lancashire 177 for 4 (Buttler 83, Livingstone 47) beat derbyshire 150 for 7 (45 came) for 27 races

The Lightning started their innings relatively conservatively, scoring 23 from their first three overs before Phil Salt went down in the fifth, caught on a point by Zak Chappell off Mattie McKiernan for 16.

With Livingstone joining Buttler at the crease, the fireworks began with the white ball specialists taking aim at Chappell, whose second over was 20 runs and included a towering six of the skipper landing on the roof of the newly built Emirates Old Trafford hotel.

Livingstone repeated the trick in the eighth over, this time depositing the ball on the roof of the already built Hilton hotel, before Buttler took charge by beating the unlucky Alex Thomson for three straight sixes in the ninth over.

Cameo appearances by Luke Wells and Daryl Mitchell added to the tally of six and with Livingstone going undefeated at 47, the Lightning came just one shy of his record number of highs in an inning with 12.

“I really enjoyed it,” Buttler said. “It was great fun batting with Livi. He puts a lot of pressure on the bowlers. Anytime you can extend the partnership like we did tonight, it’s hard to control the scoring rate.”

Faced with a daunting task, the Falcons started out brilliantly with starter Came doing his best to find the boundaries, but soon lost Luis Reece and Haider Ali for company as Tom Bailey’s pinpoint closers paid off.

When talisman Wayne Madsen found Luke Wood on the edge against Mitchell by just 16 on the score of 52 for 3, it felt as if a difficult task had become virtually impossible.

Wells accounted for the skipper du Plooy for 12 with a clever catch and toss before Came went off flustered to Tom Hartley for a well done 45.

A stunning catch from Rob Jones deep for McKiernan gave Wells a second wicket and with 38 runs required in the final over, the game was set for the Falcons as the Lightning were second in the Northern Group, requiring just one win from their last two games to qualify.