[themaclad]

Lancashire 146& 10-1: Porter 1-2
Essex 377: Westley 81, Elgar 79; Balderson 3-75
Lancashire (3 pts) trail Essex (6pts) by 221 runs

Tom Westley kick-started his season with an innings that helped underpin Essex's commanding position against Lancashire in the Vitality County Championship at Chelmsford.

The Essex captain chalked up 1,130 runs last season but had contributed just 56 in four innings this time around. However, his fluent 81 from 138 balls signalled a personal return to form and helped Essex construct a 231 first-innings lead against ailing Lancashire. By close of play Lancashire had lost captain Keaton Jennings while crawling to 10-1 in 10 evening overs as they battled to avoid an innings defeat.

In a throwback to earlier times, there was a Cook scoring runs near the top of the Essex order, though this was the unlikely figures of Sam rather than Sir Alastair. The nightwatchman hung around for nearly two and a half hours and 126 balls for a highest first-class score that marooned him one run short of a maiden fifty.

Essex had overhauled Lancashire's first-innings total inside 36 overs for the loss of the overnight wicket of Feroze Khushi, who had laid the foundations with a half-century at a strike-rate of 160. Elgar and Cook were more circumspect, though their impact was just as demoralising for the flagging fielding side as they put on 120 in 36 overs.

Cook pulled George Balderson for one consummate boundary while Elgar also pulled Balderson to the ropes and followed next ball with an angled glide to third man for another of his 10 fours.

Lancashire did not help themselves when just after he had brought up the century partnership in 187 balls, Cook was dropped at third slip by George Bell on 44. He went to lunch on 49 and was back in the pavilion promptly afterwards, caught first ball at slip misdriving outside off-stump against Balderson.

Elgar passed 17,000 first-class career runs during his three-and-three-quarter-hour stay, but was eventually out caught behind when wafting at Will Williams on 79, his third 50-plus score in five innings for his new county.

There was no let-up with Elgar's departure. Westley and Jordan Cox settled into a steady rhythm, Westley characteristically strong off his legs and Cox helping on its way to the boundary a Lyon ball that drifted down legside.

Their partnership was worth 57 when Cox dragged Jack Blatherwick tamely to short midwicket. Matt Critchley, centurion against Kent last week, came and went quickly, Lyon finding one to turn sharply and catch the angled bat on its way into slip's hands.

The introduction of Luke Wells's spin just before tea resulted in a flurry of scoring, his only over in the spell conceding 17 runs. Westley whipped a delivery through the covers to reach his fifty and then Michael Pepper twice lofted over long-on for a combined total of 10 runs.

Pepper treated Bailey and the new ball with similar distain, hooking a six to fine leg and then driving through midwicket along the ground. But he played down the wrong line to Williams in the next over and was caught in the slips for 30 from 31 balls.


Noah Thain played attractively on his first-class debut for 24 from 50 balls before being undone by one that kept low from Balderson and disturbed his middle and off stumps. Four overs later, Westley was also the victim of another low delivery from Lyon that beat his mistimed swish and hit his protruding front pad.

The innings was wrapped up in the space of eight balls when Wells trapped both Shane Snater and Simon Harmer.

Lancashire's reply faltered when Jennings, a century-maker against Hampshire last week, went for his second single-figure score in the match, lbw misjudging a delivery from Jamie Porter. Nightwatchman Williams might have gone first ball but Harmer put down a routine chance at second slip.

[themaclad]

Lancashire 146 & 107: Bell 35; Snater 3-17, Porter 3-24
Essex 377: Westley 81, Elgar 79; Balderson 3-75
Essex (22pts) beat Lancashire (3 pts) by an innings and 124 runs


Lancashire suffered an innings defeat on Day Three against Essex at Chelmsford as Jamie Porter, Shane Snater, Sam Cook and Simon Harmer picked up the nine remaining wickets..

The Essex pace bowlers exploited a pitch playing low by taking three wickets apiece as Lancashire were beaten in just 41 overs for the second time in the match.

