News
A much changed Lancashire Lightning side comfortably disposed of the Unicorns by nine wickets at Old Trafford today.
Sajid Mahmood, Kyle Hogg, Gary Keedy and Stephen Parry all took two wickets for Lancashire, with Parry’s 2-18 from his eight overs being the pick, as the visitors were bowled out for 143 from 39.4 overs.
Visiting captain Keith Parsons won the toss and elected to bat first in this Group A fixture, but only himself and ex-Glamorgan batsman Michael O’Shea made it beyond 25.
They both added 27, sharing 45 for the fourth wicket after the Unicorns had been reduced to 18-3, while Neil Saker later added 20.
Opener Stephen Moore hit five boundaries in a quick-fire 21 off 12 balls at the top of the chase, but he was the only wicket to fall as Karl Brown and Steven Croft put the finishing touches to a victory with 80 balls to spare.
Brown hit a career best 65 not out off 80 balls, including five fours and two sixes, to follow up his 56 against the West Indies A side here a few weeks ago. He shared an unbroken second wicket partnership of 99 inside 22 overs with Croft.
Coach Peter Moores said: “It was a good win, a really good win actually. They’re a side that you don’t underestimate because we’ve seen how they played against other sides in the competition.
“We knew we had to play well, and I think we did play well. It was good to see Daren Powell bowl with discipline up front, it was good for Hoggy to have a decent bowl in a first team game.
“With the Twenty20s, we’ve been carrying him around as 12th man a lot lately. Saj also came in and bowled well.
“All in all, it was a good bowling performance. It was then nice for Karl Brown go in there and take his chance. He batted well for a really solid 50.”
