| Vitality Blast, Emirates Old Trafford |
| Lancashire Lightning 208-4 (20 overs): Mitchell 85*, Wells 38; Patel 2-41 |
| Notts Outlaws 186-5 (20 overs): Munro 60, Moores 41*, Montgomery 41; Wood 2-29 |
| Lancashire won by 22 runs |
| Scorecard |
Lancashire Lightning eased to a third T20 Blast win as they beat Notts Outlaws by 22 runs at Old Trafford.
Daryl Mitchell survived a dropped catch on seven to smash 85 not out off 41 balls as Lightning racked up 208-4.
Luke Wood (2-29) cleaned up Alex Hales for a second-ball duck and then removed fellow dangerman Joe Clarke (2) as Notts slid to 8-2.
Colin Munro smashed a rapid 60 and Tom Moores added an unbeaten 41, but Notts were restricted to 186-5.
The win took Lancashire two points clear at the top of the North Group and extended their formidable unbeaten T20 record at Old Trafford to 16 matches, stretching back to September 2020.
Lightning, who will have the returning Jos Buttler available on Thursday, raced to 49-0 after four overs thanks to Luke Wells (38) and Phil Salt (34) before Notts stemmed the flow to 87-3 at halfway.
The pivotal moment came in the 11th over when Conor McKerr allowed Mitchell’s miscue off Steven Mullaney to burst through his hands on the long-on boundary.
Mitchell eased to his fifty off 26 balls, and though Liam Livingstone’s first Blast knock of the summer was ended by Shaheen Afridi for 32, the New Zealand international then took the Pakistan paceman for three late sixes as the hosts piled up their highest-ever score against the Outlaws.
Alex Hales fell to a stunning in-swinging yorker, which uprooted his off-stump, from Notts old boy Wood before Clarke, who smashed 68 in the Outlaws win over Derbyshire 24 hours earlier, fell in Wood’s next over.
In a great night for Kiwi batters, Munro hit five sixes in a 29-ball cameo of 60, while Matt Montgomery (41) looked set for back-to-back fifties until he was run out by Mitchell.
Tom Moores also hit a breezy unbeaten 41, but the required rate proved too steep as two-time winners Notts fell to their first defeat of the campaign.
