Gerry Wolstenholme's Blog - Posts Tagged "lancashire-lightning"
Lightning Strikes Outlaws
Nottinghamshire Outlaws 179-7, Lancashire Lightning 181-4
County cricket returned to Blackpool’s Stanley Park on Sunday as the Vitality Blast T20 game between Lancashire Lightning and Nottinghamshire Outlaws attracted a healthy crowd in excess of 2500. And the majority of the spectators went away delighted as Lancashire won the game comfortably by six wickets, chasing down Nottinghamshire’s total of 179-7.
Dane Vilas won the toss for the Lightning and put the visitors in to bat and Alex Hales, who was later to become a crowd favourite as he engaged in friendly banter with spectators, got them off to a rapid start. He struck Tom Hartley’s first ball for six over mid-wicket and he added another six and two fours to his 12-ball innings of 22 before he was caught on the mid-wicket boundary by Josh Bohannon off Tom Bailey. He was dismissed with the total on 29 after 2.4 overs.
Joe Clarke was next to go, caught by Tim David off Richard Gleeson for six and it was 35-2 from 3.3 overs. Ben Duckett and Samit Patel took the total to 52-2 after six overs and it had reached 81 from nine overs when the former, 29 from 21 balls, attempted to sweep Hartley, got a top edge and Vilas made ground to take a good catch from behind the wicket.
Patel and Tom Moores added a rapid 45 in 5.1 overs before a misunderstanding cost Moores his wicket as he attempted a second run with Patel unmoved at the other end; Steven Croft’s perfect throw had Vilas removing the bails and Moores was gone for 16 at 126-4. And without addition, Patel, 45 from 31 balls with three fours and one six, was caught on the boundary by Luke Wells when sweeping Hartley.
At 132 the Outlaws lost their sixth wicket when Steve Mullaney was trapped leg before wicket by Wells’ leg spin for four before Calvin Harrison struck two successive boundaries off Matt Parkinson on his way to a speedy 17 off 11 balls. He fell to the first ball of the final over when he returned a catch to Danny Lamb, who was in the attack for the first time. Matt Carter took a single from his first ball and that left Dan Christian on strike and he took 18 runs off the final four balls that left the Outlaws closing on 179-7.
For Lancashire Wells’ much underrated leg spin earned him the most economical figures of 1-20 off his four overs; Hartley had the best figures of 2-27 and there was a wicket each for Gleeson, Bailey and Lamb for 24, 13 and 19 respectively.
The Lightning reply began in explosive style as Keaton plundered 24 in 13 balls including two fours and two sixes, both off Luke Fletcher. He then tried one huge shot too many and holed at mid-wicket to Mullaney to give Fletcher a modicum of revenge. Bohannon made seven before he was caught by Christian off Dane Paterson to make it 31-2 off 4.1 overs.
Then came the partnership that turned the match as local boy Croft and Vilas came together and more or less matched each other run for run. And they went along at a cracking pace, bringing up the 100 in nine overs. A massive six took Vilas to his half-century, his first for Lancashire in his 74th T20 game for the county but his 14th in T20 overall, made from 24 balls with seven fours and two sixes. He had moved on to 55 from 30 balls when he tried an inside-out shot that resulted in a catch to Clarke at deep backward point off Paterson and it was 145-3 after a partnership of 114 in 10.2 overs.
Croft continued on his untroubled way, reached his half-century off 34 balls with four fours and two sixes, and went on to finish on 61 not out from 44 balls before Wells, 18 not out off 11 balls, struck the last of his three fours to win the game for the Lightning at 181-4 with 10 balls remaining. South African Paterson had the best Outlaws’ figures with 2-27.
The game was a great success for Blackpool Cricket Club who had organised everything to perfection and it was great to see Lancashire back at Stanley Park and the crowd went away delighted but although it was pulsating cricket, there were those, myself included, who went away thinking, ‘Yes, but it is just not Test cricket!’
County cricket returned to Blackpool’s Stanley Park on Sunday as the Vitality Blast T20 game between Lancashire Lightning and Nottinghamshire Outlaws attracted a healthy crowd in excess of 2500. And the majority of the spectators went away delighted as Lancashire won the game comfortably by six wickets, chasing down Nottinghamshire’s total of 179-7.
Dane Vilas won the toss for the Lightning and put the visitors in to bat and Alex Hales, who was later to become a crowd favourite as he engaged in friendly banter with spectators, got them off to a rapid start. He struck Tom Hartley’s first ball for six over mid-wicket and he added another six and two fours to his 12-ball innings of 22 before he was caught on the mid-wicket boundary by Josh Bohannon off Tom Bailey. He was dismissed with the total on 29 after 2.4 overs.
