[themaclad]

Day 1


ABANDONED

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Sounds like Hameed got his tin hat on today and dug Lancs out of bother. Saw a picture of the scoreboard with his 11 off 100 balls.

[themaclad]

Indeed he did Ska'd which is good news for England left work he was 5 not out about an hour latere he hurried along to 10!!!! done his bit for the county today by the sound of it not a good batting wicket after all the rain yesterday, sadly forecast not great for next two days but innings has given us a better chance than was possible earlier.

Specsavers County Championship Division One, Emirates Old Trafford (day two):
Lancashire 222-8: Hameed 85*; Porter 4-54
Essex: Yet to bat
Lancs 1 pt, Essex 2 pts
Scorecard

A gritty 85 not out by Lancashire's Haseeb Hameed limited the damage of an impressive bowling display by Division One leaders Essex at Old Trafford.

After day one was lost to rain, Jamie Porter (4-54) struck early to reduce second-placed Lancashire to 65-5.

England Test opener Hameed made only his second Championship fifty of the season to guide his side to 222-8.

Victory for Essex, who began 36 points clear of Lancashire, will take them close to a first title since 1992.

No play had been possible on Tuesday because of the wet conditions and there was another delayed start following further rain in Manchester, before play eventually began at 11:45 BST.

Fielding first having chosen not to contest a toss, unbeaten Essex seized control when Porter had Alex Davies caught at slip off the third ball of the innings.

Liam Livingstone, a double-centurion in last week's win over Warwickshire, was another top-order batsman to fall cheaply but 20-year-old Hameed remained resolute to boost his chances of being included in England's squad to tour Australia this winter.

His first 100 balls yielded only 11 runs and he took four hours to reach his half-century, sharing useful partnerships with Jordan Clark (20) and Stephen Parry (35).

A broken hand ended Hameed's participation in England's winter tour of India and, despite impressing in his early outings at Test level, his poor Championship form contributed to him not being selected for the home Tests against South Africa and West Indies this summer.

[themaclad]

Excellent performance to get up to nearly 300 shame Hameed didn't get his ton but working our way steadily through the Essex line up, zero chance of victory for either team.

Specsavers County Championship Division One, Emirates Old Trafford (day three):
Lancashire 290: Hameed 88; Porter 5-73
Essex 115-4: Chopra 40; McLaren 2-21
Lancs 3pts, Essex 3pts
Essex trail by 175 runs with 6 wickets remaining
Scorecard

Lancashire added valuable lower-order runs to post 290 all out against Essex before reducing the Division One leaders to 115-4 at Old Trafford.

Jamie Porter (5-73) completed a five-wicket haul by removing Lancashire opener Haseeb Hameed (88), who added only three to his overnight score.

Tom Bailey (34 not out) and Kyle Jarvis (26) put on 57 for the 10th wicket.

Captain Varun Chopra (40) top-scored for the visitors and Ravi Bopara added 34 but Lancashire ended the day on top.

Stephen Parry had Bopara caught at slip just before the tea interval, after which no further play was possible because of rain.

With bad weather also preventing any play on day one, a draw looks the most likely result between the two Championship title challengers.

Unbeaten Essex began the match 36 points clear of second-placed Lancashire, with both teams having three more matches to play this season.

[themaclad]

As predicted ended in a draw Essex declaring with eight wickets down to deny us the chance of another bonus point,the dastardly cads both sides end up with same number of points from the game Essex 36 points ahead three games left advantage to them, as Jimmy gets his 500th wicket.

Specsavers County Championship Division One, Emirates Old Trafford (day four):
Lancashire 290: Hameed 88; Porter 5-73
Essex 202-8 dec: Chopra 40; McLaren 4-45
Lancashire (9 pts) drew with Essex (9 pts)
Scorecard

The match between Championship title challengers Lancashire and Essex at Old Trafford ended as a draw, with further rain affecting the game on day four.

There was little prospect of a positive result once Essex, who began 115-4, reached 141 to avoid the follow-on.

The visitors declared on 202-8 to deny Lancashire the chance of a third bowling bonus point, meaning both teams took nine points from the match.

Essex remain 36 points clear at the top of Division One with three games left.

