Lancashire Lightning RLODC at Trent Bridge

SCINTILLATING CENTURION SAMIT SEALS OUTLAWS WIN



A superb unbroken fourth wicket partnership of 181 runs in 28 overs between Samit Patel and Steven Mullaney gave Notts victory in front of a sun soaked crowd of 8751 at Trent Bridge today. With Worcestershire defeating Durham by 15 runs at New Road it now means a win at Wantage Road on Tuesday will ensure progress into the knockout phase of the tournament with Taunton the likely destination.

Lancashire won the toss and elected to bat. Notts unchanged from Thursday's line up struggled to make a breakthrough on the same strip as used for the Durham game. Ball (Pavilion) and Gurney (Radcliffe Road) opened up but Lancashire got off to a brisk start with the score standing at 62 for 0 after 10 overs. Broad and Pattinson proved a greater threat and the first wicket stand between Karl Brown and Alex Davies was worth 98 when in the seventeenth over Brown hit Broad straight to Patel at extra cover. The small Bolton right hander had scored 52 off 58 balls with five fours. 

Three overs later, Davies was leg before to Pattinson for 45 (52 balls - 3 x 4), 104 for two. Liam Livingstone (4) was lost in the jungle (I presume) against Broad and Pattinson. The England prospect edged the classy Pattinson into the captain's gloves, 110 for 3 in the 22nd over. Imaginative captaincy from Read saw Broad bowl eight overs on the bounce conceding 35 runs. Jimmy Pattinson bowled exceptionally well with a spell of 6-0-21-2. Mullaney replaced Pattinson from the Radcliffe Road End and in his second over had Dane Vilas (15) driving to Jake Ball at mid off, 145 for 4. 

Unlike on Thursday, Mullaney and Patel were keeping the runs down. Lancashire captain Steven Croft (12), could not get going and he was bowled by Mullaney middle stump to a ball that kept low, 177 for 5 in the 38th over. Croft faced 28 balls in an innings without a boundary. Lancashire innings was still stuck in the mud; between overs 15 and 44 a mere 107 runs were added in 29 overs. Patel's final over went for 15 as Lancashire's garnered 61 runs in the last six overs. McLaren hit 42 from 40 balls to give the innings late impetus. He then lost his middle stump to Gurney in the penultimate over. Gurney having bizarrely been preferred to bowl ahead of Pattinson and Broad. Lancashire closed on 260 for six with Hameed unbeaten on 75 off 79 balls with just five boundaries. Mullaney against his former employees finished with 8-0-31-2 and Pattinson 8-0-38-2. An excellent all round bowling performance had restricted Lancashire to a total around 60 runs below par. Pattinson has been a revelation over the last six weeks; what a shame he departs after Tuesday’s match.

Anderson (Pavilion) and Jarvis (Radcliffe Road) were the Lancashire's opening attack. Off the first ball of the fifth over Alex Hales (4) chipped Anderson to mid on where Parry took the catch, 16 for one. Lumb and Wessels added 59 in nine overs in a typically aggressive manner. Preston youngster Danny Lamb making his List A debut came on bowling right arm medium pace from the Radcliffe Road End and in his second over bowled Wessels middle stump for 25. Wessels hit two fours and two sixes (straight one off Livingstone and another of McLaren over deep square leg). Lumb followed in Lamb's fourth over. Failing to move his feet properly he drove the ball to Kyle Jarvis at mid off to depart for 47 (54 balls 6 x 4 1 x 6). Notts 84 for three in the 18th over. 

Notts then had two strokes of good fortune, the juggling Parry failed to hold a return chance off Mullaney when he had 11 and then Patel was put down off a caught and bowled chance by Anderson. These drops proved costly as despite regular bowling changes Lancashire could not part the pair as the run rate slowly increased. Patel particularly strong over extra cover sped to a run a ball ton and received a standing ovation from the large home crowd enticed with a £1 entrance fee. Mullaney in fine form following his injury lay off finished on 77 off 81 balls with four fours and four sixes including the winning maximum over Parry’s head and into the Radcliffe Road lower tier. Patel was 103 not out off 104 balls with 11 fours and two consecutive sixes over extra cover off Parry. Notts finishing on 265 for three with fours overs unused. Jimmy Anderson was the visitors’ most economical bowler with 1-41 off his 10 over allocation. So we now head to Northampton needing a win to ensure qualification. Hales and Ball are unavailable; Taylor and Fletcher appear to be the most obvious replacements. MAG

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Following the disappointing performance and even worse result against Durham on Wednesday evening, Outlaws now find themselves right down in fifth position of the table.

If a rediscovery of form could be extradited, elementary errors eliminated and a killer edge found, then two last wins aren't beyond the bounds of possibility.

10 points still might not be enough to secure third place, but if other results fall favourably then third spot could still be achievable.  

Opponents Lancashire are also in the same situation, on the back of three straight wins, only above Outlaws on net run rate.

Outlaws must win firstly tomorrow, a crushing (net run rate re-configuring) win would be a bonus and very handy too but Durham hold one, if not two of the keys to who qualifies also, playing both Lancashire as well, and Worcestershire (currently on 9 points) in their last two games.

With Brendan Taylor rested in the Durham defeat, will he return for on Sunday, perhaps at Michael Lumb's expense or could mid-week Second eleven centurion Tom Moores make his Outlaws debut - rewarding success rather than failure, looking forward to future competitions rather than those that have past.

If the same pitch as on Wednesday is to be used, it looks full of runs but some of Outlaws's bowlers were guilty of bowling too much on the leg-side, feeding both Cameron Steel's and Paul Collingwood's appetites off their legs - Harry Gurney being particularly guilty in his closing spell, with his usual death bowling nerve looking to have deserted him, again. Pacy Jake Ball bowled a scintillating first spell of six overs on Wednesday, perhaps eight overs next time , because on returning he wasn't as potent. 

In spite of the batsmen scoring a below par target on Wednesday, the last five wickets being tossed away for a pittance of runs in two overs and some regrettable misguided bowling, victory still looked achievable had it not been for the hopeless catching which ultimately proved costly. Outlaws paid the price of those amateur attempts, Durham cashed-in. 

Chris Read, now equalling French's List A dismissals, said  “I don’t think it’s about changing things [for the Lancashire game] it’s about doing our basics right we missed a couple of chances so we need to work hard on that and address that,”

So perhaps it'll be the same eleven, no Fletcher ("minor elbow injury") or Taylor.

When the squad was announced it included the 11 from Thursday plus Brett Hutton and Brendan Taylor.