MATCH REPORT: Rampant Livingstone continues form as Lancashire win in Leicester
With the sun beating down on a parched Uptonsteel County Ground, Lancashire Lightning’s power-packed, international-class line-up proved too much for Leicestershire Foxes, who raised a slightly below par 156-7 on a slow pitch.
Lightning’s top three of Phil Salt, Jos Buttler and Liam Livingstone, with 275 T20I and 1,194 total T20 games between them, coolly managed the reply, reaching 91 for 1 off the first 10 to leave the second half something of a stroll. Livingstone reached a 28-ball half-century in an eventual 74 and even though Rehan Ahmed had Salt lbw, with Ben McDermott, debutant Shadab Khan and Livingstone following, Lightning were too strong and ran out winners by five wickets with seven balls to spare.
Lightning, with Pakistani off-spinner Shadab drafted in during the week and making his debut, won the toss and elected to bowl. After a decent start for the Foxes on a slowish pitch, Jack Blatherwick, the only non-international in Lightning’s bowling attack, got rid of Rishi Patel after the opener had hit a 28-ball 38 to get the home side up and running after they lost Rehan early to Tom Hartley.
Livingstone then got rid of Ben Cox first ball, meaning the two Australians in the Foxes' line-up, Nick Kelly and Ashton Turner, came together with the score at 74 for 3 after 8.5 overs. They first steadied the ship and then tried to go full steam ahead, with Turner the aggressor.
But Livingstone got one through his defences for 32 off 23 to leave the Foxes 118 for 4 in 14.3, the momentum of the innings in the balance. Shadab then held on to a caught and bowled off Evison for his first Lancashire wicket, finishing with a tidy 1-23.
Kelly battled away without ever being able to cut loose, ending unbeaten on 49 off 44, with Saqib Mahmood and Luke Wood using all their experience in the death overs to restrict the Foxes to 156-7.
That felt slightly below par on a slowish wicket, especially with Lightning’s openers, Salt and Buttler, currently being ranked fourth and eighth in the ICC’s IT20 rankings.
The impressive, hulking 19-year-old Alex Green had the latter palpably lbw with one that didn’t get up, but that merely brought in another England T20 legend in Livingstone. He and a restrained Salt reached 54 for 1 in the Power Play and Livingstone then greeted Rehan’s first over with successive sixes to get Lightning ahead of the game.
Despite two quick wickets, Livingstone and his skipper Keaton Jennings calmly took Lightning towards their target, successive sixes off Alex Green from Livingstone pretty much sealing the deal. A third successive six, his seventh, was followed by the fourth lbw of the innings but the damage had been done. Shadab was bowled by Foxes captain Ben Green late in the piece but 17-year-old batter-keep Joe Moores, nephew of Peter, made sure there were no further alarms.
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