MATCH REPORT: Shetty stars as Lancashire win by 31 runs against Notts Outlaws
Arav Shetty struck his maiden half century and took three important wickets, while Jack Blatherwick took a career-best 4-30 as Lancashire made it two wins out of two at the AO Farington Cricket Ground against Notts Outlaws.
Shetty top-scored with 53, while Notts’ spinners combined to take six wickets as Lancashire were bowled out for 220.
But the Red Rose attack fought back after the Outlaws started well in reaching 57-1 with Shetty one run shy of equalling his career-best with the ball finishing with 3-35. Blatherwick clinched the win by taking the final three wickets as Notts threatened to stage a comeback before being bowled out for 189.
The two back-to-back wins sealed a good start to life at this new Lancashire home venue.
The win takes Lancashire top of the Metro Bank One Day Cup Group A table at the halfway stage with three wins from four matches, level on 12 points with Notts Outlaws but with a slightly better net run-rate.
Keaton Jennings and Josh Bohannon shrugged off the early loss of Matty Hurst for a second-ball duck after being put in to bat, to quickly build a solid partnership that reached fifty off only 52 balls, Bohannon twice hammering James Hayes to the boundary and Jennings pulling Sam Wood’s second delivery to the square leg rope to reach the half century mark.
Bohannon had accumulated six boundaries in making 43 but his attempt to push the scoring along ended when he lofted Lyndon James to George Munsey at deep square leg to end a fruitful 78-run partnership at the start of the 19th over.
That was the first of four wickets to fall for 14 runs in a six-over spell that altered the nature of the Lancashire innings with the hosts suddenly 98-5 after 24 overs.
It was off spinner Farhan Ahmed, bowling from the Fowler Lane end, who did the damage with three wickets in 11 balls having Jennings caught sweeping for 37, Marcus Harris deceived into offering a return catch for 6 and Rocky Flintoff beaten and bowled by a lovely turning delivery for 1. Ahmed bowled his ten overs unchanged, returning excellent figures of 3-26.
Faced with a rebuilding job, Joe Moores and Arav Shetty added 38 during the following ten overs until Moores, on 15, swept left-arm spinner Liam Patterson-White to Ben Martindale at deep midwicket.
Shetty, once settled, playing with increasing attacking intent, hitting Patterson-White over extra cover for six but lost George Balderson for 4, caught at midwicket off spinner Freddie McCann to leave Lancashire starting their last ten overs on 155-7.
But Shetty continued to attack, reaching his maiden first team half century from 53 balls when lofting a second six off Patterson-White before falling for 53 to the same bowler who finished with 3-44.
Jack Blatherwick and Tom Bailey (17) both pulled James for six over midwicket during a 24-ball ninth wicket partnership of 37 and these runs were to prove crucial later on. Both were caught hitting out with Lancashire 220 all out in the final over.
Nottinghamshire also suffered an early loss in their reply, with McCann lbw to Bailey without scoring, but Scotland international Munsey and Ben Martindale rallied successfully to add 57 in 13 overs before Lancashire hit back by taking four wickets for 20 runs in 7 overs.
Martindale was lbw to Shetty for 23, skipper Haseeb Hameed bowled for 6 by a Balderson delivery that kept low, Munsey bowled for 37 attempting to reverse sweep Shetty and Lyndon James caught for 2 after hitting a blistering cut straight to Bohannon at gully off Blatherwick to have the Outlaws struggling on 77-5 in the 22nd over.
Patterson-White and Kyle Verreynne revived the innings with a resilient partnership, the former hitting Stanley for six in adding 66 from 15.3 overs to put the game back in the balance.
Shetty returned to make the important breakthrough and claim his third wicket, bowling Patterson-White sweeping for 39 while Bailey returned to bowl Ahmed for 4 to leave Notts needing 67 off 60 balls.
The Outlaws’ hopes were firmly pinned on Verreynne, who reached his fifty off 77 balls and the Notts wicketkeeper found good support from Wood, who was dropped on 2, as the pair reduced their target to 35 required from 27 balls.
At this point Blatherwick struck twice in two balls, having Wood caught and bowled for 10 and Hutton bowled first ball before finishing matters in his following over when bowling Verreynne for a valiant 61 with Notts 189 all out one ball into the 48th over.
“It's always nice when it goes down to the wire and you get over the line,” said a happy Arav Shetty.
“It's the best feeling, especially in fifty-over cricket. It always feels a little bit in the balance and then when you get it over the line at the end, it's a very good feeling.
“It was a really good game of cricket.
“We felt 220 was competitive. We did well to get up to that score.
“I think with our bowling attack, we were pretty confident that we would defend it.
“It was nice to get an opportunity. Obviously, you never want to lose wickets, but it was nice to have some time in the middle to build an innings, which I've not really had so far in the competition.
“So, it was nice to get out there and get some runs on the board and obviously to win makes it extra special.”
It was a special day for Shetty who has missed a significant part of the season with a badly broken thumb on his right hand.
“Getting a fifty, it means the world. It's been a long road for me to get here, so it means a lot,” he added.
“It's been weird (since I got injured) because I finished Uni as well, so then I was kind of injured and with no Uni work to do, so I didn't know what to do with myself for a long time.
“A lot of running around, a lot of gym work was all I could do with a broken thumb, but I was just itching to get back out.
“I was always aiming to get back for the start of this competition and luckily I was able to get fit in time and happy to be able to contribute.”
“At no point did I imagine it (the injury) would be as bad as it was.
“As soon as we had the x-ray, everyone just said to me, what have you done? It was a tough one to take, but everything happens for a reason, I guess.
“The staff had me doing some serious running sessions, but I'm glad because I feel as fit as I was before, if not more.
“It was a while before I was able to do that. I think maybe a month ago now when I got the ball back in my hand.
“A bit of a worry was obviously my variations and stuff, whether it would affect it, but luckily it's all been alright.
“I think any time there's a trophy on the table, you're going to aim to go all the way and I think we've certainly got enough in there to be able to do that."
Ken Grime
Photos: Luke Adams & Dan Adams