Livingstone shines as Lightning strike

RESULT | Vitality Blast game 5: Leicestershire Foxes 142 lost to Lancashire Lightning 146 for 2 by 8 wickets

SCORECARD | Available through ESPN Cricinfo

REACTION | Mark Cosgrove spoke to BBC Radio Leicester's Mike McCarthy at the end of the game

HIGHLIGHTS | In-play highlights are available throughout the 2018 season

POINTS | Leicestershire Foxes 0, Lancashire Lightning 2

REPORT | Liam Livingstone had a fine all-round game as Lancashire Lightning inflicted an eight-wicket Vitality Blast defeat on Leicestershire Foxes at the Fischer County Ground.

Neil Dexter (30, 28b) shared an opening partnership of 41 with Cameron Delport (25, 13b) and 47 with Mark Cosgrove (31, 21b) as the Foxes looked set for a big score at 87 for two halfway through the tenth over.

But captain Livingstone claimed a career-best four for 17, and fellow spinner Matthew Parkinson took one for 22 off his allocation, to apply the brakes in the middle overs.

The Foxes was bowled out for 142 and Livingstone gave his side impetus with 28 off 11 balls at the start of the innings as Lightning recorded a fourth successive T20 win. Ben Raine was the pick of the attack with one for 23 from four probing overs.

Leicestershire Foxes was unchanged from the superb victory at Edgbaston last Friday night, and the team was batting first for the second game in succession after Livingstone called correctly.

Only three runs came off the first two overs before Delport launched a brace of consecutive sixes and also struck a four over the top as an impressive total of 22 were scored off the third.

Dexter was bowled in the fourth over - but Lancashire's joy was short-lived as Australia all-rounder James Faulkner had over-stepped - and the opener then carved a four over point to rub salt into the wounds.

Delport smashed another four to straight mid-wicket as the alliance moved to 41 before he perished looking for another boundary in that vicinity, the left-hander being extremely well caught by Livingstone, who had plenty of ground to make up.

A trio of fours from Cosgrove propelled the score to 59 for one at the end of the powerplay, and the left-hander then hit a clean straight six and beautiful inside-out stroke over extra for four.

The attractive stand was ended as Dexter skied Livingstone to ‘keeper Dane Vilas, and it was the start of a defining period where four wickets were claimed in the space of 15 balls.

Raine (0, 1b) also departed in the tenth over - bowled by the off-spinner - while Cosgrove was stumped off leg-spinner Matthew Parkinson, and Mohammad Nabi (3, 6b) struck Livingstone to Faulkner right on the long-on boundary.

Captain Colin Ackermann (5, 10b) then hit Livingstone to Lester at deep backward square-leg, leaving the score at 102 for six halfway through the 13th over.

Ned Eckersley (14, 15b) and Tom Wells had a period of accumulation before the former clipped a four off the last ball of the 17th to take the score to 121.

Slow bowling continued to cause problems as off-spinner Arron Lilley bowled Wells (10, 15b) in the antepenultimate over. Zak Chappell (16, 7b) then smashed his first couple of balls for a four and six to give the Foxes some momentum.

Left arm duo Lester and Faulkner were in the thick of the action as the Foxes was ultimately dismissed in the final over, leaving the Lightning with a chase of 143.

Livingstone, who had batted well in the Royal London One-Day Cup meeting of the sides at Oakham School back in May, set the tone by cracking six boundaries in the first three overs. Alex Davies added a six and four off two consecutive deliveries as the score raced to 40 without loss.

A big breakthrough was claimed by Raine as Livingstone holed out to Nabi at long-on, but Lilley kept the pressure on by playing some big strokes in the powerplay as the score moved to 68 for one.

Nabi and Callum Parkinson (4-0-29-1) lowered the rate, and their work was rewarded with a wicket as Lilley (19, 12b) lofted the slow left arm spinner to Dexter at long-off in the eighth over.

But Davies (51*, 49b) and Keaton Jennings (37*, 28b) played sensibly in sharing an unbroken 70 for the third wicket. The opener moved to a well-paced 50 by hitting the winning boundary, meaning the Foxes have four points from their opening five matches in the competition.

TEAM | Dexter, Delport, Cosgrove, Raine, Ackermann (capt), Eckersley (wk), Nabi, Wells, Chappell, Parkinson, Abbas

FIGURES | Abbas 2-0-27-0, Nabi 4-0-32-0, Chappell 2.4-0-33-0, Raine 4-0-22-1, Parkinson 4-0-29-1

PHOTO | Thanks to Chris Roe for the photo of Mark Cosgrove and Neil Dexter batting

* Our next Vitality Blast home game is against Derbyshire Falcons on Friday, July 27! The best value tickets are available in advance – a family ticket for 2 adults and 3 under 16s is available for £37 in advance of the fixture. Secure your seat at the Fischer County Ground today HERE