Lightning’s bowlers hit for six by super Nabi
LANCASHIRE Lighting suffered a fivewicket defeat at Emirates Old Trafford last night thanks to a savage and brilliant innings of 86 not out in only 32 balls by Afghan all-rounder Mohammed Nabi.
Coming to the wicket with his Leicestershire Foxes side on 92 for five in the 11th over and needing another 99 runs to win the game, Nabi tore the Lightning attack apart, hitting eight sixes and four fours as the visitors cruised home with eight balls to spare.
Ateeq Javid, Nabi’s partner in an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 102, made only 15 not out but finished the game with a pull for four off Matthew Parkinson in front of a crowd 9,525, most of whom were probably stunned by what they had just witnessed.
Much earlier in the evening Alex Davies had made a career-best 94 not out in the home side’s 190 for five and that total had looked plenty when the home side lost a wicket in each of the first three overs of their innings, leftarm spinner Mark Watt taking a wicket with only his second ball.
Colin Ackermann and Ben Raine repaired the innings to some extent with a stand of 77 but both fell to successive balls from Parkinson. That, though, only prepared the stage for Nabi, whose previous highest score in this year’s Vitality Blast was 32. The tall Afghan hit almost all of Lancashire’s bowlers for sixes and some of them cleared the boundary by more than 30 yards.
The centrepiece of Lancashire’s innings was the batting of Davies. The diminutive right-hander scored most of his early runs with ferocious drives as his side levied 77 runs in the six Powerplay overs and he then helped later batsmen consolidate that progress when the Foxes’ skipper, Colin Ackermann, opted to take pace off the ball.
Lancashire’s early surge was checked when Zak Chappell took two wickets in three balls, first having Karl Brown caught at cover by Harry Swindells for 29 and then bowling Arron Lilley for four, Indeed, it was not until the 17th over that Lancashire doubled their rich haul from the first six overs.
However, T20 debutant Josh Bohannon helped Davies add 58 for the third wicket in 7.3 overs and Steven Croft joined the opener in a 48-run stand for the fifth, but most of the burden fell on Davies who batted through the innings, hitting 11 fours and two sixes.
Lancashire Thunder’s winning run came to an end yesterday thanks to a seven-wicket defeat against Western Storm.
Thunder posted 153-7, but it was not enough.