Steelbacks boss Ripley targeting '˜great couple of days' as Lightning clash is abandoned

Northants Steelbacks and Lancashire Lightning were frustrated by a Manchester storm of biblical proportions which put the Emirates Old Trafford outfield under water tonight.
There was no play at Old TraffordThere was no play at Old Trafford
There was no play at Old Trafford

A repeat of last season’s final in the NatWest T20 Blast was called off just before 6.10pm.

It only started raining just after 4pm and the outfield was virtually flooded half an hour later.

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Northants were aiming to complete a second win over Lancashire in nine days, having beaten the Lightning in the Royal London One-Day Cup at Wantage Road last Wednesday.

They have now won three, lost one and had one no result in their five Blast matches and sit second in the North Group, a point behind Worcestershire.

They are back in action against Durham Jets at Wantage Road tomorrow.

Northants head coach David Ripley said: “The weather is frustrating, but we do have a few injuries at the moment and if there’s going to be a game rained off, this isn’t a bad one.

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“They have (Martin) Guptill and (Jos) Buttler available and we’re missing both our overseas players, so we’ll take a point.

“But we did play well against them last week, and that was probably our best performance of the season.

“We’re in a good position now with a home game to come against Durham tomorrow night.

“They are a bit more unpredictable. They have some really good games and then others where they don’t play so well.

“If we can win tomorrow on top of the point here, that will be a great couple of days for us.”