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Croft hails Junaid

Stand-in skipper Steven Croft has hailed hero of the hour Junaid Khan as star in the making

Croft was paying tribute after the Pakistani helped to put the Lightning within touching distance of a place in the Friends Life t20 quarter-finals last night.

The 21 year-old left-arm seamer returned 2-12, which included a memorable last over as he defended seven runs, to turn their North Division tie against Northants Steelbacks at Wantage Road on its head in stunning fashion.

His performance, ably backed up by the rest of Lancashire’s five-man bowling attack, means that a win against Warwickshire Bears under the new lights at Old Trafford tonight will seal a last eight berth with a game to spare.

Croft said: “He’s definitely one to watch for the future. He’s a highly skilled bowler. He’s got a good bunch of slower balls and knows exactly what he’s doing.

“Pace is underestimated. It’s become quite a big thing to bowl slower balls in one-day cricket. But, if you’ve got players like Saj and Khany who hit the pitch hard, it can be as hard as anything to face.

“He showed how valuable a death bowler is. It was just back to basics in terms of good yorkers, which are hard to hit. He’ll learn a lot from county cricket, and hopefully we can learn from him as well.

“To have a bowler of that calibre for the rest of season, which it looks like we are going to now, is a massive boost for us.”

While Junaid will take the majority of the plaudits for last night’s win, Croft’s captaincy was also exceptional.

Without heaps of experience, the all-rounder rotated his five bowlers expertly as he and his team-mates scrapped like tigers to defend just 111.

“Over the last four or five games, we’ve only used five bowlers, and they’ve worked brilliantly,” said Croft.

Last night’s win was Lancashire 51st from 86 matches in the history of English Twenty20, which took them ahead of North Division rivals Leicestershire as the most successful outfit.

But the only thing that is missing is a piece of silverware to back up that statistic.

Croft, however, believes that is a distinct possibility this year.

He said: “We’ve peaked at the right time. With 16 group games, you’re going to lose some in there. But we’ve got on a roll now, and we’ve got some good momentum. One more win takes us to the quarters, and we’re not far off top form.”

Lancashire won last month’s 20-over clash at Edgbaston by ten wickets, and tonight’s encounter will be the first played under the new permanent lights at Old Trafford.

Croft added: “All the lads are looking forward to being the first to play under the new lights. It'll be quite special. Hopefully we can put in a good performance for the Old Trafford crowd.”

Squad:: Glen Chapple (capt), Karl Brown, Jordan Clark, Steven Croft, Gareth Cross (wkt), Junaid Khan, Gary Keedy, Farveez Maharoof, Sajid Mahmood, Stephen Moore, Stephen Parry, Luke Procter, Tom Smith

 Steven Croft was talking to Graham Hardcastle
Photo (c)  Tony Marshall/EMPICS Sport
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