Porter set the ball rolling with the first of nine Lancashire wickets to fall in the session to finish with 3-24 before Snater took his match figures to 7-59 with 3-17 in the second innings.

Essex’s second win of the season, worth 22 points, took them further clear at the top of the Vitality County Championship with only three games played.

Lancashire had started day three on 10-1 requiring another 221 runs to make Essex bat again. They lost five wickets in the first hour and never recovered with the game wrapped up in extra time before the scheduled lunch interval.

11 balls into Ronnie McKenna's debut first-team appearance, he was celebrating a first significant contribution as nightwatchman Will Williams edged Porter into his gloves having hung around for 36 balls.

That precipitated a catastrophic collapse with four wickets falling in 16 balls. Josh Bohannon lasted 25 balls before he walked across a ball from Cook and was lbw, while Luke Wells was beaten all ends up by Snater to be bowled for a 54-ball 21.

In the same Snater over, George Balderson saw the umpire’s finger go up as he played down the wrong line before Tom Bruce had his off stump sent cartwheeling by Porter.

There was a 10-over hiatus while Matty Hurst and George Bell put on 30 runs before the wicketkeeper scooped Snater into square leg’s hands.

Off-spinner Simon Harmer had not bowled much on this seamer’s paradise, but in his fourth over of the innings he had Tom Bailey walking down the wicket and patting the ball back for a simple caught and bowled.

Next over Jack Blatherwick followed Bailey’s lead and gave Harmer more catching practice by chipping the ball back to the bowler.

Bell had hung around for 40 balls and appeared to be heading for a third fifty in four innings at Chelmsford when he nicked Cook to Dean Elgar at first slip to wrap up the match.

[themaclad]

Vitality County Championship, Division One, Emirates Old Trafford (day one)

Kent 203-7: Evison 50*, Stewart 45, Crawley 41; Balderson 3-62

Lancashire: Yet to bat

Lancashire 2pts, Kent 0pts

Lancashire and Kent battled hard for a first day advantage in this Vitality County Championship match that finished with the hosts having the better of the proceedings with the visitors on 203 for seven from the 69 overs possible.
Joey Evison shored up the Kent batting with an unbeaten half century, his third fifty of the season, after they had been reduced to 83 for five with George Balderson taking three wickets in 28 balls.

Nathan Lyon added a brace of wickets in the afternoon as Kent enjoyed better fortunes on a tricky day for the batting side before rain in the late afternoon ended the day early at 4.50pm.



The morning session divided somewhat neatly into two halves.

The first hour saw Ben Compton and Zak Crawley made a cautious and steady start after Keaton Jennings had put Kent into bat on an overcast morning and with the floodlights switched on from the start of play.

The Kent opening pair had put on 45 runs during the first hour and were happy to pick their shots, Crawley getting off the mark second ball with a back foot square drive for four, but in the main content to play with care on a seaming pitch.

Two terrific spells by Will Williams and Balderson in the second hour changed the complexion of the day considerably.



Balderson had beaten the outside edge of both batters repeatedly and was finally rewarded when Compton edged behind to wicketkeeper Matty Hurst for 13.

Crawley went on the attack, taking three consecutive fours off Balderson in the 20th over, but then edged the first ball of the 21st from Williams to Hurst attempting a big, booming drive at a ball outside off stump to depart for 41.

Balderson snared two more quick wickets squaring up Daniel Bell-Drummond, who edged to George Bell at third slip for 3, and Jack Leaning bowled by a pitched-up delivery for 4 that the batsman played all around with Kent suddenly 76 for four at lunch.



Williams increased the visitor’s woes straight after the break by trapping Harry Finch lbw for 3 with an in-swinging delivery.

Given the success of the seam attack, Nathan Lyon and Tom Hartley had to be content to wait until the afternoon for their first spells of the day and it was Lyon who struck next.

