Emirates T20 Trophy, Match 1 Review: Lancashire steamroll Warwickshire in a one sided clash

In the opening encounter of the Emirates T20 Trophy between two English counties, Lancashire defeated Warwickshire by a convincing margin of 63 runs and has made a strong case for themselves to qualify for the final of the tournament tomorrow. On the other hand, Warwickshire will be hoping to win their next encounter by a big margin later today to harbour any hopes of qualifying. It was a convincing performance by Lancashire and will keep them in good stead for the upcoming matches tomorrow.

Riding on a fluent half-century by Liam Livingstone Lancashire posted a more than competitive 159 on the board in their allotted 20 overs. The Warwickshire batsmen never got going and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Eventually, they were bundled out for a paltry 96 in the 19th over handing Lancashire a comprehensive victory. Jordan Clark and Stephen Parry were the wreckers-in-chief bagging 3 wickets each.

Warwickshire captain and England international Ian Bell won the toss and put the visitors in. Lancashire got off to the worst possible start losing opener Alex Davies in the opening over of the match. It was a fuller length delivery by Rikky Clarke which swung just enough to strike his pads adjacent to the stumps. Liam Livingstone joined Luke Procter in the middle in a bid to resurrect the innings.

Livingstone smashed a four and a six of Rikki Clarke in the 3rd over and followed it up with a hat-trick of boundaries in the Keith Barker in the very next over. Now it was the turn of Procter to up the ante as the southpaw smashed Clarke for a six and 3 fours in the 5th over to take Lancashire’s score to 50/0 in the 5th over. Procter was eventually dismissed by Chris Wright in the 6th over but there was no way Livingstone was going to surrender the advantage.

The hard-hitting right-hander smashed Josh Poysden for a hat-trick of sixes in the 9th over to keep the charge on but was dismissed by Oliver Hannon-Dalby in the 10th over to reduce Lancashire to 88/3. Karl Brown played a good knock of 31 of 25 deliveries which included a six and a couple of fours

Despite the whirlwind start, Lancashire lost their way in the final stages of their innings losing wickets at regular intervals. Chris Wright bowled a splendid spell where he picked up a couple of wickets and gave away only 16 runs in his allotted 4 overs. Eventually, Lancashire managed to score 159/8 in their 20 overs.

Chasing the more than competitive total, Warwickshire also lost their opening wicket in the very first over as Lancashire captain James Anderson provided the breakthrough. It was a short of length delivery outside the off stump and Sam Hain edged it straight to the slip fielder. Keith Barker too fell in quick succession as Warwickshire was reduced to 9/2 in the 2nd over.

Captain Ian Bell and Tim Ambrose joined in the middle to steady the ship for a while as they stitched together a 50 runs partnership for the 3rd wicket. Bell looked in a fluent touch smashing 4 boundaries during his innings of 30 of 25 deliveries. He was eventually dismissed by Stephen Parry in the 10th over to reduce them to 59/3 in the 10th over.

All-rounder RIkky Clarke was soon to follow his captain to the dressing room as the right-hander slogged a delivery Danny Lamb straight to the deep square leg fielder. Set batsman Tim Ambrose too departed in the next over as the end seemed near for Warwickshire. They kept losing wickets and were eventually bowled out for 96 in the 19th over. While Lancashire will look to keep their winning momentum tomorrow, Warwickshire will be looking for a turnaround in their 2nd match of the day later today.

Brief Scores

Lancashire 159/8 in 20 overs (Liam Livingstone 52, Chris Wright 2/16)

Warwickshire 96 all-out in 18.3 overs (Ian Bell 30, Stephen Parry 3/12, Jordan Clark 3/14)

Lancashire won by 63 runs