[themaclad]

Hard to know what is a good score on there suspect Northants may be 50 to 60 shy, they started well but there was a long injury break which did us a favour also immense credit to Vasconcelos who walked.
Newton batted well but was always stuggling with what looked like a groin injury, had them struggling but the two Luke's Procter and Wood got them out of trouble, Wood getting 66 and Procter a good 48.
Gleeson bowled well put the ball in the right areas as did Onions, fielding was a bit hit or miss, Jennings dropped a simple one ion the slips but otherwise well in this game.
Left before we batted los Hameed usual way 29-1 could be an interesting game

Her's a picture of Lancs celebrating the wicket of Keogh

[themaclad]

Specsavers County Championship Division Two, Emirates Old Trafford (day two)
Northants 230: Wood 66; Gleeson 5-63, Onions 4-45
Lancashire 276-6: Jennings 97, Jones 67; Wood 3-44
Lancashire (5 pts) lead Northants (3 pts) by 46 runs
Match scorecard
Keaton Jennings made 97 for Lancashire against Northants, but the England Test opener's dismissal sparked a second-day collapse by the hosts at Old Trafford.

Lancashire ended day two on 276-6 in their first innings, leading by 46.

Jennings and Rob Jones (67) added 152 in a patient third-wicket stand, but four quick wickets with the second new ball put Northants back in contention.

On-loan all-rounder Luke Wood followed his batting effort of 66 on day one by taking 3-44 with the ball.

Relive day two's Championship action
Jennings scored five half-centuries in 10 innings during Lancashire's run to the One-Day Cup semi-finals and carried that form into the four-day format.

The opener was given a life in the final over before tea when, on 92, his lofted sweep off spinner Rob Keogh was dropped at fine leg by Ben Sanderson.

But the left-hander was unable to take advantage of that escape and was removed soon after the interval, caught behind off Sanderson in the first over with the second new ball.

Lancashire lost four wickets for 21 runs, with Wood ripping out Liam Livingstone's off stump and then trapping Jones lbw, before captain Dane Vilas (30 not out) and Tom Bailey (42 not out) took the home side into the lead with an unbroken seventh-wicket stand of 67.

Lancs batsman Rob Jones told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"It's been a tough day's cricket. If you bowl in good areas at the top of the stumps it's quite hard to score. There were periods that you just had to get through.

"Unfortunately, we lost a few wickets with the new ball. But Tom Bailey and Dane Vilas batted brilliantly there to get us into the lead.

"It's good to get in a battle like that. All you need is two or three fours to get the momentum back. Keaton is great to bat with. We just say "next ball" to each other and that's all you have to concentrate on."

Northants fast bowler Ben Sanderson told BBC Radio Northampton:

"It was tough out there after the new ball wore off and they batted well. We bowled very tight and concentrated on hitting the top of the off stump.

"They didn't come at use much, which I thought was quite strange. They kept us in the game and we felt that if we got a couple of wickets, we'd be right back in the game. And that's what we did do.

"We'venot had much luck but Luke Wood bowled brilliantly with the new ball and it was nice to get a few late ones. If we can get Vilas out, we feel Lancs have got quite a long tail."

[themaclad]

Lancs ended up with a lead of 185, with Bailey 68 and Vilas 97 doing the damage, that was Bailey's highest score and teh partnership between the two was the highest for the 7th wicket against Northants.
Northants were bowled out for 200 with Gleeson taking 5-50 we need 16 to win tomorrow

[themaclad]

Won by 10 wickets go second behind Worcestershire who arrive at OT next week

[themaclad]

Lancashire v Worcestershire
Specsavers County Championship, Division Two
Emirates Old Trafford
Monday May 20 - Thursday 23, 11am

Lancashire are right in amongst the early pacesetters in Division Two having beaten Middlesex and Northamptonshire to make an impressive start to their campaign. Now, Worcestershire, another side in fine form, lie in wait.