Joe Clarke was next to go, caught by Tim David off Richard Gleeson for six and it was 35-2 from 3.3 overs. Ben Duckett and Samit Patel took the total to 52-2 after six overs and it had reached 81 from nine overs when the former, 29 from 21 balls, attempted to sweep Hartley, got a top edge and Vilas made ground to take a good catch from behind the wicket.
Patel and Tom Moores added a rapid 45 in 5.1 overs before a misunderstanding cost Moores his wicket as he attempted a second run with Patel unmoved at the other end; Steven Croft’s perfect throw had Vilas removing the bails and Moores was gone for 16 at 126-4. And without addition, Patel, 45 from 31 balls with three fours and one six, was caught on the boundary by Luke Wells when sweeping Hartley.
At 132 the Outlaws lost their sixth wicket when Steve Mullaney was trapped leg before wicket by Wells’ leg spin for four before Calvin Harrison struck two successive boundaries off Matt Parkinson on his way to a speedy 17 off 11 balls. He fell to the first ball of the final over when he returned a catch to Danny Lamb, who was in the attack for the first time. Matt Carter took a single from his first ball and that left Dan Christian on strike and he took 18 runs off the final four balls that left the Outlaws closing on 179-7.
For Lancashire Wells’ much underrated leg spin earned him the most economical figures of 1-20 off his four overs; Hartley had the best figures of 2-27 and there was a wicket each for Gleeson, Bailey and Lamb for 24, 13 and 19 respectively.
The Lightning reply began in explosive style as Keaton plundered 24 in 13 balls including two fours and two sixes, both off Luke Fletcher. He then tried one huge shot too many and holed at mid-wicket to Mullaney to give Fletcher a modicum of revenge. Bohannon made seven before he was caught by Christian off Dane Paterson to make it 31-2 off 4.1 overs.
Then came the partnership that turned the match as local boy Croft and Vilas came together and more or less matched each other run for run. And they went along at a cracking pace, bringing up the 100 in nine overs. A massive six took Vilas to his half-century, his first for Lancashire in his 74th T20 game for the county but his 14th in T20 overall, made from 24 balls with seven fours and two sixes. He had moved on to 55 from 30 balls when he tried an inside-out shot that resulted in a catch to Clarke at deep backward point off Paterson and it was 145-3 after a partnership of 114 in 10.2 overs.
Croft continued on his untroubled way, reached his half-century off 34 balls with four fours and two sixes, and went on to finish on 61 not out from 44 balls before Wells, 18 not out off 11 balls, struck the last of his three fours to win the game for the Lightning at 181-4 with 10 balls remaining. South African Paterson had the best Outlaws’ figures with 2-27.
The game was a great success for Blackpool Cricket Club who had organised everything to perfection and it was great to see Lancashire back at Stanley Park and the crowd went away delighted but although it was pulsating cricket, there were those, myself included, who went away thinking, ‘Yes, but it is just not Test cricket!’
“Thunderbolts and Lightning very, very frightening”!
When Freddie Mercury sung the line “Thunderbolts and Lightning very, very frightening” when performing Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, I don’t suppose he ever thought it would be associated with a cricket match! But it was most apt last Wednesday when Blackpool Cricket Club superbly hosted and administered a double-header for the two Lancashire teams, the ladies’ Lancashire Thunder and the Men’s Lancashire Lightning. Their opponents Northern Diamonds and Worcestershire Rapids respectively were both put to the sword, the former comprehensively, the latter in a tense final over.
Hollie Armitage won the toss and decided that Diamonds would bat and the first over produced two fours to Lauren Winfield-Hill. Little did Diamonds know but that was to be their most productive over their second most productive over of the game, the 11 runs from the sixth over being the only one to surpass it. And by then Diamonds had lost four wickets.
The wickets had begun to fall regularly and so they continued as Fi Morris, 2-16, Tara Norris, 2-19, and Mahika Gaur, 2-29, worked their way through the batting order while Olivia Bell’s off-spin, 3-9, helped finish the innings of with Liberty Heap’s throw to Dattani wrapping things up with a run out. Thus Diamonds posted a very modest 96 all out in 18.4 overs on a track that looked like it was full of runs.
Fourteen runs from the first over from Heap, 12, and Dattani, 20, set Thunder well on their way and with Morris making 42 not out from 34 balls with five fours, Diamonds could not stem the flow of runs. And it was all over after 15 overs as Lightning won by seven wickets at 97-3. Not only that, the victory ensured that Thunder would be competing in the play-off game against Southern Vipers at Worcester on 10 June.
