Hussey and Patel too much for Lancashire

Nottinghamshire 157 for 7 (Hussey 44*, Mahmood 4-21) beat Lancashire 131 (Smith 43, Patel 3-26) by 26 runs
Scorecard

Nottinghamshire made it four wins from their opening four matches in the Friends Provident t20 with a convincing victory over Lancashire by 26 runs. Captain David Hussey top-scored with 44 while openers Alex Hales and Ali Brown put on 63 for the first wicket as the hosts made 157 for 7 from their 20 overs at Trent Bridge.

Lancashire seamer Sajid Mahmood took a Twenty20 best of 4 for 21 to upstage former England team-mate James Anderson, who conceded 39 runs from his four overs without taking a wicket. Left-arm spinner Samit Patel then took 3 for 26, with three wickets in five balls as Lancashire stumbled in the middle overs and, despite 43 from Tom Smith, were bowled out for 131 with seven balls remaining.

Having batted second in all three of their victories in the competition so far, Nottinghamshire were asked to set a target by Lancashire skipper Glen Chapple on a pitch being used for the third time. But it made little difference to Hales and Brown, who put on 57 in the Powerplay overs, with Hales hooking Anderson for six in the fast bowler's first over.

Tall right-hander Hales impressed again with five fours and a six before he was run out by a direct hit from Simon Katich at point - although replays showed the bails had been knocked off by the keeper's gloves - and Brown was lbw to left-arm spinner Stephen Parry while Mahmood picked up three wickets in the final over.

Accurate bowling from Darren Pattinson and Stuart Broad put the visitors under pressure early on and Pattinson picked up a well-earned wicket when Paul Horton dragged a slower ball on to his stumps. Katich was lbw in Patel's first over and he followed up immediately to bowl Stephen Moore first ball, before castling Steven Croft with a beauty that was angled in before turning to hit the top of off-stump.

Smith and Nathan McCullum added 46 in five overs with McCullum hitting two sixes on his way to 26 but once Smith was spectacularly run out by Hussey and McCullum was caught on the boundary off Broad, Lancashire's chances were gone.

Broad sealed the win by having Parry caught at long on to keep Nottinghamshire top of the North Group with a 100% record.