MATCH REPORT: Lancashire lose out in last over thriller against Leicestershire
Leicestershire squeezed home by two wickets with one ball to spare in this Vitality Blast match as Lancashire staged a dramatic late fightback, taking five wickets for 3 runs to have the game suddenly in the balance heading into the final overs.
The Foxes at 131-3 looked to be coasting to their 146 target with ease before collapsing in the space of 11 balls to be 134-8, and reduced to ten batters after an injury to Sol Budinger, to give Lancashire a real chance of snatching a result themselves.
Leicestershire needed ten runs from the final over, and last pair Ian Holland and Josh Davey kept cool heads to see their side through from the penultimate ball in a pulsating finale.
Joe Moores hit his maiden half century for Lancashire and the 17-year-old’s partnership of 80 with Chris Green for the fifth wicket formed the bulk of the Lightning’s 145-9 against Leicestershire in an innings that saw a sickening, accidental clash between the Foxes’ Liam Trevaskis and Sol Budinger that resulted in the latter being taken off on a stretcher.
That accident forced the visitors to rejig their batting line-up, but 40 from Rishi Patel led a steady run chase by the Foxes who looked comfortable until that late collapse.
Ben Mike, promoted to open the Leicestershire reply, smashing 21 off 12 balls before skying a catch off Saqib Mahmood to George Balderson at backward square leg with Stephen Eskinazi doing likewise to Moores on the midwicket fence off Tom Hartley for 14 to have the Foxes 55-2 in the eighth over.
Patel and Nick Kelly chipped away steadily towards their target before Patel, having hit Liam Livingstone for a six, attempted to repeat the shot off the next ball but only found Harry Singh at long-on.
That left the Foxes on 92-3 needing 54 off 49 balls, which Kelly and Ashton Turner reduced to 15 off 19 before the visitors lost three wickets in three balls, Kelly bowled by Green for 20 and Ashton Turner (21) and Ben Green falling to Mahmood.
Balderson had Ben Cox caught down the leg side to have Leicestershire 133-7 with 13 needed off 10.
That became 12 off 8 when Trevaskis holed out to Livingstone at long-on off Balderson but Holland and Davey stood firm to see their side home.
Earlier, Lancashire welcomed back Livingstone, who stepped off a plane from India late last night after returning from the IPL, to replace Michael Jones who missed the game due to illness.
After Keaton Jennings won the toss, Livingstone drove three nicely timed fours to pick up the scoring once he came to the crease to face the sixth ball of the match, but the Lightning were quickly rocked by the early loss of all top four batsmen with Hurst, Livingstone and Ben McDermott all offering catches to gully or point and Jennings bowled swinging at Holland with just 36-4 on the board from 6.3 overs.
Trevaskis, who has enjoyed T20 success at Emirates Old Trafford before, returned 2-21 with three of his four overs bowled during the powerplay, as the Foxes exerted a grip that saw Lancashire reach the halfway point on 57-4 as Green and Moores rebuilt.
The pair had added 50 off 41 balls to steer into calmer waters when the game was held up for ten minutes midway through the 14th over following the collision between Trevaskis and Budinger on the midwicket boundary when attempting to stop a six hit by Moores.
Trevaskis was okay to continue but Budinger appeared to be badly hurt and stretchered off following lengthy treatment. It was later revealed he had suffered a knee injury that was being assessed by the medical staff.
When play resumed Moores hit two more sixes and then reverse swept consecutive Ben Green deliveries for four to reach a sparkling half century from 35 balls in a partnership worth 80 from 9.1 overs.
Moores fell for 55 and Green for 28, both hitting out during the final overs as Lancashire finished on 145-9 with Holland returning an impressive 1-18 off his four overs while Davey and Green both claimed a brace.
“A tight game that see-sawed all the way through really,” said Head Coach Steven Croft.
“Probably not the start, we wanted with the bat. We realised it was a bit of a slow pitch, with a bit of a turn, and we scraped our way to a really good total, led by Moorsey, with a real mature innings for a 17-year-old, well supported by Chris Green.
“It got us up to something really competitive. The batters at half-time were saying it's very defendable, and it see-sawed with the ball a little bit (in their innings).
“We didn't quite execute all our plans, we felt we'd give away a few runs here and there, but once again got ourselves back into a real strong position. Tom Aspinwall had to bowl a really tough over, his first of the night and it was unlucky for him, it didn't quite work out.
“We knew it's tough for new batsmen to come in, in that middle-to-end period, so we knew if we were taking wickets we always had a chance, and the lads got us into a brilliant position there. It wasn't quite meant to be at the end.”
Ken Grime
Photos: Luke Adams & Dan Adams