A third win on the spin for the Red Rose would really set them up as they chase their first target of a top three finish for promotion.

Glen Chapple and Dane Vilas would have been delighted by the performance to beat Northants in three and a bit days at Emirates Old Trafford last week, a win led by Richard Gleeson’s 10-wicket return on home debut.

Worcestershire, alongside Lancashire and Middlesex, were tipped by many in pre-season to be in the thick of promotion race, and wins over Leicestershire and Durham, the latter last week, have strengthened that theory.

They were relegated alongside Lancashire from Division One last season.

TEAM NEWS

It is hoped Jimmy Anderson will come back into contention after suffering a knee injury during last Sunday’s one-day defeat at Hampshire.

“I know he has been doing a lot of work and rehab with the physio,” said captain Dane Vilas.



“He’s been having a little bowl out there in the middle just to see how his knee holds up, and hopefully he is available. If he is, to have him in your side is gold.”

If Glen Chapple and Vilas opt for a frontline spinner, Matt Parkinson will come into contention.

OPPONENTS

Worcestershire and Lancashire have enjoyed very similar starts to 2019.

Both sides have won two from two in the Championship and reached the knockout stages of the Royal London one-day Cup earlier this month.

The only difference was that Lancashire went one stage further in the RL50 by reaching the semi-finals. Worcester were knocked out in the eliminator match by finalists Somerset at New Road last weekend.

Captain Joe Leach is fit again following a year out with a back injury, while experienced Australian batsman Callum Ferguson has arrived to assume overseas duties.

Riki Wessels (118 in the first innings) and seamers Charlie Morris and Josh Tongue were their stars in the win over Durham at New Road last week.

Morris claimed six wickets in the first innings and Tongue five in the second.

In the opening round innings win over Leicestershire at Grace Road last month, Daryl Mitchell hit a century alongside New Zealander Hamish Rutherford, who has since departed. Tongue and Morris were in the wickets again, highlighted by Morris’ seven-for in the second innings.

PREVIOUS MEETING

Lancashire and Worcestershire won a game apiece in Division One last year; Worcester at New Road in June and Lancashire at Southport in August.

For large parts of the three-day Southport game, Worcester looked like completing the double.

They elected to bat and made 222 before bowling Lancashire out for 161, led by five wickets for Josh Tongue.

A second-innings 252, built on a series of useful contributions (Wayne Parnell’s 50 was the highlight) set a testing target of 314 late on day three.

And having been reduced to 63-4, Lancashire were right up against it in a battle of two struggling sides. Thankfully, however, up stepped Dane Vilas and Josh Bohannon to secure a thrilling four-wicket win.



Vilas hit a fabulous unbeaten 107 and Bohannon 78 not out on a ground where he had previously played Liverpool Competition cricket.

They advanced the hosts from 178-6 with a partnership of 139.

It signalled both the highest successful run chase at Southport and the record seventh-wicket stand in first-class cricket at Trafalgar Road.

The win was secured at 5.30pm on the third day, with Vilas passing 7,500 first-class runs in the process in Lancashire’s final home game of the season.

WHAT THEY SAID

Red Rose skipper Dane Vilas knows Lancashire will have to be at their best to beat Worcestershire this week.

The wicketkeeper batsman also wants them to make Emirates Old Trafford a tricky place for visiting teams to come.

He said: "Worcestershire are a side who are also playing well and are used to winning four-day games, especially in this division.

“They beat us, and we've beaten them in the past few seasons, so we're 1-1 at the moment. We know it's going to be a tough game.



“They've got some good players in their side so it's going to be a good battle for us. Hopefully, if we keep playing our cricket and keeping our standards we can get one over them.

"We want to play well here at Emirates Old Trafford.

“It is a great place to play, and we want to make it uncomfortable for other teams coming here.

“They should know we play well here, and it is important for us to have that psychological boost. We want to be a team that is hard to beat in any competition, a fighting team and make sure we do the right things.