Both sides start the first of their remaining matches on Tuesday, with Essex facing bottom club Warwickshire and Lancashire taking on Somerset.

Essex could clinch their first Championship title since 1992 if they win at Edgbaston, but are reliant on Lancashire slipping up at Taunton.

[themaclad]

Lancs win 2nd XI title beating Hampshire on the Isle of Wight

[themaclad]

Somerset v Lancashire @ Taunton 12/9/2017 to 16/9/2017

As we head towards the end of the season Lancs head to Cider country still in the hunt for the title altough the weather again will play a part in this one as we seem to have all four seasons in one day at the moment.
Somerset have improved as the season has gone on having hammered hapless Warwickshire last week with the ageless Trescothick hitting a century.
Cricket on Sky Warwickshire v Essex being shown live, no doubt Hussain will be exceedingly happy if his county wins the title but can he get through four days without mentioning twenny twenny.
Finally it's almost six years to the day since we clinched the title at Taunton.

Lancashire remain in the hunt for the Specsavers County Championship title with three matches left to play, starting against Somerset at Taunton tomorrow.

The second-placed Red Rose travel to face the relegation-threatened Cidermen knowing they have very little wriggle room.

They are 36 points behind leaders Essex having been unable to make any ground on them during last week’s rain ruined draw at Emirates Old Trafford.

Somerset beat bottom side Warwickshire at Edgbaston to breathe life into their battle to beat the drop.

Lancashire will be without Jos Buttler against his former county because of England limited overs duty against the West Indies this weekend.

In-form Alex Davies will therefore regain the wicketkeeping gloves having been rested from the role in the clash with Essex.

This match is played over exactly the same dates, September 12-15, as the 2011 clash between these two sides at Taunton. And we all know what happened that year!

Fingers crossed for another title this season, even if it is a long shot.

The two sides have met on 154 occasions in this competition. Somerset have won 25, Lancashire 77 whilst 52 have been drawn.

When the two sides met at Old Trafford earlier this year it was the hosts who won by 164 runs.

After Somerset elected to bowl first Lancashire scored 109 all out of which Liam Livingstone contributed 68, while the pick of the bowlers was Craig Overton who claimed five for 47.

The visitors responded with 278 all out of which Dean Elgar made 113.

Batting for a second time the home side hit 463 all out with Livingstone making 168. Lewis Gregory was the pick of the bowlers with five for 74 from his 32 overs.

Chasing 294 for victory Somerset were bowled out for 130, James Hildreth making 43 and Marcus Trescothick 36.
TEAM NEWS

Somerset are without Jamie Overton and Lewis Gregory for the rest of the season and Director of Cricket Matt Maynard will pick a starting XI from the following squad: Tom Abell ©, Marcus Trescothick, Eddie Byrom, George Bartlett, James Hildreth, Steve Davies (wk), Peter Trego, Craig Overton, Dom Bess, Jack Leach, Tim Groenewald, Roelof van der Merwe, Paul van Meekeren.

VIEWS FROM THE DRESSING ROOM

Looking ahead to the match Somerset captain Tom Abell said: “Cricket is a huge confidence game and I think that the way we played last week will have done us the world of good, especially our batting. Having time at the crease and creating the partnerships in the way that we did was great to see.

“Lancashire are a quality side like everyone else in this division, so they will be a real challenge for us. However I think that last week will have set us up nicely going in to a massive few games.”

“It’s been a difficult season and as captain I’ve been desperate to contribute. I’ve been feeling pretty good and hitting the ball a lot better lately, so it was good to be able to contribute and the feeling of getting a win at Edgbaston was something very special.

“That was comfortably the best day of the season so far because there is nothing like winning four-day games, so we will be hoping for more of the same against Lancashire.”

Tom added: “The guys have been working really hard and are desperate to put things right so they will be giving it their all.”
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

[jjamez]

No Jimmy a for Lancashire, but I think theyll manage, its somerset missing both overtons and gregory, thats a massive blow to them, especially at this time of the season, the only plus is both Yorkshire and middlesex failed to pick up big points last time out so didnt get too far ahead

[themaclad]

No Buttler either got to play 50 over cricket for England possibly may have played his last game for the county

[jjamez]

Not like he contributes in red ball cricket. Really regressed last few years