MATCH PREVIEW: Lancashire Lightning v Glamorgan
Lancashire Lightning v Glamorgan
Vitality Blast
Sunday June 7, 2026, 2.30pm
Blackpool CC, Stanley Park
Match Preview ahead of facing Glamorgan at Blackpool Cricket Club
After a 106-run defeat against Yorkshire at Headingley last night - their third reverse in four games at the start of the North Group - Lancashire Lightning can ill-afford many more slip-ups if they are to reach the quarter-finals. A top-two finish assures it, third place could get you there as well.
This is the Red Rose’s second cross-group clash. After Surrey away to start, it’s Glamorgan from the Central and West Group next up. This is the second of three games in five days for the Lightning, who also travel to Durham on Tuesday.
Glamorgan were also beaten last night, away against Worcestershire at New Road.
Opposition
Glamorgan haven’t had the start to this season’s Blast that they would have wanted, either, having lost three of their first five matches in the Central and West Group, winning the other two.
On Thursday and last night, they won at champions Somerset before losing at Worcestershire, the latter by 27 runs chasing 169.
They have actually completed the double over champions Somerset, also beating them at Cardiff a couple of Fridays ago.
Coached by former England spinner Richard Dawson, they are captained by opening batter Kiran Carlson.
They have had some overseas disruption. They started the campaign with Afghanistani seamer Fazalhaq Farooqi before he unexpectedly departed because of international duties. They have since signed New Zealander Jimmy Neesham as an replacement, joining Australian seamer Nathan McAndrew.
They just missed out on the quarter-finals last summer, finishing fifth in the South Group. They won seven of their 14 group matches, the same number as Hampshire and Kent, who both qualified. But they finished two points behind those counties, who had a tie and a No Result to their names respectively.
Highly-rated top-order batter Asa Tribe has played only once in this season’s Blast and is in the England Lions squad alongside Saqib Mahmood for their ongoing ODI series against South Africa A.
They have signed middle order batter Sean Dickson, who won the Blast with Somerset last season.
Glamorgan, promoted to Division One of the Championship last season, have enjoyed an impressive start to the summer in four-day cricket. They sit third in Division One with two wins, three draws and a defeat from six matches to date.
Opposition player to watch
Kiran Carlson is in his first season as Glamorgan’s club captain, taking over in all formats from Sam Northeast, who departed for Kent in the winter.
However, he has led their white-ball teams since 2023, winning a pair of Metro Bank One-Day Cup titles along the way.
Carlson, 28, is within a whisker of 100 career T20 appearances and has two centuries to his name, including one in victory over Somerset at Cardiff last Friday. He opens the batting for the Welshmen.
The right-hander was strong on both sides of the wicket in that innings but particularly punishing straight against spin.
He top-scored with 35 for them at Worcestershire last night as they were bowled out for 141.
Previous meeting
Lancashire and Glamorgan have only ever met once before in T20 cricket, at Emirates Old Trafford in the 2014 quarter-final.
And the Lightning won an incredible contest by one run thanks largely to some heroics from Jordan Clark with the ball.
Initially, the game was abandoned due to rain on the Friday evening, the fixture going into its Saturday reserve day.
Lancashire were very much on the back foot having posted 137-8, with Australian overseas batter Usman Khawaja top-scoring with 67 off 54 balls.
Seamers Graham Wagg and Michael Hogan claimed three wickets apiece.
Then, in reply, the visitors were cruising at 92-2 in the 14th over, only for Clark’s seam to spark a brilliant turnaround.
First of all, he bowled Murray Goodwin in the 14th before, in the 16th, bowling Chris Cooke and Stewart Walters and getting David Lloyd caught - all without conceding a run. They fell from 92-2 to 100-6.
Jacques Rudolph finished 67 not out, but he could only watch on as Andrew Salter hit four off the last ball from Clark when six was needed for victory. Clark finished with 4-22, and Lancashire went on to reach the final that year, beaten by Warwickshire.
What they said
Lightning captain Keaton Jennings held his hands up at Headingley last night.
“You want to come to venues and events like this and make sure you play really good cricket, which we haven’t done,” said the opening batter.
“We haven’t quite been able to put together the full package of 40 overs, so we need to try and make sure we do that.”
The good thing is that the games come thick and fast, and Lancashire’s campaign could look completely different come Tuesday evening having played Durham at the Banks Homes Riverside.
That Durham game is the last before they return to Championship cricket for a fortnight.
“It's getting down to crunch time,” added Jennings. “We need to make sure the next two games are good, then hopefully it puts us into a bit of momentum moving into that little red ball phase.
“I don't think I've actually played a T20 game against Glamorgan. It's one of those - you need to make sure you do your homework, do it properly and then react to whatever happens in front of you.”
How’s Stat!
This will be the fourth Vitality Blast match to be played at Blackpool, Lancashire winning the other two which were played. The other, against Durham in 2022, finished in a No Result after only 17.4 overs of play.
The two wins came against Nottinghamshire in 2022 and Worcestershire in 2023.
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