Half-centuries from captain Keaton Jennings, Matty Hurst and Ben McDermott put Lancashire Lightning in command on 208-4 before four wickets by Tom Hartley earned a 39-run victory against Notts Outlaws at Old Trafford.
Lancashire opener Jennings led the side by example, hitting a solid 51 off 31 balls, which saw him surpass 2,000 T20 runs for Lancashire Lightning and become the fastest player to achieve this for the club.
His key partnership with Matty Hurst, who hit his highest score of the season with 57 from 40 balls, built momentum that continued through the lower order as the innings wore on.
McDermott made his home debut to the side in a fabulous fashion with an unbroken 63 of 27 balls, smashing six fours and four sixes in the space of three explosive overs, which gave Lancashire fans inside the sun-soaked ground something to cheer about.
It was a game of records as Joe Moores debuted as Lancashire’s youngest ever T-20 player at just seventeen years old and he truly left it all on the pitch, his 13 from 11 balls contained a superb reverse pull off Joe Pocklington’s spin bowling.
Moores joined Hurst’s steady pace and pushed the team to the 150 mark. Outlaws’ bowler George Linde made most of the key breakthroughs as he eliminated Jennings just after he reached his half-century with a superb full-toss that soared straight into the hands of Benny Howell.
However, this came with some pushback as most bowlers were very expensive to the Outlaws in the long run. Lightning ended with a spell of boundaries from the duo of overseas superstars McDermott and Chris Green (13-6), leaving them fairly confident heading into the second innings.
Medium pacer Benny Howell was the most economical of the Nottingham Outlaws bowlers, picking up a wicket and conceding just 24 runs from his four-over spell. South African all-rounder George Linde finished with figures of 1-35, while Mohammad Ali took 2 wickets for 37 runs.
Dillon Pennington was the most expensive of the Outlaws’ attack. He finished with figures of 0-61 and McDermott smashed 21 runs off a single over from the pace bowler.
Lightning ended with a spell of boundaries from the duo of overseas superstars McDermott and Chris Green (13-6), leaving them fairly confident heading into the second innings. Defending 208-4, the Outlaws had a huge hill to climb if they were to chase that down.
They made a steady start to the chase as George Munsey hit a fine 37 from 21 balls and captain Joe Clarke reached 21 from 15 with some easy singles and big boundaries before Tom Hartley (4-20) stopped their flow by removing Clarke with a googly that sent the bails flying and him back to the dressing room with his head hanging low.
It was then raining wickets for the home side as Munsey and fourth batter Tom Moores were removed in the same order by George Balderson (2-35) with two brilliant catches by Hartley, dipping and diving in the field.
Wanting to keep his skin in the game, Hartley then took out the trio of Joe Pocklington (9-5), Freddie McCan (13-16) and Benny Howell (2-3) in his last two overs, making him the best bowler of the day.
After that, the game was pretty much in Lancashire’s hands with Saqib Mahmood finishing the lower-order batters off in a dominant style. He took out Farhan Ahmed (7-5), who was caught by Jennings, leaving the Outlaws with 50 runs to chase in the final over, which secured them a safe six balls.
Outlaws finished on 169-9 as Lancashire Lightning cruised to victory in their opening home Vitality Blast match.
