Blatherwick stars but young guns fall short

HAMZA Shaikh made 75 and leg-spinner Taz Ali took three for 39 to help Warwickshire beat Lancashire by five wickets at Aigburth and thereby consolidate their bid to reach the knockout stages of the Metro Bank One Day Cup.

- 

Having restricted the home side to 249 for nine on a spinner's pitch, Ed Barnard's side reached their target with 61 balls to spare, Kai Smith finishing on 45 not out having put on 77 with Shaikh.

The one consolation for a severely understrength Lancashire was that Jack Blatherwick took a career-best four for 48 but Marcus Harris's side have now won just one of their seven matches in this competition and their own slim chances of making further progress had vanished with Wednesday's defeat to Durham.

Michael Jones was caught behind for nought off Ethan Bamber's second ball of the game but George Bell and Kesh Fonseka then batted positively against the Bears' seamers to give their side a respectable platform of 69 for one after 15 overs. However, 33 of the next 35 overs were bowled by the Warwickshire spinners and scoring runs never looked as straightforward as it had done in the first hour of the game.

Lancashire's second-wicket pair put on 87 before Fonseka was caught at cover by Shaikh for 43 when driving Ali and the leg-spinner took his second wicket in his next over when Bell was leg-before for 46 when attempted to sweep.