with 17-year-old Joe Moores - nephew of Outlaws head coach Peter - making 30 off 21 balls to keep his side in the hunt.
But ultimately it was Notts and England pace bowler Olly Stone who had the last word, successfully defending nine off the last over, in which Moores was dropped once on the boundary but caught three balls later before Jack Blatherwick and Matty Hurst, needing four off the final delivery, could run only two.
Three hours earlier, Lightning had chosen to bowl first and removed Joe Clarke in the opening over but Munsey quickly found his rhythm, launching Livingstone over the long-off boundary and hammering four fours in a row off Tom Aspinwall. The Outlaws were 53 for one after six.
They lost Jack Haynes sweeping across the line in reaching 78 for two at halfway. Munsey completed his fifth half-century in his last six Blast innings but mistimed one to mid-off soon afterwards, ending 415 minutes of continuous involvement in Blast action, following two not out innings.
Moores had momentum and Linde picked up the tempo, the fourth-wicket pair adding 52 in 28 balls before Moores picked out his namesake and cousin, Joe, at deep midwicket. Blatherwick then covered some ground to catch Benny Howell off his own bowling.
Linde twice sent Shadab soaring over wide long-on before top-edging Jimmy Anderson in the last over as Freddie McCann’s two boundaries raised the Lancashire target to 182.
Needing nine an over, Lancashire were on course at 88 for two from 10. Both wickets had gone to left-arm spinners, George Linde removing Michael Jones with his first delivery. Jennings hammered two sixes off Mohammad Amir and another off Howell before Liam Patterson-White had him caught at long off.
Ben McDermott (24 off 17) and Livingstone departed in the 15th and 16th overs, the latter clearing the ropes three times before a brilliant piece of doubling up by McCann and Patterson-White saw him caught on the midwicket boundary.
By then the requirement was down to 33 off 26. Mohammad Ali raised home hopes with a superb 18th over, costing just two runs and claiming the wicket of Shadab via a boundary catch. Needing 19 off the last two, Moores and Hurst plundered 10 off Amir but another nine off Stone proved just too much.
