Lancashire vs Kent, Review | Livingstone’s all-round performance steals the show in Manchester

Kent won the toss and chose to bat first in the crucial quarter-final encounter against Lancashire. However, it was the Lightnings who dominated the first four overs with Luke Wood striking on the first ball of the innings with a wicket of Twanda Muyeye and James Anderson dismissing Daniel Bell-Drummond as soon as he started to look dangerous at the crease. However, Zak Crawley and Joe Denly scored some runs towards the end of the powerplay to take the score to 54/2 after six overs. The partnership between the two started to look dangerous, with Crawley welcoming Jack Blatherwick with a maximum on the first ball and a boundary on the third. Unfortunately for the English batter, it was the pacer who had the last laugh as he dismissed him in the very next ball. After Crawley was dismissed for 27, the Lancashire spinners started to cause problems as Liam Livingstone got the wicket of Sam Billings on his first ball of the match, and a well-set Denly was dismissed on 28 by Tom Hartley. This put Kent in a spot of bother with the score at 81/5 after 10 overs. Despite losing half their side in the first ten overs, a partnership between Jack Leaning and Joey Evison helped the team to recover from a slightly tricky position. However, as soon as Evison started to find some rhythm, he was dismissed by Livingston in the 15th over with the Spitfires still struggling on a score of 116/6. The Lancashire franchise continued their dominance at the backend as Tom Aspinwall dismissed Leaning in the 17th over and got the wicket of Grant Stewart in the 19th, who started to look good at the crease on a score of 25 off 15 deliveries. Wood provided the final touches in the last over with a couple of more scalps to his name as Kent were finally bundled out for 153 at the end of their 20 overs.

Though the score looked below par on paper, the Kent franchise did not back down from the game as Stewart and Fred Klaasen caused problems with three quick wickets in the power play. Though Livingstone managed to improve the situation with a few big hits, the Lightnings were still in a dicey position with the score reading 42/3 after six overs. Despite the poor start, Livingstone and Ashton Turner took the attack to the bowlers in the middle overs to bring the game back in Lancashire's favor. The partnership of 53 was eventually broken by Evison, who dismissed Turner in the 10th over on a score of 22, but Lancashire were still in a commanding position with the score reading 87/4 at the halfway stage. Livingstone continued to play his fearless strokes and got the needed support from Michael Jones at the other end until Matt Parkinson gave Kent a sliver of hope in the 14th over. The leggie struck twice with the important wicket of Jones and dismissed Hartley for a duck in the space of two deliveries. Though that over caused a bit of a scare, Livingstone kept his nerves towards the end and finished the game with a boundary in the 19th over. As the England all-rounder remained unbeaten on a score of 85 off 45 deliveries, the Lancashire franchise won the game by three wickets and nine balls to spare to fix their spot in the semi-finals.

Liam Livingstone deservingly won the player of the match award for his terrific all-round performance. The 32-year-old experienced campaigner ended with figures of 2/21 with the ball and played a match-winning knock of 85.