Joe Denly and Evison had regrouped to add 46 runs for the sixth wicket, with Evison playing some eye-catching drives.

Lyon, with three fielders stationed on the boundary at long-on, midwicket and deep square leg then tempted Denly into taking on a big hit that fell just short of the rope and into the hands of a clearly delighted Red Rose skipper Jennings at long-on for 18.



Evison and Grant Stewart continued the visitor’s fightback with another good alliance that had added 55 runs by tea, Stewart bringing up the fifty partnership off 92 balls when hitting the first six of the match off Hartley.

But Kent suffered a further blow following a brief stoppage for rain when Stewart edged Lyon to Luke Wells at slip for 45, two overs before rain brought an early close.

“That was a good day,” said George Balderson.

“When you choose to bowl first you want to make some early inroads into their top order and I thought we did that well this morning.

“We went through periods of the day where we had little luck. We beat the bat a lot and had a few close decisions turned down.

“We stuck at it, toiled away and in the end I think we can be proud of our efforts today.



“We’ve spoken a lot in the last few weeks about having patience with the ball and bowling in partnerships. Try to back each other up and stick to the task. I thought we did that very well this morning.

“They were 40 for none, we were beating the bat a lot and it could be easy to go away from the initial plan and try something different. But we stuck with the plan, knew it was going to work on that pitch and we got our rewards later on for it.”



Balderson bowled a superb spell in the second hour of the day to put Kent in trouble.

“I felt in good rhythm today,” he added.

“There’s a little bit more grass on the pitch than we’re used to and having the lights on seemed to help. We had to hit the top of off stump and that suits my style of bowling.

“I’m proud of the effort from everyone. I was the one who ended picking up three wickets, but it could be anyone who got all the wickets today.”

[themaclad]

Vitality County Championship, Division One, Emirates Old Trafford (day two)

Kent 261: Evison 71*, Stewart 45, Crawley 41; Williams 3-44, Lyon 3-50, Balderson 3-67

Lancashire 92: Hurst 36; Gilchrist 6-24, Agar 4-35 & 119-4: Jennings 40; Gilchrist 2-32

Lancashire (3 pts) trail Kent (4 pts) by 50 runs with six second-innings wickets remaining

Lancashire suffered a calamitous first innings collapse as Kent’s bowlers had a day to remember at Emirates Old Trafford.
Nathan Gilchrist took a career-best six for 24 as the Red Rose were shot out for 92 in 30 overs after they had earlier taken the last three Kent wickets to bowl the visitors out for 261.

Following-on, Lancashire fared better second time around with two fifty partnerships taking them to 119 for four by the close.

That leaves the Red Rose side trailing by 50 runs after two days of this Vitality County Championship match, but with a lot of work to do tomorrow if they are to stave off a second defeat of the season.



Six wickets fell for 10 runs in 46 deliveries as Gilchrist and Wes Agar (four for 35) exploited seaming, overcast conditions superbly to reduce the Lancashire first innings from 30 for one to 40 for seven in a frantic 35 minutes during the afternoon.

The Red Rose had lost Luke Wells for 10 to a great catch by Jack Leaning at second slip off Agar before Josh Bohannon became the first of six wickets to fall in rapid succession when he bottom-edged a pull off Gilchrist for 9.



Agar next took two wickets in two balls; Keaton Jennings caught behind off a seaming delivery for 4 and Tom Bruce lbw first ball. Gilchrist claimed the next three, George Bell, George Balderson and Tom Hartley falling to catches in the cordon behind the wicket to leave Lancashire reeling at tea on 48 for seven.

Tom Bailey followed, caught behind down the leg side off Agar for 5, soon after the resumption to make the score 51 for eight, at which point Matty Hurst counter-attacked. The twenty-year-old scooped Grant Stewart for six, pulled Agar over fine leg for another and straight drove a four in an over that cost the Kent seamer 17 runs.



