T20 Blast: Lancashire Lightning overpower Leicestershire Foxes

Lancashire's bowlers did not allow Leicestershire to build any significant partnerships

Lancashire Lightning recorded a second consecutive T20 Blast victory as they hammered Leicestershire Foxes by eight wickets at Old Trafford.

Last year's runners-up bowled the Foxes out for 99 in the 19th over as only two batters made it into double figures.

England bowlers Luke Wood and Saqib Mahmood each claimed three wickets as batters fell at regular intervals.

Steven Croft then hit an unbeaten 46 as Lancashire reached their target with 8.3 overs in hand.

After winning their opening game against Derbyshire Falcons on Saturday Lancashire had the luxury of welcoming back new T20 captain Liam Livingstone and Phil Salt from IPL duties to underline their strength in depth.

That will only increase when England white-ball captain Jos Buttler returns from playing for Rajasthan Royals, starting with the Roses match away to Yorkshire next Thursday.

The Foxes, three-time winners of the trophy, opted to bat first, but they lost their top three inside four overs to leave them 23-3.

They never recovered as they continued to lose wickets, with South Africa all-rounder Wiaan Mulder top scoring with just 25 and no partnership higher than 26, while Wood was the pick of the bowlers with excellent figures of 3-11 off his four overs.

With such a low total to chase, there was little pressure on the batters, which was further eased by a second-wicket partnership of 60 between Salt and Croft.

Salt was removed for 28 by a brilliant catch from Rishi Patel, before Croft and New Zealand all-rounder Daryl Mitchell cruised to 105-2 in the 12th over.

The fixture was the first of a double-header at Old Trafford on Thursday with Thunder facing The Blaze in the Charlotte Edwards Cup at 16:30 BST.