England duo blast Lancashire to big T20 win over Notts
Liam Livingstone (left) celebrates a wicket on his first Lancashire Lightning appearance of the season
- Published
Vitality Blast - North Group, Emirates Old Trafford
Notts Outlaws 131-7 (20 ovs): James 51; Wood 3-23
Lancashire 136-2 (14.3 ovs): Salt 70, Livingstone 54*
Lancashire (2 pts) beat Notts by eight wickets
Lancashire closed in on a home quarter-final in the North Group of the T20 Blast with an emphatic eight-wicket win over rock-bottom Notts at Emirates Old Trafford.
Returning England duo Phil Salt and Liam Livingstone smashed half-centuries and shared a 112-run stand as they cruised past their target of 132 with 33 balls to spare.
After winning the toss, Lightning reduced the Outlaws to 28-4 and, despite a battling 51 off 38 balls from Lyndon James, the visitors limped to a below-par 131-7.
Livingstone took three catches in the deep – including one stunner – and also claimed 1-22 from three overs as Lancashire became the first county to win 150 T20 matches.
Notts remain bottom of the group with just two wins from their 13 matches while Lancashire need Northants to lose to Birmingham Bears on Thursday to seal a top-two finish.
The Outlaws made a torrid start as Joe Clarke could only top-edge Saqib Mahmood through to Salt for a duck before Jack Haynes (2) clipped Luke Wood straight to Livingstone at deep square and Chris Green bowled Ben Martindale behind his legs for 12 as he missed a reverse sweep.
Matt Montgomery (1) was then caught just inside the rope by debutant George Dockrell at deep square off Tom Hartley to make it 28-4 in the sixth over.
However, James clipped Mahmood for six over fine leg as he rebuilt with Tom Moores, the pair adding 50 for the fifth wicket from 41 balls.
Moores holed out to Steven Croft at long-on off Livingstone, who then took another catch at deep backward point to send Liam Patterson-White on his way for 17 to start the 16th over and leave Notts 105-6.
James brought up his half-century from 37 balls with a crunch through the covers for his sixth four, to go with his six, but he fell to the next ball from Wood as Livingstone produced a fine running and diving catch at deep mid-wicket to oust him for 51 in the penultimate over.
Wood finished with 3-23 from four overs as his former club posted a total which looked well below par.
Luke Wells was caught for five at backward point by the tumbling Montgomery in the second over of the reply off Fazalhaq Farooqi. However, Salt hooked Olly Stone for six over fine leg before Livingstone had an escape on five as Calvin Harrison could not hold a diving attempt off Luke Fletcher.
Salt powerfully cut Fletcher for back-to-back sixes over point as Lightning reached 59-1 after six overs before Livingstone clubbed Harrison over the rope at long-on to bring up a half-century partnership from 29 deliveries.
Livingstone was dropped again by Martindale on 21 before Salt brought up his half-century from 31 balls, and the diving Harrison was unable to dismiss Livingstone on the rope as he had to release the ball to avoid carrying it over for a six.
Fletcher was dispatched for another two sixes in as many balls by Salt to bring up the century-stand from 62 deliveries in the 12th over.
With just six runs required Salt edged Patterson-White behind to depart for 70 from 42 balls, with five sixes, to end a 112-run stand from 70 balls.
Livingstone won the game and brought up his own half-century from 37 balls with a monster six over mid-wicket to make it 15 consecutive home wins in completed T20 group games for Lancashire.
Lancashire batter Phil Salt told Lancs TV: "It’s good to be back in a Lancashire shirt. It was good fun but more importantly with the rain we’ve had and results, the win was the most important thing.
"I know Livi’s game well and he showed everyone how good his game is tonight. We were good in the field, threw ourselves around and scrapped. You can tell where we are at, just by that.
"We have one more game to win (against Northants on Friday). A home quarter-final would be good – we have a good record at home. We back ourselves anywhere but particularly at Old Trafford.
"We’re here to win trophies. That’s the end goal. We’re a really strong squad, you can tell that just from looking at the players who missed out, some unbelievable players."
Thursday fixtures
North Group
Worcester: Worcestershire Rapids v Derbyshire Falcons (17:30)
Northampton: Northants Steelbacks v Birmingham Bears (18:45)
South Group
Chelmsford: Middlesex v Gloucestershire (18:15)
Taunton: Somerset v Sussex Sharks (18:30)
The Kia Oval: Surrey v Hampshire Hawks (18:30)
All start times BST