Hurst’s belligerence ended on 36 (off 46 balls) when he pulled Gilchrist to Zak Crawley at deep midwicket and Will Williams was last out after becoming Gilchrist’s sixth victim when edging behind.

With a lead of 169 runs, Kent enforced the follow-on with Jennings and Wells starting brightly in taking 50 off the first 52 balls before Wells departed for 22, edging a drive at Gilchrist to Leaning at second slip.

Jennings and Bohannon countered with a positive alliance, posting their fifty partnership off 62 balls, but both departed late in the day as three wickets fell for 3 runs; Bohannon for 31 caught at slip off Joey Evison, Jennings brilliantly stumped down the leg side by Harry Finch for 40 to give the returning Matt Parkinson a wicket, and nightwatchman Williams bowled by Gilchrist for one.



Balderson (3 not out) and Bruce (12 not out) will be at the crease when play resumes tomorrow.

The three remaining Kent wickets added 58 runs when the second day resumed after a 90-minute delay. That was largely due to all-rounder Evison who finished unbeaten on 71 and received good support from the lower order.

The Lancashire attack steadily picked their way through the tail with Balderson, Nathan Lyon and Williams all finishing with three wickets apiece.

Agar made 13 before playing back and across to be bowled by Lyon, Gilchrist edged behind off Bailey for 10 and Parkinson was the last out after edging to fourth slip for 3 to give Williams his 200th first-class wicket with Kent 261 all out.

Those runs soon looked priceless as Kent roared back into the game on a poor day for the Red Rose.



“That was a pretty tough day,” admitted Red Rose skipper Keaton Jennings.

“They had some serious energy about them and were pretty good. We weren’t quite good enough.

“Guys can always look at their decision making. You can always influence the way guys bowl at you and put pressure back on them.

“Even if you are just trying to survive, you can do it pro-actively. It’s for each individual to look at their own game and how they want to go about it.

“We saw Hursty went about it completely different to everyone else and he got the top score of the innings.



“Second innings, we went about our work in a slightly different fashion, but we probably shouldn’t be four down.

“It’s incredibly annoying. Me and Wellsy said if we can be there tonight, it will change the entire flow of the game. The same when Bosh was there. We both got out, so you continue to hamper your progress in the game.

“I would ask the people supporting us to get behind the lads. There are some very young lads in that changing room with not a wealth of experience behind them and I want them to feel backed and supported.

“The guys will talk tonight, and hopefully with two lads who have first-class hundreds behind them, and a few lads who have the opportunity to get a first-class hundred on their CB, it could be an exciting day tomorrow.

“We’re looking at it very optimistically. Let’s come in tomorrow with fresh ambition. If we bat the day tomorrow you are suddenly two hundred ahead. The game looks entirely different then with two world class spinners and a really good seam attack on a fourth day Emirates Old Trafford pitch.”

[themaclad]

Vitality County Championship, Division One, Emirates Old Trafford (day three)

Lancashire 92 & 332: Bell 65, Hurst 58, Balderson 48; Agar 3-65, Parkinson 3-70

Kent 261 & 71-1: Bell-Drummond 39*, Compton 14*

Kent (4 pts) require 93 runs with 9 wickets remaining to beat Lancashire (3 pts)

Lancashire produced a battling performance to take this Vitality County Championship match into a fourth day, with Kent 71 for one in their second innings by the close and needing a further 93 runs to win.
It was a marked improvement by the Red Rose side as they fought back well on an intense and absorbing day at Emirates Old Trafford.

Half centuries by George Bell and Matty Hurst, plus good contributions from George Balderson and Tom Hartley helped Lancashire score 332 in their second innings as the Kent attack found the going much tougher on this third day as conditions eased in the Manchester sunshine.



Setting off in pursuit of their 164 target, the visitors lost Zak Crawley lbw for 1 in the second over to the first delivery from Balderson, entrusted with the new ball from the James Anderson end, to set Kent nerves jangling.

