11:33 PM IST, local time: Lancashire strike like lightning to beat Notts Outlaws and register their first victory of the Men's T20 Blast 2026. They win by 39 runs.
Yes, they batted well to put up a good score on the board. Yes, they had some experienced bowlers in Saqib Mahmood and Chris Green in their ranks. But when Jack Blatherwick walked off the field citing an injury, having bowled just one ball, the home team seemed to be in trouble. Not only were they going to end up being a bowler short, but also were behind in the contest then. Outlaws were 58/0 in 5.1 overs with both Joe Clarke and George Munsey going hammers and tongs.
But as a wise man once said, "character is not made in crisis, it is exhibited." Multiple players just seemed to level-up. Trusted with the responsibility of completing Blatherwick's over, Tom Hartley (4/20) led the charge. He delivered an excellent yorker to dismiss the opposition skipper and thus, the tide began to turn. Young Geogre Bladerson (2/35) and debutant Harry Singh (1/27) stepped up too and delivered laudable spells of 4 overs each. These bowlers, backed by some good fielding, kept things tight in the middle enforcing the opposition batters to attempt some fancy shots and that brought about the fall of wickets.
While nothing must be taken away from the Lancashire bowlers, Notts would want to reevaluate some of the strokes that their batters selected. The visitors went from 58/0 to 121/8 in 15.3 overs. Towards the end, Dillion Pennington — who had a nightmarish outing with the ball in the hand — scored an impressive 37* (18), but he was always fighting a lost cause.
Earlier, the home team had won the toss and elected to bat first. Keaton Jennings (31-ball-51), Matthew Hurst (40-ball-57) and Ben McDermott (27-ball-63*) had scored enthralling half-centuries to take them to a big score of 208/4 in 20 overs. Jennings set the tone, Hurst consolidated in the middle, and explosive McDermott, who scored his first half-century in a Lancashire tee, provided the final flourish. Benny Howell (1/24), Mohammad Ali (2/37) and George Linder (1/35) were the bright spots for Nottinghamshire with the ball in hand. However, the remaining 8 overs went for 108 runs and that made the difference.