Head Coach, Alan Richardson, took a wider look at the resilient performance of his side, as they slipped to a narrow seven-run defeat to Lancashire Lightning in their opening T20 Blast fixture of 2025.
With an impressive home record, winning at Emirates Old Trafford was never going to be achieved easily, but after coming so close, the Rapids will feel this might be one that got away.
“Apart from the result, there’s a lot of positives. I think the way that we started our campaign last year was nothing like this.
“To get incredibly close to winning the game at cricket here at Old Trafford, where they’ve won a lot of games cricket over the last two years, it’s a bit disappointing.
“They’ve won their last 10 out of 14 games here, they know how to play in their conditions. This is a little fortress for them. We got really close, you know, just disappointing we didn’t quite get over the line.”
After the home side got off to a flying start, the Rapids slower bowlers did a superb job of reigning in the Lancashire momentum, as they went from 79-1 after seven overs, to 157-6.
Fateh Singh, Tom Hinley and Ethan Brookes were all amongst the bowlers who not only took wickets, but helped change the momentum of the innings.
Richardson however, feels there may have been a few less to chase if his side had tidied up other parts of their game.
“If you look at a lot of the stats, we’ve matched them in a lot of things, but they probably outran us a little bit. In terms of, they scored a lot of twos in the power play, again, knowing how to play their conditions probably cutting off the angles in the field a little bit better than we did.
“Apart from that, both power plays were really strong. Okay, we came out of that feeling it was pretty chaotic when we bowled in it, but I’d like to think we caused that as well when we batted in it, and it was just those fine margins.
“It is difficult to say exactly what it would be, but when it comes down to a game where you lose by seven runs, the guys up there are probably thinking of a couple of things that they could have done slightly different.
“But, you know, I was really proud of how they played today. I thought we should take a lot of positives.”
Despite the run-chase falling just short, Kashif Ali, stood out with the bat for the visitors, playing an aggressive and counter-attacking knock on his way to 39 off 21 deliveries.
Clearing the boundary three times in his blistering innings, Ali set the foundation early on for his team to follow.
Unfortunately however, the loss of regular wickets and the difficulty to score runs in the middle overs left the visitors slightly short – something Richardson, acknowledged after the match,
“I thought Kash, did really well, by the looks of it the time to bat was in the power play and he took real advantage of that.
“I thought he played some strong cricket shots and played really well. He was supported really well by Brett and then we just stumbled a little bit, didn’t we?
“At halfway, where we lost a couple of wickets, and suddenly Gareth and Ethan are batting, and they hadn’t faced the ball between them, so that makes it a little bit more difficult.
“But I thought, you know, we kept sticking at it. And like I said, on another day, we probably get over the line. Incredibly disappointing to start like that in terms of a result, but in terms of a performance, lots to build on, I think.”