A fifty partnership between Ben Compton (14 not out) and Daniel Bell-Drummond (39 not out) settled the innings down, although the pair survived a number of close calls before safely reaching stumps.

Resuming their second innings on 119 for four this morning, the prospect of Lancashire batting for most of the third day seemed to have been quickly diminished when Tom Bruce was bowled for 12 by Wes Agar in the third over of the morning.

Three fifty plus partnerships steadily brought the hosts back into a game that had appeared to be slipping away the night before.



The first, a resilient and patient partnership of 75 between Balderson and Bell revived the innings, with the pair initially wiping out Kent’s lead when their alliance reached 50 from 13 overs after an hour’s play.

Bell survived a dropped catch at slip by Crawley off Matt Parkinson when on 25, but Bell-Drummond snared a good, low, catch at short gully off part-time spinner Jack Leaning in the following over to end Balderson's fine effort at 48.

Hurst and Bell dug in to reach lunch on 224 for six with a lead of 55 and they batted with great determination in an attritional passage of play after the break to steadily build the lead.

Bell reached his half century from 113 balls when pulling his fifth four off occasional spinner Joe Denly with the fifty partnership arriving one delivery later from 132 balls.



It took a rising delivery from Agar, armed with the harder new ball, to dislodge Bell via an edge behind for a splendid 65 just after the lead had passed 100.

But Hartley lent great support to Hurst in an eighth wicket partnership of 54 either side of tea.

Hurst reached his third first-class half century from a very patient 134 balls that included just one boundary shortly before the break, but then edged a sharply-turning delivery from Parkinson to slip for 58, just after the resumption to be the eighth wicket to fall.



Bailey was lbw to Agar (three for 65) for 1 and Hartley last out sweeping at Parkinson (three for 70) for a nicely constructed 35 to leave Kent chasing a potentially tricky target.

But the visitors chipped away at their target successfully to put themselves in a great position to clinch a first victory of the season tomorrow.

George Bell believes this game is not a done deal yet.

“At the start of day, the challenge was for everyone to bat for at least an hour, try and get through as long as we can,” he said. “We knew if we could achieve that we would have got through the whole day.

“We didn’t quite get through all of it. It would have been nice to have got a lead of 200 – that would have been a good score. We’ve given ourselves a fighting chance with 164, and although they are 70-1 now, we’ve created quite a few chances.



“They need another 90-odd but with four men around the bat, hopefully we come back tomorrow and create more chances. Then anything could happen.

“The pitch is turning which is good news for us. Hopefully the wicket continues to break up a bit more and we can get a few wickets in the first session, get on a roll and once we do then get on top and bury them if we get the chance.

“Obviously it’s going to be tough but we’re backing our bowlers to do the job.”



Bell was pleased about the character shown today after a poor outing in the first innings.

“We’ve let ourselves down with the bat in the first innings again,” he said, “and we’re gutted about that.

“Today was about showing fight and getting back into the game. The next game we can try and do that straight away rather than it taking for us to get rolled over to do it.

“It showed we’ve got it in us to do that.

“It was nice that the young lads, me, Tommy, Hursty and Balders were batting for long periods. The young lads showed character which is what we pride ourselves on. Today was about showing a bit of grit.”

[themaclad]

Vitality County Championship, Division One, Emirates Old Trafford (day four)

Lancashire 92 & 332: Bell 65, Hurst 58, Balderson 48; Agar 3-65, Parkinson 3-70

Kent 261 & 166-3: Bell-Drummond 79*, Compton 29; Lyon 2-48

Kent (20 pts) beat Lancashire (3 pts) by seven wickets

Kent eased their way to a seven-wicket victory on the fourth morning at Emirates Old Trafford to clinch their first Vitality County Championship win of the season.
Skipper Daniel Bell-Drummond led his team to their 164-run target with a an excellent unbeaten 79 despite some good pressure applied by Lancashire bowlers on the fourth morning with Nathan Lyon taking the two wickets to fall.

