LANCASHIRE secured their first Royal London one-day Cup win at the third attempt today by winning a low-scoring thriller against Middlesex at Blackpool.

The Lightning, chasing 162, won by two wickets with only two overs to spare after Tom Bailey had earlier taken 3-31 having been left out of the first two Group B fixtures.

Bailey struck three times with the new ball to leave the visitors at 36-3 in the ninth over, and although James Harris and Toby Roland-Jones added crucial lower order runs, their total was not quite enough.

Lancashire were heavily beaten by Essex at Chelmsford on Monday after Sunday’s washout at Sussex. They lost the toss and could only post 161-9 in bowler-friendly conditions.

At Blackpool, they won the toss on an uneven surface and bowled Middlesex out for 161 inside 47 overs, with Australian James Faulkner also returning 2-27 from 10.

Lancashire slipped to 93-6 in the 24th over of their chase, with two wickets for their former Pakistani left-arm seamer Junaid Khan on debut for Middlesex.

But Faulkner also played a key role with the bat, hitting 35, while Jordan added 29.

Earlier, Bailey had Dawid Malan caught behind off a delivery which bounced more than expected, forced Sam Robson to chop on and had Nick Compton caught by mid-on after a top-edged pull.

Left-armer Faulkner picked up the big wicket of Eoin Morgan caught behind and had James Franklin caught at short cover.

Gavin Griffiths and Clark also struck in economical spells as the score slipped to 83-7 in the 28th over.

Seamers Harris added 32 and Roland-Jones 29, sharing 50 for the ninth wicket before falling to successive deliveries from Stephen Parry to end the innings.

Left-arm quick Junaid then had Ashwell Prince caught at point with the first ball of his second over, leaving Lancashire at 4-1, and later had Karl Brown caught at second slip for 36.

Fellow left-armer Franklin also had Steven Croft caught behind and Paul Horton at second slip. And when Roland-Jones had Alex Davies caught behind, Lancashire were six down and still 69 away from their target.

Thankfully, Faulkner and Clark shared 47 to recover the situation, although it was game on again when they gloved Junaid and Harris to slip, leaving the score at 147-8 in the 43rd. Parry hit the winning runs at the end of the 48th.