“It's important to cash in on your home games because you know your conditions.”

[themaclad]

Specsavers County Championship Division Two, Emirates Old Trafford (day one):
Worcestershire 172: Parnell 63, Leach 36, Cox 32; Anderson 5-25, Onions 3-52
Lancashire 88-5: Parnell 3-19
Lancashire (3 pts) trail Worcestershire (1 pt) by 84 runs
Scorecard
England legend James Anderson reduced Worcestershire to 38-7 in a stunning morning for Lancashire, well supported by ex-England paceman Graham Onions.

But South African Wayne Parnell then spearheaded a Pears fightback, top scoring with 63 to help his side reach 172, before then taking three wickets.

After nightwatchman Anderson became Parnell's third victim in the day's final over, Lancashire closed on 88-5.

That left them still 84 behind in this Division Two top-of-the-table clash.

Parnell shared half-century stands for the eighth and ninth wickets with Ben Cox (32) and belligerent captain Joe Leach (36 in as many balls) as the Worcestershire recovery coincided with Anderson and Onions coming out of the attack for a well-earned rest.

Anderson, warming up nicely for this summer's Ashes series having recovered from his nasty injury in the One-Day Cup win at Lord's, bowled unchanged for 12 overs to take 4-14 in his first spell, while fellow 36-year-old Onions all but matched him with 3-25 in a 10-over stint.

Richard Gleeson had Cox caught behind off an inside-edge, before Anderson returned to have visiting skipper Leach caught behind - to mark his 46th five-wicket haul in first-class cricket, 18 of which have been in Lancashire colours.

Tom Bailey then wrapped up the innings by bowling Parnell - but Lancashire did not find it much easier in reply.

Australian debutant Jake Lehmann, deputising for Joe Burns, who has returned to Australia for personal reasons, was one of five Red Rose wickets to fall after tea.

Leach had England opener Keaton Jennings well caught high to his left by Tom Fell at fourth slip, before Parnell had Lehmann sharply caught at first slip by Riki Wessels.

Charlie Morris then trapped Haseeb Hameed lbw for 29 before Parnell capped a memorable day when, in successive overs, he had Rob Jones (25) caught by Daryl Mitchell at the second attempt at second slip, then got Anderson too.

England's Jimmy Anderson told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"It's a tricky day to assess. Obviously we're hugely disappointed to lose the two wickets at the end there. We were in a decent position at 82-3. But they're right back in the game.

"When they were 38-7, we could have bowled them out a lot cheaper than we did. But that's just the nature of the game. Parnell batted really well to get them up to a decent score.

"It was a good test for the bruised knee. I enjoyed that first partnership with Graham at the other end.. We asked a lot of questions and got some good rewards.

"I wouldn't really want a 12-over spell every time I open the bowling, but I got into a rhythm. It was right we kept going."

Pears all-rounder Parnell told BBC Hereford & Worcester:

"Lancs bowled really well first up, but we managed to scrap an ok score and take a few wickets, which is really good. It's probably a fairly even day.

"When I was in, I was in with Coxy. It was just about trying to get to 100 up first. Then, after that, Leachy came in and looked like he was striking it well from ball one.

  The terror track

It was just about trying to get a decent score and trying to make them bowl more overs. Jimmy and Onions, their first spells were very long. We wanted to get more overs into them.

"It was good with the ball as well. When I was batting, I felt comfortable at times, but there's always a ball that does a bit. That was our game plan. To keep it in good areas. And they never got away from us from a run-rate point of view."

