Outlaws woes go on with fifth straight Vitality Blast defeat

Choosing to bat, Outlaws eventually rose to 153-8 despite expert containment from Chris Green, the Australia T20 international, with 2-16 in his four overs of off-spin. Jack Haynes reached 45 before becoming one of two run outs in a sometimes naïve display and Patterson-White, batting at No7 on debut in this format, made a fine, unbeaten 44 from 21 balls.

But with Keaton Jennings making a skipper’s 64 to leave victory in sight, Lighting romped home by six wickets in the penultimate over as the Outlaws completed their first five games with a sobering fifth defeat.

Outlaws bowler Liam Patterson-White said: “It was a special kind of day for me in front of a home crowd. We could have done with a few more runs to make it a real contest.

“It’s been nice for a couple of the lads to get some runs here and they can take confidence into the rest of the matches. It was one of those things, really, where we didn’t quite post enough runs.

“I think I always normally like to be aggressive with the bat, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. And the pitch here was a bit slow but I was very pleased with my batting.

“I was happy with how the ball came out of my hand from the start when I bowled and I tried to keep it simple. I feel like I’ve made a bit of a statement here and hopefully it keeps me in the side for a few games to come.”

Lightning’s chase began stutteringly with both openers dismissed by the fifth over when Josh Bohannon sliced Matt Montgomery, the South African who plays for Germany and offers off-spin from an idiosyncratic action, to the infield. Olly Stone’s first ball, two overs before, had done Vince Wells for pace when he top-edged a hook to square leg.

But Jennings smashed the first ball of Stone’s next over for six and Lancashire reached the end of their ninth over with 82-2 where Nottinghamshire had laboured in contrast to just 46-4 at the same stage earlier.

Patterson-White’s left-arm spin was then introduced on a used pitch and his maiden performance grew yet more impressive when he removed Tom Bruce’s middle stump for 22 with his second ball.

Lightning, however, still posted their hundred by the 13th over with fully 47 balls available for their last 54 runs and Jennings close to a fifty he then brought up with some ease from 41 balls as Stone’s third over (the 15th) went for eleven, leaving the target just 31 runs distant.

But to his very evident annoyance at not finishing the job, Jennings, the captain, was bowled by Calvin Harrison, one of the six spinners employed in the match, and it was left to Matty Hurst and Steven Croft, 19 years his senior, to take them home with nine balls to spare. Hurst finished unbeaten on 33.

In two of their previous four games, the Outlaws had begun well but crashed catastrophically from 104-1 to 154 all out and 54-0 to 127 all out. This time the start proved a disaster.

Joe Clarke faced one ball from which he took a leg-bye before being run out in the opening over, attempting to come back for a second for Alex Hales after a misfield at mid-wicket. Hales then sliced to the backward point boundary for four in the fourth over from Saqib Mahmood whose fourth ball earlier was a lifting beauty that had undone Will Young.

From 22-3 it became 45-4 when Matt Montgomery, swinging across the line, was leg-before to a Wells leg-break and though 32 followed in 20 balls, a Lyndon James reverse-swipe saw him comprehensively bowled by Green before, next over, further confusion found Haynes run out as the non-striker when seeking a single that Tom Moores never considered.

With 41 balls left, at 80-6, late runs were at last sporadically plundered thanks to Patterson-White, one Jack Blatherwick over conceding 21 and the last, from Mahmood taken for 18, but a target of 154 never looked enough.