Red Rose in danger of cup knockout

LANCASHIRE Lightning suffered their third successive defeat in the Royal London One-Day Cup after an unbeaten century by Northants captain Alex Wakely and will find it tough to qualify for the quarterfinals.

Needing 325 to win this 50-over match at Aigburth, the Steelbacks reached their target with 20 balls to spare and with six wickets in hand. Wakely was 109 not out when the win was confirmed by Adam Rossington’s four and six off Liam Livingstone in a match they never looked like losing.

Earlier in the day four batsmen had made fifties in Lancashire’s total and the most crucial was that of Jordan Clark who finished the innings with 76 not out off 51 balls and took 24 runs off Nathan Buck’s final six balls. Clark’s fine knock included eight fours and two sixes and it placed the finishing touches to a recovery which saw Lightning come back from 94 for five in the 19th over when Steven Croft was superbly caught at the wicket by Rossington off Muhammad Azharullah for 19.

The fightback was started by Dane Vilas and Ryan McLaren, who put on 86 for the sixth wicket.

Vilas and McLaren’s partnership was a List A record for Lancashire’s sixth wicket against Northamptonshire and a similar mark was established for the seventh wicket by McLaren and Clark’s 108-run stand.

Lancashire travel to Edgbaston tomorrow for their next match against Warwickshire.