       Jimmy Anderson bowling

[themaclad]

The vital period of this game could be Livingston taking 20 from an Ed Barnard over, gave us a slender lead, have to say Parnell bowled excellently backed up with some smart Worcester fielding. Batting was never easy if you got in you coukld score but there were some unplayable deliveries, got to restrict them to less than a 150 lead, could be interesting tomorrow


Gleeson bowling

Specsavers County Championship Division Two, Emirates Old Trafford (day two):
Worcestershire 172 & 149-9: Fell 40; Gleeson 4-35
Lancashire 201: Livingstone 69, Vilas 39; Parnell 5-47; Morris 4-52
Worcestershire (3 pts) lead Lancashire (4 pts) by 120 runs
Scorecard
Lancashire made late breakthroughs against Worcestershire as 14 wickets fell on day two at Old Trafford.

After resuming on 88-5, Liam Livingstone (69) helped the hosts rally to 201 all out - and a lead of 29 runs - as Wayne Parnell ended with 5-47.

The Pears fell to 99-7 in their second innings before Ed Barnard (18) and Parnell (25) led a recovery.

But both players departed before stumps as Worcestershire closed on 149-9, only 120 runs ahead.

Livingstone and Dane Vilas (39) put on 98 for Lancashire's sixth wicket in the morning before Parnell removed them both and Charlie Morris (4-52) cleaned up the tail as the Red Rose county lost their final five wickets for 15 runs.

Tom Fell (40) and George Rhodes (26) were the only men in the Worcestershire top six to make double figures as the visitors struggled to build a second-innings lead.

Barnard and Parnell appeared well set in the evening session but the former was bowled by a leg-break from Livingstone and Richard Gleeson (4-35) then picked up the wicket of Parnell with the final delivery of the day.

Both sides had won their opening two Division Two matches heading into the game.

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[themaclad]

Need three to win with 6 wickets and a day and a half to spare, great partnership by Jones and Vilas to take them from 32-4 to virtual victory, the Gods were on our side as Parnell couldn't bowl due to a hamstring injury, first time since 1995 we have won three opening games of the season and we go top.
Vilas in my view is a great appointment as captain.
Fair play to Worcester made it difficult but we take the victory

[themaclad]

Gloucestershire v Lancashire

Venue Cheltenham College



Date 27/5/2019 to 30/5/2019

The College Ground is a cricket ground in the grounds of Cheltenham College, England. Gloucestershire County Cricket Club have played more than 300 first-class and more than 70 List A matches there. It also hosted a Women's One Day International between England and Australia in 2005.

The College Ground first hosted first-class cricket in 1872 when Gloucestershire played Surrey; Gloucestershire won the game by an innings and 37 runs thanks largely to W. G. Grace's match haul of 12-63. In August 1876, Grace became the first man to score a triple century in a county match when he hit 318 not out against Yorkshire; he had made the first triple hundred in all first-class cricket for the Gentlemen of Marylebone Cricket Club at Canterbury just one week earlier.[1]

The Cheltenham Cricket Festival, held during the school holidays, has been a part of Gloucestershire's season ever since the 1870s.[2]

[themaclad]

The Red Rose sit top of Division Two having won their first three matches of the season, something they haven’t done since the days of 1995 when Mike Atherton opened the batting, Wasim Akram was overseas and Mike Watkinson was captain.

Gloucester are unbeaten having won one and drawn two and sit third in Division Two, 20 points behind Lancashire.

They consigned Durham to a fourth straight defeat at Emirates Riverside last week, their first win of the campaign.



TEAM NEWS

Jake Lehmann is staying with Lancashire as their overseas player in Championship cricket.

Lehmann, a feature in the second half of the recent Royal London one-day Cup, debuted in the Championship against Worcester last week having replaced fellow Australian Joe Burns, who returned home for personal reasons.

Alex Davies comes back into contention having suffered a broken thumb in the opening round Championship win against Middlesex at Lord’s last month.



OPPONENTS

Gloucestershire have not played Division One cricket since 2005, but will be hoping their promising start to the season translates into promotion later this summer.

They suffered a recent injury blow with the news that Australian overseas seamer Dan Worrall has been sidelined for the entire summer because of a back injury.

