Bopara inspires Northants, Foxes edge out Lightning

BBC News

2 days ago

Ravi Bopara produced a T20 batting masterclass to inspire Northamptonshire Steelbacks to victory in an entertaining, high-scoring contest against Derbyshire Falcons.The ex-England batter hit an unbeaten 84 off 46 balls to help the hosts recover from 24-3 and set a target of 195, which Derbyshire fell just seven runs short of.Elsewhere in the the North Group, Leicestershire Foxes ended Lancashire Lightning's 100% winning start to the season with a five-wicket win in a hard-fought encounter at Old Trafford.Lightning, who were looking to make it four wins from four, set a target of 146 but the Foxes kept their composure to chase it down with nine balls to spare.
Match scorecards
Steelbacks remain unbeaten, Falcons still without a win
Northamptonshire Steelbacks arrived at the County Ground in Derby having won their first two games to face a Falcons side who lost their opener.It was Derbyshire who took charge in the early stages as Northamptonshire lost three wickets inside the opening five overs to slip to 24-3.But skipper David Willey and Bopara steadied the ship with a quickfire 75 partnership as Willey hit three sixes on his way to 37 before he holed out to Pat Brown at deep mid-wicket off Martin Andersson's first ball.Saif Zaib fell for seven but Bopara stepped on the gas, ably supported by Lewis McManus who contributed a useful 29 from 17 balls.The Steelbacks racked up 67 runs from the final four overs, including 24 off the last of the innings from Zak Chappell in which Bopara hit three sixes and a four.It left the Falcons with something of a mini mountain to climb, but one which they so nearly did.Derbyshire's reply could not have got off to a worse start when Aneurin Donald spooned one up to Luke Procter off Willey to be dismissed after two balls for the second game in a row.Soon, 0-1 became 12-2, and then 33-3 as David Lloyd and Wayne Madsen both fell without really troubling the scorers.Enter Samit Patel. An excellent partnership of 114 between Patel and opener Caleb Jewell gave the Falcons a sniff of pulling off an excellent chase until Jewell was caught by Justin Broad off Procter for 71 from 44 balls.Falcons skipper Patel was not to be perturbed and battled on valiantly to try and drag his side over the line, smashing four sixes and nine fours as he made an unbeaten 83. Ross Whiteley came in at the end to hit 15 from 8 balls but Derbyshire were six runs shy of at least tying a thrilling contest.
Ahmed outshines Anderson at Old Trafford
James Anderson marked his first T20 game for 11 years in style on Sunday, taking 3-17 as Lancashire beat Durham by four wickets in a final-ball finish.But there was to be no such joy upon Anderson's first game in the competition at Old Trafford since his return to the T20 side.Skipper Keaton Jennings got the hosts off to a flyer - despite his opening partner Luke Wells going for five - as he smashed 39 from 19 balls.Leicestershire did well to stem the flow though and took wickets at regular intervals throughout to ensure Lightning could not build any real momentum.Leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed, who is due to join up with England for their T20I series against the West Indies later this week, bowled wonderfully for the Foxes.He took Michael Jones' off stump with a ripper, and then bamboozled Australian batter Ashton Turner with a fantastic googly on his way to 3-16 from his four overs.Liam Trevaskis also did some great work with the ball, taking 2-17.Chris Green hit 36 towards the end of the innings for Lightning, including running four off the final ball - a rarity in T20 matches - to leave the Foxes needing 146 to win.
By the end of the powerplay in Leicestershire's chase, the game was in the balance at 52-3 - Anderson took another T20 wicket with Sol Budinger caught in the deep by Josh Bohannon, and skipper Louis Kimber was making a fist of it with the bat.He hit 40 from 22 balls, including three fours and three sixes, before he edged a dolly to Luke Wells at backward point off Tom Hartley.Ahmed then did his bit with bat in hand too as he and Ben Cox put on 59 runs for the fifth wicket to swing the tide in Leicestershire's favour.It left Trevaskis and Cox needing less than a run a ball in the final five overs after Ahmed was bowled by Charlie Barnard.Those two saw it home fairly comfortably in the end as Cox ended on 38 not out and Trevaskis on 22. Lancashire stay top of the North Group on net run-rate ahead of Northamptonshire in second, while Leicestershire climb to third and Derbyshire remain in seventh.