Steel carries his bat in Lightning defeat
Thu 10 Jun 2021
BLAST 1 | Lancashire Lightning 172 for eight v Leicestershire Foxes 156 for five “ Lightning win by 16 runs
SCORECARD | Available from Cricinfo HERE
POINTS | Lancashire Lightning 2, Leicestershire Foxes 0.
REPORT | Gavin Griffiths recorded career-best figures in T20 cricket, and Scott Steel carries his bat on debut as Leicestershire Foxes fall to defeat in their opening game of the 2021 Vitality Blast.
Paul Nixon named four Leicestershire Foxes debutants for the 2021 Vitality Blast opener with Josh Inglis, Naveen-ul-haq, Scott Steel and Rishi Patel making their T20 bows for County this evening.
The hosts made one change from their opening round victory over Derbyshire Falcons (June 9), as Tom Bailey replaced Richard Gleeson.
The news from the middle was the Lightning skipper Dane Vilas won the toss and opted for a bat.
Callum Parkinson opened the bowling for the Running Foxes with Liam Livingstone on strike. The batsman continued his good form and posted 13 of the 14 runs from the first over, with three fours.
Colin Ackermann opened from the other end as he opted for spin to dominate the first two overs. The skipper started his overs well, restricting the batsmen just six.
Naveen took the ball for the first time as a Running Fox. Livingstone claimed the first maximum of the evening as Lightning posted 11 from the third.
Gavin Griffiths entered the attack, and quickly ignited the Running Foxes as he claimed the wicket of Liam Livingstone a 12-ball 25. The batsmen nicked one through to Josh Inglis who took his first catch as a Running Fox.
Griffiths then made it two-in-two as new batsman, Alex Davies, earned himself a duck following a superb catch, diving to his right in the covers, from Naveen, saw the Lightning man off.
Lightning ended the fourth on 32 for two following a superb start stint from Griffiths.
The Lancashire batsmen, Allen and Buttler responded for Lightning as the powerplay concluded with Lightning posting 57 runs for two wickets.
Will Davis came into the attack and started well, but Buttler picked his last delivery off and sent it for his third four of the innings. Lightning 67 for two.
Ackermann stepped up and claimed the wicket of Buttler (22, 16b) as Ben Mike caught the batsmen on the long off boundary. Lightning claimed three from it to sit on 70 for three.
Further spin was added into the attack as Arron Lilley bowled his first over of the game. The former-Lancashire man fought back well after conceding a four from his first delivery. The first 10 overs was completed with Lightning on 88 for three.
Two boundaries, one from each batsmen, saw Lightning close on the 100-run mark, as they ended the eleventh on 99 for three.
Ackermann came back in for his third over and claimed the wicket of his counterpart, as Lewis Hill took the grab of Vilas (16, 13b) deep in the leg side.
Allen and Croft picked up a solitary boundary each from the 13th and 14th. Another maximum came from the 15th from Croft off Parkinson which moved Lightning to 130 for four after 15.
Griffiths came back in for the sixteenth over and claimed his third and fourth wickets of the evening. Firstly, he claimed the scalp of Croft (12, 14b) as Lilley took the smart grab at deep mid-wicket. Rishi Patel was then called into action to take the grab of Wood (0, 2b) at third man. Lightning ended the over on 132 for six.
Naveen claimed his first wicket as a Running Fox in the seventeenth over as Danny Lamb chopped on from the third legal ball of the over for a four-ball two. Lightning were seven down, sitting on 141 with three to go.
The eighteenth over saw Lightning overseas opening batsman, Finn Allen, post his maiden Vitality Blast half-century, coming from 41 balls and including five fours. Ackermann also finished his allotted overs as Lightning moved to 151 for seven with two to go.
The penultimate over brought the wicket of Tom Bailey (3, 5b) as Inglis was on point to run the batsman out who looked for the quick single.
The hosts’ innings then came to an end with Griffiths claiming career-best T20 figures of 4 for 24 as Lightning end on 172 for eight.
Debutants Steel (number 114) and Inglis (number 115) began the Running Foxes well, with each batsmen posting their first Vitality Blast boundaries for Leicestershire. Ten came from the first over.
The second and third overs passed without the Running Foxes posting a boundary, though, Inglis made up for that in the fourth over, posting four fours off Tom Bailey as he accelerated the scoring to 40 without loss.
Inglis’ debut came to an end in the fifth over, as Lamb avenged his teammate and bowled the Leicestershire man for a 19-ball 34. Lilley joined Steel (11no) with the Foxes on 47 for one.
The powerplay overs came to an end with the Running Foxes just shy of Lightnings equivalent score during their innings, but with an extra wicket in hand on 54 for one.
The wickets column was soon level though, as Lilley looked to go big off the bowling of Matt Parkinson but was caught at deep mid-wicket for 4(8b) by Allen.
Four successive boundary-less overs came to an end in the ninth over as Ackermann posted his first of the innings off Livingstone. Lightning had a sniff of a chance for a catch on the boundary through Croft, but the fielder couldn’t make his ground up in time and simply deflected the ball away for four.
The halfway point of the innings was reached with the Running Foxes requiring 97 runs for the win, and a big second half of the innings to do so.
Ackermann looked to accelerate the rate by sending Livingstone for four. The bowler responded four balls later with his wickets, as Croft caught the Foxes skipper for 18 (17b).
Lewis Hill replaced Ackermann, but soon made his way back to the bench after being caught on the leg side boundary rope by Luke Wood for 1 (2b).
A straight drive from Steel in the fourteenth over, looked to breathe life into the Running Foxes’ innings, and this was backed up by back-to-back fours off Parkinson for Rishi Patel.
Patel replaced Hill to make his Running Foxes T20 debut, becoming the 116th player to represent the Running Foxes in the format.
A late fightback then incurred as both Patel and Steel sent Lamb for huge sixes as the Running Foxes posted 14 from the seventeenth over.
Patel then smashed Parkinson for his another six in the following over and brought up the fourth wicket partnership’s fifty from 31 balls.
Parkinson then exacted his revenge from the next ball as Patel looked to go big again, this time he fell just short of clearing the long on boundary and was caught by Croft for 32 (17b).
The penultimate over saw Steel bring up his maiden T20 half-century for the Running Foxes with the fifty coming from 48 balls and including two fours and one six.
Leicestershire required 24 runs from the final over to claim victory in Manchester as Lamb prepared to bowl again.
Ben Mike (7no, 5b) and Steel (54no, 52b) remained at the crease as the Running Foxes recorded a defeat in the opening game of the 2021 Vitality Blast despite their best efforts.
FIGURES | Parkinson 4-0-42-0, Ackermann 4-0-22-2, Naveen 4-0-44-1, Griffiths 4-1-24-4, Davis 2-0-19-0, Lilley 2-0-19-0
Bailey 2-0-28-0, Wood 2-0-14-0, Lamb 4-0-34-1, Hartley 4-0-18-1, Parkinson 4-0-30-2, Livingstone 4-0-29-1
FOXES | Ackermann (C), Davis, Griffiths, Hill, Inglis (wk), Lilley, Mike, Naveen, Patel, Parkinson, Steel
LIGHTNING | Livingstone, Allen, Davies, Buttler (wk), Croft, Vilas (c), Wood, Lamb, Hartley, Bailey, Parkinson
IMAGES | Thanks to John Mallet of Outside Off for supplying images throughout the game.
