Lancashire are out-Foxed in one-day opener
RED ROSE SUFFER D/L DEFEAT IN ROYAL LONDON CUP
LANCASHIRE’S players are desperate to get to a Lord’s final. But they will have to do it the hard way after losing their opening Royal London Cup match of the season.
Despite 88 from Haseeb Hameed in his list A debut for the club, Lancashire were unable to defend 314-8 against Leicestershire at Emirates Old Trafford.
A short rain shower meant the visitors’ target was revised to 309 from 409 overs, and they scraped home with four balls left to win by three wickets.
A trio of half-centuries for Mark Cosgrove, Cameron Delport and Mark Pettini proved key for the Foxes.
And an unbeaten 32 for Tom Wells saw them over the line.
Not even the presence of a fired-up Jimmy Anderson in their side could stop Lancashire slipping to defeat.
He claimed 2-59, but crucially conceded 13 off his final over – the penultimate one of the Leicestershire innings.
“It was very disappointing to have come away with a loss,” said Hameed.
“I do think the rain helped the wicket out in the second innings.
“The ball skidded on, and it was slightly nicer to bat on I’d say.
“We probably got the wrong end of the conditions, but that’s how it works.
“At the time, we thought 314 was enough. Purely because we felt our bowlers would come into play with the skills they have.
“But those skills weren’t as beneficial as they would have been had the wicket stayed as it was.”
Lancashire will be frustrated at not taking full advantage of being ideally placed at 173-2 after 32 overs with Hameed and captain Liam Livingstone (39) going well.
Both fell in successive overs, and despite 39 from Dane Vilas and 47no off 30 balls from Jordan Clark, their final total proved not to be enough.
“If we are looking back and are honest, we probably lost wickets a bit too regularly throughout the innings,” added Hameed, who shared an 81-run first-wicket stand with Alex Davies (41).
“It would have been nice for a couple of us to get a really big partnership.”
Lancashire now face the small matter of a trip to Headingley to take on Yorkshire in their second group game on Monday.
And Hameed, who is keen to prove he isn’t just a four-day and Test player, admits last night was part of a learning curve for him.
“It was a good experience for me,” said the 20-year-old. “It was my first one-day game in a long time, and it was nice to get out there and experience that at this level. I’ve got a lot of learnings to take away.”