Victory over Derbyshire can't save Lancashire in One-Day Cup

Lancashire's hopes of qualifying for the knockout stagesof the Royal London One-Day Cup ended despite a 25-run victory at Derby that dented Derbyshire's chances of emerging from the North Group.
Liam Livingstone scored 86Liam Livingstone scored 86
Liam Livingstone scored 86

Liam Livingstone’s 86 from 73 balls and Jordan Clark’s 51 from 40 balls took the Lightning to 290-8 with Duanne Olivier taking 2-36 from nine overs.A century opening stand from Billy Godleman (73) and Ben Slater put Derbyshire on course before Lancashire’s spinners turned the game as the home side ended on 265-8 but results elsewhere put the Lightning out.Derbyshire backed up their decision to bowl first with some disciplined bowling that restricted Lancashire to 42 from the first powerplay with Haseeb Hameed dropped at deep midwicket on two.Hardus Viljoen found some late movement to have Hameed caught behind for 26 in the 13th over but Livingstone picked up the tempo by pulling Matt Critchley for six and then lifting Alex Hughes high over wide long on.Hughes had Alex Davies lbw for 39 from 58 balls before Livingstone hit his third six when he pulled Critchley over the pavilion and into the car park.A ramp over the wicketkeeper took him to 50 from 35 balls and Dane Vilas improvised well after surviving a difficult running catch on nine until he scooped Ravi Rampaul to deep cover.Livingstone drove Viljoen straight into the stand and looked set for a hundred until he tried to ramp the fast bowler and was bowled in the 37th over.The Lightning were in danger of falling short but Clark responded impressively by reaching 50 from 39 balls before edging a big drive at Olivier in the 48th over.Godleman and Slater came into the game on the back of an opening stand of 182 at Northampton on Friday and they established another solid launching pad by taking 55 from the powerplay.Godleman reached 50 from 48 balls and Slater brought up the century stand by driving Matt Parkinson for six but was beaten by the next ball and lost his middle stump.Madsen survived a fierce return chance to Parkinson before he was run out, and when Jones pulled off a stunning diving catch at mid-on to remove Hughes, the momentum was shifting.Derbyshire’s progress had stalled against the spinners and Critchley’s attempts to break free against Stephen Parry saw him caught at long-off. Godleman also fell to Parry, and although Viljoen smashed four sixes in 34 ball 50, it could not save Derbyshire.Lancashire complete the irgroup fixtures with an Old Trafford Roses clash tomorrow.Head coach Glen Chapple praised the performance at Derbyshire but couldn’t hide his disappointment as Lancashire again failed to progress beyond the group stage in the Royal London One-Day Cup. The Red Rose boss said: “They had a good opening partnership and it looked like the pitch had flattened out, so it was a bit concerning but the lads hung in really well and I thought the captain (Liam Livingstone) used some really good tactical options against their left-handers early on.“The boys maintained their desire to fight and win and it was a quality display all-round. “Three from nine is difficult and it’s not an easy qualification. To lose three games in the manner that we did is very disappointing and we really do have to learn from that. We can’t hide because it’s happened twice in two years.”Derbyshire captain Billy Godleman said: “We most certainly would have batted first if we had known the wicket would play in the nature it did.“The moisture was there in the morning and the green tinge suggested it might do something for the first hour, and we all thought with the sun it would harden the surface and become easier to bat later on.”