Lehmann left frustrated by another defeat, but proud of the Steelbacks' fighting spirit

Having started with six wins on the bounce, Northants have now lost three on the spin and have dropped from top of the North Group to third with five matches to play, behind Durham and the Lancashire Lightning side that beat them by five wickets at the County Ground.

Chasing the Steelbacks' 177 all out, Lightning looked to be cruising to victory as England stars Phil Salt (80) and Jos Buttler (54) saw them to 143 for one in the 17th over.

But the Steelbacks kept plugging away and a late clatter of wickets, with George Scrimshaw claiming two of them, meant the match went down to the final over.

Lightning needed 11 to win from the last six balls, and the nerveless Luke Wells clubbed Luke Procter for 14 from the first three to end the contest.

And although Lehmann was disappointed to see his team suffer another home defeat, following on from the losses to Durham and Notts Outlaws, he was pretty pleased with their performance and their spirit.

"The players hung in there," said the Australian. "But we probably let ourselves down a little bit and there were a couple of half chances we could have grabbed, but they (Salt and Buttler) are class players.

"I was proud with the way we went about it and that we hung in there until the last over. We just got it slightly wrong at stages tonight, but if we keep playing like that we will be okay."

The Steelbacks were left to rue a disastrous end to their innings as they lost four wickets for zero runs in the final four balls of their 20, with Saif Zaib being run out and Saqib Mahmood claiming a tailender hat-trick.

And in the end, that collapse proved to be pretty crucial to the outcome of the match.

"We were probably 10 short with the bat, and not having batters in at the end hurts," admitted Lehmann.

"But overall it was a pretty good performance and a great game of cricket.

"We have things we have got work on and we have lost three in a row now, so we have to turn that round, but if we do keep playing as we are playing, then we will win some games."

Lehmann was also frustrated with Ravi Bopara and Justin Broad getting out within a few balls of each other having looked in control in a 60-run partnership in 5.4 overs, lifting their side from 38 for three to 98 for three - but then both getting out to as Northants slid to 100 for five.

"The Broad and Ravi partnership was perfect timing, but they just got out too close together," said Lehmann.

"We have spoken about that, and they know that, and although we want to take the game on and be brave, we just have to be that little bit smarter at times.

"Lightning bowled okay but I felt we could have capitalised on that a bit more, and as I say we could have got 10 or 15 more runs, and their batting was very good but we hung in there.

"The players keep fighting, and that is all I ask for, just to keep going right to the end and they did that tonight."

The Steelbacks are back in action on Sunday when they host Worcestershire Rapids at Wantage Road (start 3pm).