Josh Cobb led from the front as Northamptonshire thrashed group leaders Lancashire by seven wickets at Wantage Road.

Lynn was ruled out of the fixture after failing a fitness test on his calf strain, but Cobb filled the void with plenty of cricketing pyrotechnics, his 57 off 32 balls including three sixes as the hosts chased down a target of 154 with 22 balls to spare.

Ben Curran provided great support with a more controlled half century of his own in a performance that lifts the Steelbacks to equal top of the North Group.

Graeme White and Ben Sanderson both returned two for 28, while Tom Taylor (one for 21) was even more frugal.

Lancashire opted to bat but struggled for fluency, losing openers Josh Bohannon and Keaton Jennings inside five overs, the latter caught at mid-on off Taylor.

Villas provided much needed momentum, sweeping White for six before hitting Freddie Heldreich back over his head for another maximum as he dominated a 50-stand with Steven Croft

White extracted revenge when he forced Villas to hole out at mid-on, but that brought Lancashire leading run scorer in the competition David to the crease.

The overseas quickly made his mark hitting Heldreich for four successive sixes, the first two endangering the commentary box before he twice hit inside out over cover, the young spinner gaining recompense when Croft lofted him to White in the deep from the final ball of the over.

David was then well caught by Curran making good ground running in off the impressive White, and after he departed Lancashire mustered just two boundaries in the remainder of their innings.

Emilio Gay (30), making his first appearance at the top of the order in T20, took two early fours off Croft, before evading a beamer from Richard Gleeson for which the seamer was warned. By the time the left-hander drilled Danny Lamb to David at mid-on, the Steelbacks were already comfortably ahead of the rate.

Curran took up the mantle with three fours off another Gleeson over, before Cobb belted Luke Wells into the crowd before clattering a short one from Gleeson into the scoreboard as the 100 came up inside 10 overs.

Cobb slapped Hartley for a flat, straight six and moved to 50 soon afterwards, his third in successive innings coming up from 28 balls before being caught in the deep off Matt Parkinson.

Curran’s own 50 came from 13 balls more and though he fell on the brink of victory, the Steelbacks coasted home for a statement win.