Player of the Match
Player of the Match

Stone holds nerve as Notts seal one-run win to stay top

Olly Stone bowls in the Blast Gareth Copley/Getty Images

Nottinghamshire 181 for 6 (Munsey 51, Moores 40, Blatherwick 2-34) beat Lancashire 180 for 7 (Livingstone 47, Jennings 42, Patterson-White 2-24) by one run

Nottinghamshire held off Lancashire in a last-ball finish to stretch their winning streak to six in the Blast's North Group, winning by a one-run margin at Trent Bridge.

The victory keeps the Outlaws top of the North Group after Scotland international George Munsey continued his current hot form with 51 off 39 balls backed up by Tom Moores (40 off 26) and George Linde (37 off 24) as Notts made 181 for 6.

Liam Livingstone (47 off 31) and Keaton Jennings (42 off 29) did much of the heavy lifting for Lightning, with 17-year-old Joe Moores - Tom's cousin, and nephew of Outlaws head coach Peter - making 30 off 21 balls to keep his side in the hunt.

But ultimately it was Notts and England pace bowler Olly Stone who had the last word, successfully defending nine off the last over, in which Moores was dropped once on the boundary but caught three balls later before Jack Blatherwick and Matty Hurst, needing four off the final delivery, could run only two.

Three hours earlier, Lightning had chosen to bowl first and removed Joe Clarke in the opening over but Munsey quickly found his rhythm, launching Livingstone over the long-off boundary and hammering four fours in a row off Tom Aspinwall. The Outlaws were 53 for 1 after six.

They lost Jack Haynes sweeping across the line in reaching 78 for 2 at halfway. Munsey completed his fifth half-century in his last six Blast innings but mistimed one to mid-off soon afterwards, ending 415 minutes of continuous involvement in Blast action, following two not out innings.

Moores had momentum and Linde picked up the tempo, the fourth-wicket pair adding 52 in 28 balls before Moores picked out his namesake and cousin, Joe, at deep midwicket. Blatherwick then covered some ground to catch Benny Howell off his own bowling.

Linde twice sent Shadab soaring over wide long-on before top-edging Jimmy Anderson in the last over as Freddie McCann's two boundaries raised the Lancashire target to 182.

Needing nine an over, Lancashire were on course at 88 for 2 from 10. Both wickets had gone to left-arm spinners, Linde removing Michael Jones with his first delivery. Jennings hammered two sixes off Mohammad Amir and another off Howell before Liam Patterson-White had him caught at long off.

Ben McDermott (24 off 17) and Livingstone departed in the 15th and 16th overs, the latter clearing the ropes three times before a brilliant piece of doubling up by McCann and Patterson-White saw him caught on the midwicket boundary.

By then the requirement was down to 33 off 26. Mohammad Ali raised home hopes with a superb 18th over, costing just two runs and claiming the wicket of Shadab via a boundary catch. Needing 19 off the last two, Moores and Hurst took 10 off Amir but another nine off Stone proved just too much.

Lancashire 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st43KK JenningsMA Jones
2nd35LS LivingstoneKK Jennings
3rd49LS LivingstoneBR McDermott
4th22LS LivingstoneJHA Moores
5th14Shadab KhanJHA Moores
6th15MF HurstJHA Moores
7th2JM BlatherwickMF Hurst

Twenty20 Cup (England)

Central & West Group
TeamMWLPTNRR
NOR972280.557
GLO954200.024
SOM945160.193
WAR94516-0.005
WOR94516-0.585
GLA93612-0.171
Cross Pool
TeamMWLPTNRR
NOR22083.425
GLO22082.825
WOR22082.525
SOM22081.669
GLA22080.777
NOT22080.496
DUR21142.325
WAR21141.772
LEI21140.117
SUR21140.05
HAM2114-0.674
ESS2114-3.04
DER2020-0.908
LAN2020-1.5
YOR2020-1.564
KEN2020-2.434
SUS2020-2.51
MID2020-3.278
North Group
TeamMWLPTNRR
YOR962261.215
NOT963240.213
LAN95322-0.121
DUR945160.1
DER925120.421
LEI9278-1.835
South Group
TeamMWLPTNRR
SUR963241.098
HAM963240.504
ESS954201.019
KEN94516-0.562
MID93612-1.012
SUS93610-0.964