Notts Outlaws v Lancashire Lightning is washed out

Lightning were 157 for one after 33 overs with Alviro Petersen on 73 not out and Luke Procter unbeaten on 63 when the rain set in at one o’clock. That represented good progress against a high-quality Outlaws attack but the weather denied the good crowd on the Fylde any opportunity to see how the match might develop.

The showers only abated briefly and eventually coalesced into heavy persistent rain. It was no surprise when the umpires Nick Cook and Peter Hartley ruled out the possibility of further play just before 4.20.

Having been asked to bat first, Lancashire’s batsmen proceeded cautiously against accurate bowling from Harry Gurney and Luke Fletcher, who both made good use of any early moisture in the Stanley Park pitch.

However, the only wicket to fall was that of Tom Smith, who had his middle and off stumps rattled by a full length ball from Gurney in the fifth over of the innings. But the departure of the former Lancashire skipper for a 16-ball duck when the total was six was the only wicket to fall before the rain arrived.

Alviro Petersen and Luke Procter both played the moving ball with increasing assurance as conditions eased a trifle, Procter hitting a couple of fours in successive overs from Gurney, and Petersen cover driving Jake Ball to the boundary when the Nottinghamshire seamer was introduced into the attack.

The lively crowd at this excellently appointed outground enjoyed Procter’s six over long on off Fletcher but Petersen’s successive fours over midwicket and to the cover boundary off Dan Christian were quite as praiseworthy.

Lancashire’s second-wicket stand reached three figures in the 23rd over and a few minutes later the crowd were applauding both Procter and Petersen’s fifties, the latter coming off 69 balls, the former off one ball fewer.

Petersen and Procter’s partnership was worth 151 runs, which established a county record for List A games at Blackpool, when the umpires’ laudable efforts to keep the game on were finally defeated by the rain which graduated steadily from spitting through drizzle to downpour.