Shaikh, Malik lead Warwickshire chase after leggie Tazeem stars again

Hamza Shaikh made 75 and legspinner Tazeem Ali took 3 for 39 to help Warwickshire beat Lancashire by five wickets at Aigburth and thereby consolidate their bid to reach the knock-out stages of the Metro Bank One Day Cup.

Having restricted the home side to 249 for 9 on a pitch that aided spin, 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 under-strength Lancashire was that Jack Blatherwick took a career-best 4 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 without scoring 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 1 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 Tazeem and the legspinner took his second wicket in his next over when Bell was leg-before for 46 when attempted to sweep.

Harris and Harry Singh then tried to rebuild the innings with a stand of 68 in 13 overs only for Singh to depart for 29 when he pulled Rob Yates straight to Alex Davies at deep midwicket and the left-handed Harris to be bowled for 41 by a lovely offbreak from Yates.

Tazeem took his third wicket when George Balderson pulled him straight to Zen Malik and the remainder of Lancashire's innings was dominated by Arav Shetty, who consolidated the good impression he has made during this competition by making 40 off 30 balls.

Shetty, though, was one of two wickets to fall to Jake Lintott in the 49th over of the innings and the experienced Warwickshire wristspinner finished with 2 for 62 from his ten overs. Yates finished with 2 for 44 but it was Tazeem's bowling that had taken the eye - and not for the first time this month.

Warwickshire's reply got off to a thunderous start, eight boundaries being struck and 44 runs scored in the opening four overs. But the visitors' progress was slowed, first when Ed Barnard was caught by Bell when trying to scoop Blatherwick for 21 and then when Yates tried to slap Blatherwick through mid-on but only found Balderson's safe hands and departed for 23.

Former Lancashire batter Alex Davies was then surprised by the lift Blatherwick extracted from the Aigburth pitch and was caught behind for eight to leave his side on 71 for three in the eleventh over. That, though, was as near the home side got to upsetting the form book.

Sheikh put on 97 with Malik, who reached his maiden List A fifty off 39 balls and seemed set for a century when his attempt to hit Blatherwick for six over mid-off only found the safe hands of Jones on the cover boundary and he departed for 72. Seemingly untroubled by this setback, Shaikh reached his own fifty off 74 balls and Warwickshire's victory was all but certain long before Shaikh was bowled by Luke Hands when his side needed five runs.