Liam Livingstone 85* from 31 eases Lancashire home in 10-over chase
Lancashire Boost Quarter-Final Hopes with Seven-Wicket Win
Liam Livingstone 85* from 31 eases Lancashire home in 10-over chase as Lancashire ended a three-game losing streak with a seven-wicket win over Durham in a rain-reduced Vitality Blast clash.
The Lightning’s quarter-final hopes were boosted by a second win in six games – this by seven wickets with five balls remaining – while Durham’s fourth defeat in six means they are joined on eight points by a Lancashire team who remain bottom of the North Group.
Livingstone’s Sensational Innings
Livingstone’s second successive Blast half-century – 85 not out off 31 balls with eight sixes – saw him hit four successive sixes off Kasey Aldridge’s seam late in a simply sensational innings.
Durham’s 128 for 2 saw openers Graham Clark and Alex Lees impress for 49 not out off 29 balls and 42 off 24 respectively. England limited-overs pacer Luke Wood returned 1 for 16 from two overs for Lightning, while Livingstone also struck.
Durham’s Innings
After a near two-hour delay through to 8.25pm, Lees pulled and muscled the contest’s first two balls from the spin of Tom Hartley for four and took four boundaries in all off the opening over. Clark pulled Tom Aspinwall’s for six as Durham took 33 from the three-over powerplay.
Clark twice drove Livingstone’s spin through the covers for fourth en route to 51 without loss in the fifth over, and the openers powered on.
Lancashire’s Chase
While Keaton Jennings miscued to mid-off against Callum Parkinson four balls into Lancashire’s chase, Livingstone was quickly into his stride by pulling Matthew Potts for six as 19 came off the second over – 26 for 1. And, on the back of scores of 44 and 81 in his last two matches – both defeats against Yorkshire and Glamorgan – he was incredible here.
He took three successive boundaries off Bolton-born Parkinson’s left-arm spin as the score reached 40 for 1 after three.
Nathan Sowter bowled Ben McDermott just outside the powerplay, bringing Michael Jones to the crease against his former county.
Livingstone was dropped in the deep on 36 before Jones hoisted Sowter over long-off for six. The same batter fell caught at long-on for 27 off 16 balls against Aldridge shortly afterwards before Livingstone took him apart late in the eighth over to take the score to 111 for 3 and all but settle the game.
He reached a 23-ball fifty en-route and also broke the record for most sixes by a Lancashire batter in T20 history (163), previously held by his delighted coach Steven Croft.