As for the men, Lancashire Lightning fought a much tighter battle against Worcestershire Rapid after Liam Livingstone had won the toss and decided that Lightning would field first. And Worcestershire lived up to their name with a rapid start, skipper Brett D’Oliveira taking three fours from the second over. But the introduction of Colin de Grandomme into the attack put a stop to the merriment as he dismissed both openers.
Thereafter the spin of Tom Hartley and Luke Wells put the brakes on somewhat and when Daryl Mitchell was brought into the attack, he not only stemmed the flow of runs but took three wickets in the process to finish with a parsimonious 3-9. And with Adam Finch run out from the final ball of the innings, Rapids finished at 177-9 with Mitchell Santner’s 57 from 33 balls with four fours and four sixes, being the best effort, followed by Adam Hose’s 42 from 29 balls with two fours and three sixes. As for the fielding, on his home ground Steven Croft took three catches, including a superb overhead catch at long-off to dismiss Oliver Cox.
In reply, Lightning lost two early wickets, Phil Salt for five and Luke Wells for three but Joss Buttler was in dominant form and it was a surprise, as well as a disappointment to the healthy-sized crowd, when he edged the speedy Dillon Pennington to wicketkeeper Cox after he had made a sparkling 58 from 42 balls with five fours and three sixes.
It was also a disappointment when Croft was run out for 40 with four fours and two sixes after a mix-up with Mitchell but Livingstone entered and struck a 12-ball 23 to keep his side on track for victory. And with three balls remaining Mitchell, 33 not out from 14 balls, struck a mighty six over long-off to win the game for Lightning by four wickets at 181-6.
And that completed a thoroughly entertaining and successful day all round with the Lancashire men, returning to Stanley Park on 10 July for a four-day Division One LV=Insurance County Championship game … don’t miss it!
Hollie Armitage won the toss and decided that Diamonds would bat and the first over produced two fours to Lauren Winfield-Hill. Little did Diamonds know but that was to be their most productive over their second most productive over of the game, the 11 runs from the sixth over being the only one to surpass it. And by then Diamonds had lost four wickets.
The wickets had begun to fall regularly and so they continued as Fi Morris, 2-16, Tara Norris, 2-19, and Mahika Gaur, 2-29, worked their way through the batting order while Olivia Bell’s off-spin, 3-9, helped finish the innings of with Liberty Heap’s throw to Dattani wrapping things up with a run out. Thus Diamonds posted a very modest 96 all out in 18.4 overs on a track that looked like it was full of runs.
Fourteen runs from the first over from Heap, 12, and Dattani, 20, set Thunder well on their way and with Morris making 42 not out from 34 balls with five fours, Diamonds could not stem the flow of runs. And it was all over after 15 overs as Lightning won by seven wickets at 97-3. Not only that, the victory ensured that Thunder would be competing in the play-off game against Southern Vipers at Worcester on 10 June.
As for the men, Lancashire Lightning fought a much tighter battle against Worcestershire Rapid after Liam Livingstone had won the toss and decided that Lightning would field first. And Worcestershire lived up to their name with a rapid start, skipper Brett D’Oliveira taking three fours from the second over. But the introduction of Colin de Grandomme into the attack put a stop to the merriment as he dismissed both openers.
Thereafter the spin of Tom Hartley and Luke Wells put the brakes on somewhat and when Daryl Mitchell was brought into the attack, he not only stemmed the flow of runs but took three wickets in the process to finish with a parsimonious 3-9. And with Adam Finch run out from the final ball of the innings, Rapids finished at 177-9 with Mitchell Santner’s 57 from 33 balls with four fours and four sixes, being the best effort, followed by Adam Hose’s 42 from 29 balls with two fours and three sixes. As for the fielding, on his home ground Steven Croft took three catches, including a superb overhead catch at long-off to dismiss Oliver Cox.
In reply, Lightning lost two early wickets, Phil Salt for five and Luke Wells for three but Joss Buttler was in dominant form and it was a surprise, as well as a disappointment to the healthy-sized crowd, when he edged the speedy Dillon Pennington to wicketkeeper Cox after he had made a sparkling 58 from 42 balls with five fours and three sixes.
It was also a disappointment when Croft was run out for 40 with four fours and two sixes after a mix-up with Mitchell but Livingstone entered and struck a 12-ball 23 to keep his side on track for victory. And with three balls remaining Mitchell, 33 not out from 14 balls, struck a mighty six over long-off to win the game for Lightning by four wickets at 181-6.
And that completed a thoroughly entertaining and successful day all round with the Lancashire men, returning to Stanley Park on 10 July for a four-day Division One LV=Insurance County Championship game … don’t miss it!
