Lancashire beat Northants at Edgbaston to win Natwest T20 Blast
Sunday 30 August 2015 13:21, UK
Lancashire won the Natwest T20 Blast with a dominant victory over Northamptonshire in the final.
The victory ends a 16-year wait for Lancashire to add a one-day title to the Old Trafford trophy cabinet.
One year ago at Edgbaston the Red Rose were defeated on the last ball by Birmingham Bears - but this year's event, on the same ground, provided fonder memories as their sixth appearance at finals day culminated in sprint-format success at last.
The platform was laid by a brisk 77-run opening stand between Ashwell Prince and Alex Davies and only a wicket-laden spell from David Willey and Shahid Afridi helped keep their total at 166 for seven.
Considering Northamptonshire's 135 for five had been the top score from the four earlier semi-final innings, it seemed an uphill task for the Steelbacks - particularly after semi-final heroes Willey and Richard Levi were removed by James Faulkner inside the power play.
Josh Cobb and Afridi's fireworks kept them in touch, yet not even that 52-run alliance could see them home as they finished on 153 for six.
Northamptonshire had reached finals day on the back of the quickest Twenty20 century ever struck by an Englishman when Willey let loose against Sussex, and this contest was his one-day swansong prior to his departure to Yorkshire in 2016.
It seemed as if a script had been penned when he despatched Faulkner into the Eric Hollies Stand but the Australian responded by removing Levi and then Willey for 16 and 24 in the space of four balls to catches in the mid-off and midwicket regions.
Neither Ben Duckett nor Steven Crook was able to contribute greatly, however Cobb and Afridi provided hope with an exhibition of brutal hitting.
They showed that with a six apiece - and when Afridi's slash back at Faulkner left the paceman needing to have his finger popped back in - en route to a 50-run fifth-wicket stand off just 29 deliveries.
Gavin Griffiths, who only made his senior Twenty20 debut in the semi-final, was given the ball late on and although a back-pedalling Davies dropped Cobb, he got Afridi to pick out Liam Livingstone on 26 as Cobb ended up 44 not out in a losing cause.
Red Rose openers Prince and Davies had lit up the final despite following two semi-finals of slow-paced scoring on a tepid track.
They raced beyond 50 inside the power play and had accrued 77 before promoted opener Davies' dance down to Cobb saw him bowled three shy of a half-century.
Karl Brown's lapse of concentration cost him a stumping in the next over with only one added to the score but Jos Buttler then cleared the ropes twice over long-on - the second an extraordinary display of power from a mistimed shot which easily cleared Cobb.
Northamptonshire needed wickets and called for Willey again ahead of time with 123 on the scoreboard and only two down after 14 overs.
Buttler scooped Willey to extra cover to exit for a 15-ball 27 and that triggered a remarkable mid-innings collapse as Lancashire lost four wickets in eight balls.
Prince, playing in possibly his final one-day game before retirement, cut Willey to Levi on 43 and Afridi sent back Faulkner and dismissed Livingstone with a brilliant googly in successive deliveries.
Afridi's fine spell, which returned three for 14, would have been better still had Steven Croft's toe not been back past the line when Duckett whipped the bails off.
Croft was eventually run out on nine in the final over but Arron Lilley despatched an Azharullah full toss through Cobb's grasp and over the ropes to add a maximum off the final delivery - which padded a score that always looked to be beyond the 2013 winners.
