A standout knock of 91 by Billy Godleman was not enough to stop Derbyshire falling to defeat at the hands of Lancashire in the Royal London One-Day Cup.
The Falcons fell 27 runs short of victory after Liam Livingstone had led the way for Lancashire batting first, falling two runs off his maiden List A century as they posted 281-8 from their allotted overs.
In reply, Hamish Rutherford’s 47 aided Godleman in getting Derbyshire into a reasonable position midway through the chase, but wickets fell at regular intervals in the remaining overs and the Falcons were restricted to 254-9.
Lancashire won the toss and chose to bat first and Cotton (3-62) got into his stride in the sixth over when he trapped the dangerous Alviro Petersen lbw for three. Two overs later, Cotton struck again, his second lbw saw Karl Brown out for six.
Livingstone’s 98 took him nearly 32 overs to compile until Alex Hughes (1-38) managed to dismiss him lbw, two shy of his century, with the Lightning now 207-4.
Croft followed three overs later and then a glut of wickets fell as Luke Procter and Jordan Clark fell to Thakor (2-64) and finally Cotton claimed his third wicket of the day when Hughes caught Tom Moores (six) as the Falcons were set 282 to win.
Midway through the innings, Harvey Hosein had to leave the field due to injury, leaving Wayne Madsen to take the gloves for the final 21 overs.
Derbyshire lost an early wicket in the chase when Ben Slater was bowled by Jarvis for seven (4-31) in the sixth over.
Up stepped Rutherford (47) to partner Godleman (98) in a stand worth 71, until he too was dismissed just short of the half-century mark, caught by Saqib Mahmood off the impressive Stephen Parry (2-38) – Derbyshire 114-2.
Wayne Madsen made 26 before being caught at the boundary by Livingstone again off Parry (2-38).
Godleman (98) followed shortly after when he was bowled by Croft in the 37th over which ultimately spelt the end for Derbyshire as the Lancashire attack took apart the Falcons’ lower-order to restrict them to 254-9 and claim a 27-run victory.
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