Royal London One-Day Cup, Emirates Old Trafford
Lancashire 164-2 (28.4 overs): Hameed 65, Jennings 63
Northamptonshire 279 all out (50 overs): Holder 72, Keogh 66; Mahmood 6-37
Lancashire won by 45 runs (DLS)
Career-best figures of 6-37 from Saqib Mahmood inspired Lancashire to a rain affected 45-run win over Northamptonshire in the Royal London One-Day Cup at Emirates Old Trafford.
Mahmood bowled with pace and held a tight line throughout to become the fourth man to take six wickets in a List-A fixture – joining Glen Chapple, David Hughes and Colin Croft.
His early wickets of Josh Cobb (4), Richard Levi (10) and Alex Wakely (3) reduced Northamptonshire to 26-3 in the eighth over.
A 76-run fourth wicket stand between Ricardo Vasconcelos and Rob Keogh steadied proceedings as the Steelbacks rebuilt.
Leg-spinner Matt Parkinson, who has shown promise in the competition so far this year broke the stand, bowling Vasconcelos (50) out of the rough shortly after the South-African born batsmen reached his half century.
Another wicket ensued shortly after as former England seamer Graham Onions had Adam Rossington caught at point by Rob Jones for a duck.
A valuable 89 run partnership between West Indies captain Jason Holder and Keogh moved the score to 192-6 in the 41st over before the latter gifted Mahmood his fourth wicket – edging a loose cut shot behind to Dane Vilas.
Keogh astonishingly failed to hit a single boundary in his 97-ball knock – proving that he rotated the strike well and kept the scoreboard moving.
81 runs came off the last 10 overs as top-scorer Holder (72) and the tail-enders looked to fire their side beyond the 250-run mark.
The Steelbacks were all out off the last ball of the innings as former Lancashire player, Luke Proctor, skied Liam Hurt to Glenn Maxwell on the straight boundary.
Lancashire got off to the best possible start as openers Keaton Jennings and Haseeb Hameed combined to add 130 runs for the first wicket, rotating the strike well before the former was run out thanks to a direct-hit from Saif Zaib at square-leg.
Northamptonshire were without Holder in the field after he received treatment whilst batting earlier in the day.
Hameed fell five overs later for a well worked 65 before he edged former teammate, Luke Proctor behind to leave Lancashire on 154-2.
Three balls and two boundaries later, persistent rain along with thunder and lightning halted play with the scoreboard reading 164-2 and the umpires took the players from the field of play for what proved to be the last time.
WHAT THEY SAID
After his heroic performance, Mahmood said: “We knew there was rain around and having won the toss we were able to control the game.
“I tried not to try too hard today. Because I felt relaxed it came out a little quicker.
“It’s coming out well. I’m having Glen Chapple come up to me after every game telling me things that I can work on.” he explained.
Having won at Headingley on Sunday and at Old Trafford today, Mahmood praised the effort of his teammates and said: “The lads are working hard in training and it’s good when you can pull it off in front of the fans.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
Lancashire continue their One-Day Cup campaign on Sunday when they welcome Leicestershire to Old Trafford. They will be hoping to keep their qualification hopes alive after two wins on the bounce.
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