Battered Northants fight back
NORTHANTS needed a response after being flayed to all parts in their One-Day Cup opener and got one as Graeme White produced the county’s best limited overs figures by an individual for 11 years.
The left-arm spinner claimed 6-37 as the Steelbacks skittled Lancashire Lightning out for 211, two days on from being battered to the tune of 445-8 by a record-breaking Notts Outlaws.
White has often been the support act rather than the match winner – he went 0-33 after being handed just three overs at Trent Bridge – but on a used Wantage Road pitch, took centre stage to rip the heart out of the Lancashire batting line-up.
“It’s been coming out well for the last few months really but I’ve not been having much luck or rub of the green,” said the 29-year-old.“You have days when you think you’re bowling well and you get hit all over the place, then you turn up on a day like this one, it all clicks and happy days.
“It was a used wicket, you’re never sure if it’s going to break up enough to spin but we got lucky with it and everything fell into place, I felt like I was bowling well. But to get the boys over the line was the main job.
“We put up a great fight on Monday at Trent Bridge and to come here and win after that is the main thing.”
Lancashire were well placed at 67-1 in a chase of 288 thanks to Karl Brown’s 51 but it was the introduction of White and Sri Lankan leg-spinner Seekkuge Prasanna that turned the contest.
White removed three of the top four, Tom Smith, Brown and Liam Livingstone, while Prasanna took the prized wicket of Jos Buttler for just two to leave the visitors 98-5.
Captain Steven Croft ran himself out, but a defiant stand of 54 between Luke Procter and Jordan Clark kept hopes alive only for White to return and have Clark stumped immediately. Stephen Parry and Nathan Buck followed in quick succession before Procter was the last man out for 52 as Lightning finished 77 runs short.
Northants’ healthy total was largely thanks to Ben Duckett, whose highest limited overs score of 98 saw his side recover from a sticky start of 37-3.
In the company of Rob Keogh (66), Duckett led a fine recovery with a stand of 137 in 25 overs that set a platform for the last 15.
The 21-year-old looked set for a maiden limited overs century but he dragged on off Saqib Mahmood, who claimed 3-55 on his second one-day appearance.
Buck also took three wickets, but 30 of the 45 runs he conceded came in his last two overs as Prasanna led Northants’ late charge up to 287-8 with a 17-ball 30.
“We might have misread the pitch slightly,” Croft said.“It was almost like we wanted to win it in 30 or 40 overs, whereas 50 overs is a long time to bat.You don’t have to play a boring innings, but it didn’t need the bish, bash, bosh of the new sort of one-day games we’ve been seeing.”