White's career-best puts Lancashire in a spin

Northamptonshire 287 for 8 (Duckett 98, Keogh 66, Mahmood 3-55, Buck 3-45) beat Lancashire 211 (White 6-37) by 76 runs
Scorecard

Graeme White spun Northamptonshire's Royal London Cup campaign into gear with a career-best six-wicket haul as Lancashire were comfortably beaten by 76 runs at Wantage Road.

On a wicket that had been used for almost 130 overs before Lancashire began their chase of 287, Northamptonshire's quartet of spinners all caused problems and White led the attack, enjoying turn and bounce to take six for 37 - the sixth-best return by a Northants bowler in List A cricket.

He began by bowling Tom Smith, missing having skipped down the pitch, and then having Karl Brown caught at mid-on. Brown got Lancashire's chase off to a fine start with a half-century in 46 balls and 13 fours but two balls after raising fifty, picked out Josh Cobb to fall for 51.

It prompted a slump from 86 for two to 124 for 6 as Jos Buttler fell for just two - bowled by Seekkuge Prasanna - and Liam Livingstone stumped after skipping down the wicket against White. When Steven Croft was soon run out attempting a single that was never available, Lancashire had carelessly subsided.

Luke Procter got the chase moving again in a stand of 54 for the seventh wicket with Jordan Clark. But with the required rate edging towards eight-an-over, Clark took a chance against White, came down the pitch, swung and missed and was stumped for 17.

White's five-for was completed with a beauty that turned past the outside edge into Stephen Parry's off stump and when Nathan Buck took a big swing and missed, White had a career-best and Lancashire were all out for 211. He also took five against Lancashire in the 50-over competition three years ago.

On a good batting wicket that yielded plenty of runs in the two T20s previously played on it, Northamptonshire's 287 for eight appeared only a par score. They struggled early on, slumping to 37 for three before a fine recovery from Ben Duckett and Rob Keogh. Having reset the innings to 174 for 3 with 15 overs to go, the home side did not quite kick on as Lancashire continued to take wickets.

But their position was laid by Keogh and Duckett. Three times Duckett swung Parry down the ground but his fifty in 79 balls with five fours was a largely restrained affair and most necessary to rebuild the Northants innings.

He shared a stand worth 125 in 25.1 overs for the fourth wicket with Keogh, who went past his own fifty - his first of the season - in 62 balls with four fours. He timed the ball very well throughout but fell in Buck's first over back into the attack, trying to lift a drive down the ground and only hoisting it to cover.

It was a smart recovery after Northants were plunged into trouble early by a fine opening spell from Buck. In just his second appearance of the season. Buck's first six overs conceded only nine runs and he took wickets with the first balls of both his second and fourth overs - Adam Rossington lost his off bail for just one trying to pull and Cobb tamely clipped straight to Alviro Petersen at short midwicket after a bright 22.

The start became better for Lancashire when Alex Wakely's poor run of form continued. After just 30 runs in his last four innings, he was bowled by Saqib Mahmood for an eight-ball duck.