He has not yet been replaced, but they have signed Yorkshire seamer Josh Shaw on loan for his fourth spell with the Bristol based county.

Their top three batsmen of captain Chris Dent, Miles Hammond and wicketkeeper James Bracey are all highly rated, while experienced left-arm quick David Payne leads their bowling attack. He took six wickets in the match against Durham and has taken 12 in all.

Bracey is their leading run-scorer with 299, including a century. All-rounder Ryan Higgins is their only other man to have posted a Championship ton this summer.

Lancashire-born Iain Cockbain is yet to feature in the Championship this season.

Coached by former England spinner Richard Dawson, Gloucester play three Championship matches at Cheltenham College this summer.

They have won five of their last eight Championship matches at their out-ground venue.

PREVIOUS MEETING

The two counties shared victories in 2015 when Lancashire were last in Division Two, with the Red Rose winning the most recent of those fixtures at Bristol’s County Ground in early June of that year by 91 runs.

Karl Brown and captain Steven Croft scored first-innings fifties in 275 all out having been inserted before Michael Klinger’s 102 earned the hosts a first-innings lead of just two. New ball pair Tom Bailey and Kyle Jarvis claimed four wickets apiece.

Opener Brown, who hit 57 in the first innings, then top-scored with 56 in the second as Lancashire were bowled out for 253, setting a target of 252 late on day three.

Gloucester closed on 26-1 and were handily placed at 118-2 on the final day. But Zimbabwean Jarvis continued his stunning run of form that season with 5-39.

Gloucester lost five wickets for six to fall to 119-7 and failed to recover, eventually bowled out for 160. Lancashire went on to be promoted as runners-up behind Surrey.

Lancashire last visited Cheltenham in 2004 when both sides were in Division One. They drew a high-scoring affair which saw Dinesh Mongia and Mark Chilton score centuries.

WHAT THEY SAID

Rob Jones insists Lancashire will not rest on their laurels having won three from three.

“Every team in this division has strong players, and it’s always tough,” he said. “So we’ve got to keep playing our best cricket and stay together as a team, which is vital.”

Jones has also been delighted to see that contributions have come from right across the team and squad this summer.

“Everyone is contributing no matter what game. Even in the one-dayers you saw we dovetailed really nicely. Steven Croft had an outstanding tournament then, but it might be someone else’s turn on a different day.

“It would be nice to score runs every week, but that doesn’t happen.

“As long as someone is there contributing and winning games for the club, no matter who you are - Jimmy Anderson or a young lad - it doesn’t matter.

“It may be a 30, a 90 or a hundred, whatever. Even a couple of catches might win a game.

“As long as everyone is contributing and offering to the team, that’s where we want to be.”



Lancashire's Director of Cricket Paul Allott is also a happy man and spoke about Lehmann, who is playing Surrey club cricket with Reigate Priory, remaining with the club having replaced Joe Burns.

“We’re really pleased with how everything’s gone so far. Worcester was a tricky game on a pitch that helped the bowlers all the way through,” he said.

“I thought the boys played really well.

“To win three out of three is a start we probably only dreamed of.

“If you play good cricket, you should win games. But when you play against Worcester, who are a good side and were top of the table, it’s hugely pleasing.

“I know Jake didn’t score many runs against Worcester, but he played really well when he stood in for the 50-over competition. He fits in beautifully with the lads and is a delight to have around the dressing room.

“That was an eleventh hour call to him on Sunday evening - ‘Can you get yourself up to Emirates Old Trafford this evening because we’d like to put you in the squad and make you available for selection?’

“He said straightaway, ‘I’ll be up there, no problems’.

“We were in a fortunate position because we’d maintained his registration, so there was no hitch.

“We’ve got Glenn Maxwell coming back for T20. He will be back with us once Australia’s World Cup gig is over. Whether that’s after the semi-final, final or the group stages, I don’t know. We can’t tell can we.

“We have another seven Championship games to go before then, and at the moment Jake’s our man.