Cricket: Nottinghamshire in seven-wicket victory over depleted Lancashire

May 17 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

A QUICKFIRE 69 not out from overseas batsman Adam Voges gave Nottinghamshire a seven-wicket victory over a depleted Lancashire – who lost Dominic Cork to an overnight back spasm – and stretched their lead at the top of LV County Championship Division One.

The hosts began the day on 33 for one, needing just 112 more runs to win, although Sajid Mahmood did give them a scare with two early wickets.

But 28-year-old Voges combined with Mark Wagh for an unbeaten fourth-wicket partnership of 111 to finish off the game before lunch.

Australian Voges thumped 14 fours off just 60 balls, while Wagh made 43 not out from 59 balls with six boundaries.

Lancashire went into the game with six seamers missing through injury or England duty and captain Stuart Law saw his options further reduced when Cork was forced out of action by a back spasm overnight.

That left the visitors’ hopes resting on former England paceman Mahmood and he responded in impressive fashion with two wickets in the opening over of the day.

Nightwatchman Paul Franks was leg before wicket off the first delivery, although there was a suspicion that the ball pitched outside leg.

That got Mahmood’s tail up and he demolished Matt Wood’s off-stump five balls later, beating the opener for pace with a fast, full-pitched ball.

But Wagh and Voges saw him off and opted for aggression against the medium-pace of Steven Croft, with Voges hitting the all-rounder for three fours in one over and then dispatching Mahmood for two more boundaries. The flurry of runs brought the target down to 62 and although Mahmood switched ends with left-arm spinner Gary Keedy, the 26-year-old could not find the breakthrough. Wagh twice cut him over the slips to the third man boundary before Voges struck three more crisp fours and then cut Keedy through point to finish the game inside the first 20 overs of the day.