The visitors resumed the day on 71 for one needing a further 93 runs to win, and a tense battle developed during the first hour as Lancashire applied good pressure from the twin spin attack of Lyon and Tom Hartley.



Both created chances with four fielders present around the bat, but Kent pair Ben Compton and Bell-Drummond countered with some solid defence and good running while riding their luck at times on a turning wicket.

Compton survived a dropped catch when on 27, top eding a sweep off Lyon to backward square leg where a diving Will Williams initially caught the ball only for it to be jarred out of his hands on landing.

But Lyon was not to be denied for long, diving to his right to take a good catch off his own bowling after Compton shuffled down the wicket and drove straight back to the bowler after making 29 with Kent 91 for one and still 73 runs away.



Bell-Drummond calmed any visitors nerves, reaching his fifty off 115 balls – he now has scored at least fifty in all four matches this season, converting two of them into hundreds – and followed by hitting just the second boundary of the day by lofting Hartley to long-on.

Jack Leaning dug in alongside Bell-Drummond to make 16 before edging to Luke Wells at slip after playing back to Lyon when 35 runs were required.

Joe Denly (19 not out) helped Bell-Drummond knock those runs off with few alarms to clinch the win just before lunch interval.

Kent gain 20 points from the match and Lancashire 3.

Lancashire are next in action when we travel to Trent Bridge to play Nottinghamshire in the Vitality County Championship starting on Friday.



“It’s always disappointing to be on the wrong side of a result,” said Head Coach Dale Benkenstein.

“A couple of things coming into the job, everyone mentioned it’s hard to get results here.

“We’ve tried a few things in the first two home games, managed to get a pitch to spin in the first one in quite rainy conditions, and I think this was one of the best pitches I’ve seen with the ball carrying, bringing the seamers into the game, and also some real life for the spinners.



“I thought we bowled well, although at 70 for four we maybe had a chance to bowl them out for under two hundred. We played two spinners hoping that batting on days two and three would be the best time to bat.

“I think their attack just had a little bit more behind the ball and they made it tough for us.
“An innings where you are 50 for eight and get bowled out for 92, you are going to be struggling. That was disappointing. There was some good bowling from Kent and some pretty poor decisions from our batters.

“The nice thing is over the last two days we’ve played some very good cricket. That’s where we will focus on and try and take it into the next game.

“It was great to see your team go out there and still believe they can win defending 163. If we had got one or two wickets then it could have been a really interesting finish.”



“I thought we bowled far better than three wickets suggests. We had not one decision from the umpires. Quite a few appeals and I think they were under real pressure. But we never really had enough runs on the board.”

Benkenstein was enthused about the second innings contributions from the younger players in the side.

“It was fantastic to see two young guys (Bell and Hurst) get stuck in under pressure on a tough wicket," he said. "For me, it’s a great step forward.”

“We need our senior players to step up," he added.

"There’s room for them to be as good as they can be, we aren’t quite there yet with bat and ball. That’s exciting for me because if we can play as well as we can, and with our youngsters getting a bit of confidence, the team will get stronger and stronger as the season goes on.”

[themaclad]

Vitality County Championship Division One, Trent Bridge (day one)

Lancashire 306-8: Jennings 91, Bruce 73; Pennington 3-46

Nottinghamshire: Yet to bat

Lancashire 2pts, Nottinghamshire 2pts

Skipper Keaton Jennings and Tom Bruce hit fifties for Lancashire but Dillon Pennington was Nottinghamshire’s outstanding performer as Lancashire were denied the prosperity they had been hoping for when they opted to bat on day one of their Vitality County Championship match at Trent Bridge.
Jennings made 91 and overseas batter Bruce 73 but Lancashire closed on 306 for eight, after being 190 for two earlier in the day.

Pennington (three for 46) inflicted damage by taking three for 15 in an excellent five-over spell with the second new ball before seamer Dane Paterson (two for 64) dealt Lancashire a further blow by removing Bruce in the day’s penultimate over.

