At Emirates Old Trafford, Lancashire defeated Nottinghamshire by eight wickets while chasing 132, becoming the second North Group team to reach the Vitality Blast quarterfinals. England’s Phil Salt and Liam Livingstone shone as they made their county cricket comeback.
Due to a well-executed bowling display that included left-arm quick Luke Wood’s season-best three for 23 in restricting his previous county to 131 for seven, second-place Lightning joined leaders Birmingham in moving on with their seventh win in 13 games.
During his first innings back from T20 World Cup duty, Salt provided a more devastating 70 off 42, including five sixes, to support a successful chase. All-rounder Lyndon James top-scored with a career-best 51 off 38 balls.
A wicket, three catches, and 54 not out from 37 with three sixes were also made by Livingstone, a fellow returning international. With 5.3 overs left to spare, he and Salt shared a second-wicket stand of 112.
Achieving 150 victories in Blast history was first accomplished by Lancashire.
Lightning had complete control of the game from the start when Outlaws captain Joe Clarke received a thick edge behind off Saqib Mahmood’s pace, leaving the visitors two for one after eight balls.
With Wood taking his first wicket, Jack Haynes was caught at deep square-leg, and he added more wickets for spinners Chris Green and Tom Hartley as the Outlaws, having been inserted, slumped to 28 for four through six overs.
Because he was just included in the squad for the most recent T20 World Cup, the latter, a left-arm spinner from England, had Matt Montgomery caught at deep square-leg for his first wicket in any format since May 12.
Nottinghamshire are now the second-most successful team in Blast history with 144 games won. However, having only prevailed twice thus far, they will prefer to forget about this campaign.
To at least slow the pace and force the Outlaws into an innings when home skipper Keaton Jennings used four spinners for a total of 12 overs, James and Tom Moores put up a fifty-three run partnership within eight overs and hammered six sixes apiece.
One was Livingstone, and the other was Irish overseas debutant George Dockrell.
When Moores misplayed a broader delivery to long-off for 26 – 81 for five in the 13th over, he also ended the partnership.
Before James reached his fifty off 37 balls and Nottinghamshire were 122 for six early in the 19th over, Wood struck again, this time trapping Liam Patterson-White at deep cover.
Despite combining strength and creativity, James was caught by Livingstone’s excellent diving catch at deep mid-wicket with the following ball, giving Wood his third stumping.
It felt like a number that wouldn’t threaten Lancashire’s progress to their 17th quarter-final in 22 seasons, but the visitors performed well to reach that mark.
Afghanistan immediately In the chase’s second over, outlaws’ hopes were raised when Fazalhaq Farooqi captured Luke Wells at point (14 for 1).
Starting at number three, Livingstone was caught in the deep on five and twenty before hitting the winning six off Farooqi to take the score to fifty.
Luke Fletcher was hit by Salt for two consecutive off-side hits immediately after he had pulled Olly Stone for an early six.
Salt was hitting 84 for one in the tenth over, well on his way to a home tie in the quarterfinals, by the time he achieved his fifty off 31 balls.
After hitting two more sixes off Fletcher’s seam to tie the century mark with Livingstone, Salt was caught by Patterson-White’s spin.
India
