Northamptonshire advances to the quarterfinals behind a Breetzke blitz

At Emirates Old Trafford, Matthew Breetzke‘s explosive 31-ball 76 enabled the Northamptonshire Steelbacks to defeat Lancashire Lightning by four wickets and go to the Vitality Blast quarterfinals at home.

No one questioned that the visitors’ victory—their first in eight T20 encounters on this field—was utterly justified.

With eight balls remaining, the Steelbacks defeated the home team’s 210 for nine, which included Jack White taking three for sixteen. The visitors had to endure a late collapse of wickets until Ashton Agar’s six off Liam Livingstone resolved the match.

Lancashire lost three wickets, all to White, while managing to score 54 runs in their Powerplay overs. Breetzke caught Luke Wells at deep square leg for 10, Phil Salt holed out to David Willey at mid-off for nine, and Keaton Jennings skied a return catch to the bowler after smashing four fours and a six in his 12-ball 24.

After that, Livingstone and Matty Hurst began a successful counterattack, with Livingstone hitting three sixes in his opening eighteen balls and Lightning reaching 93 for three, the halfway point of their 20-over quota. However, Freddie Heldreich put an end to the T20 England international’s pleasure when he caught him at deep midwicket by Ricardo Vasconcelos for 36. Hurst was then caught at deep backward square leg by Ben Sanderson off Ravi Bopara for 30 in the next over.

When that wicket fell, Lancashire was still in a strong position at 115 for five, and Steven Croft and George Dockrell kept them there, with the latter scoring 5,000 T20 runs for the Red Rose when he reached five.

Before Croft skied Willey to Bopara, the two put up 44 in 23 balls. Tom Hartley and Chris Green then fell in consecutive overs, leaving Dockrell and Luke Wood to ensure Lancashire set a difficult total. Five short of fifty, the Irishman handed Vasconcelos his second catch and Sanderson his second wicket, but the home team’s 201 for nine, though from a strong batting position, looked more than competitive.

With three for sixteen, White was the most productive bowler for the Steelbacks. From his three valuable overs, Bopara took one wicket for 26, while Willey and Sanderson each took two.

Northamptonshire’s approach to achieving their goal was a combination of traditional and creative tactics, ultimately putting all of Lancashire’s bowlers to the test.

During their Powerplay overs, Vasconcelos and Breetzke struck 13 fours and two sixes, leaving Northamptonshire 85 without a loss and in an excellent position to seal their crucial victory.

With seven fours and two sixes, Breetzke reached his fifty off 19 balls, demonstrating an incredible exhibition of disciplined hitting that ensured the visitors’ hundred would be reached in the eighth over. But two balls later, Vasconcelos’ 102-run partnership with Breetzke came to an end when Matty Hurst at short third man caught him for 36 off Wells on the third try.

In his subsequent over, Wells struck once more as he dismissed Breetzke, who had made 76 off 31 balls with seven fours and five sixes when he was pulled to Green at deep midwicket. After that, Saif Zaib was caught by Livingstone for four runs, but a clever 59-run partnership between Bopara and Willey got Northamptonshire to within 13 runs of their target.

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Croft got the skipper off Dockrell for 26, and Bopara went leg before wicket to Mahmood for 36, but Agar and Gus Miller saw his team through. Wells had two for 23 in the end.