With Australian spinner Nathan Lyon rested for this round, Lancashire have named England pace bowler Saqib Mahmood in their line-up for the first time in 12 months following a stress fracture.

It had looked like evolving as Lancashire’s day until the last half-hour of the middle session, when Jennings and George Balderson (38), who had shared a third-wicket stand worth 107, were both out in quick succession.



The morning session had been theirs until Josh Bohannon’s dismissal by Lyndon James from what would have been the penultimate ball before lunch. Bohannon had picked up four boundaries against the Nottinghamshire all-rounder, albeit one off an edge, but was struck on the front pad as he looked for a fifth through the on-side and was clearly out.

Despite pace bowlers Pennington and the fit-again Olly Stone subjecting Lancashire’s openers to a testing opening passage on a used pitch with a decent covering of grass, Nottinghamshire’s only breakthrough prior to that had come in the 10th over, when Paterson found the edge to have Luke Wells caught at second slip.

Encouraged by James’s breakthrough, which had ended what had been a threatening partnership between the aggressive Bohannon and a more measured Jennings, Nottinghamshire emerged from lunch with renewed energy. Yet it was Lancashire’s third-wicket pair who dominated for the next couple of hours.

Jennings, having built a painstaking 128-ball half-century, which he completed with his 10th boundary, upped the tempo. A paddle sweep for four and a nicely driven straight six off Calvin Harrison’s leg spin signalled growing assuredness and he looked well set for a second hundred of the season.



But Nottinghamshire’s bowlers never let their effort levels dip and fought back in the half-hour before tea.

Jennings departed going for a reverse sweep against Harrison but able only to top-edge it to slip where Tom Moores - back in the Nottinghamshire side for the first time this season but unable to prise the wicketkeeper’s gloves from Joe Clarke - took an easy catch.

But the departure of Balderson was purely down to the skill of the bowler, Stone’s impressive contribution deservedly rewarded when the batter was beaten for pace as he tried to flick across the line, squarely in front as the ball collided with the front pad. The two wickets transformed 190 for two into 196 for four.

Lancashire’s double setback meant two new batters at the crease, but with Bruce taking the lead, reaching a half-century off 69 balls, it took the second new ball for Nottinghamshire to restore a measure of parity on the day, Pennington striking twice in the space of nine deliveries as George Bell edged to first slip and Matthew Hurst to third.



The ex-Worcestershire quick picked up his third scalp when England spinner Tom Hartley found the safe hands of Harrison at second slip, after which Bruce reined himself in noticeably. Lancashire picked up a second batting point but the loss of Bruce, leg before to Paterson, was another big blow.

Before play began, players and spectators observed a minute’s silence in respect for Josh Baker, the Worcestershire spin bowler who died last week at the age of just 20. Baker represented his county against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge only last month.

It was a particularly poignant moment for Pennington and Jack Haynes, who now wear Nottinghamshire colours but shared the New Road dressing room with Baker before switching counties at the end of last season.

[themaclad]

Vitality County Championship Division One, Trent Bridge (day two)

Lancashire 331: Jennings 91, Bruce 73; Stone 3-56

Nottinghamshire 279-7: Hameed 137*; Balderson 4-72

Nottinghamshire (3 pts) trail Lancashire (4 pts) by 52 runs

George Balderson took four wickets to give Lancashire a slender advantage on day two of their Vitality County Championship Division One match against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.
Haseeb Hameed posted his first Vitality County Championship hundred since September 2022 and his first since being made captain but his Nottinghamshire side still have work to do to match Lancashire’s first innings total, where they trail by 52 runs on 279 for seven.

Hameed, who still harbours ambitions of playing Test cricket despite being tried and discarded twice by England, finished day two unbeaten on 137 after hitting 16 fours, although he was dropped on 104 off left-arm spinner Tom Hartley.

Balderson, who shared a key partnership with Keaton Jennings in Lancashire’s first innings, has four for 72 from 22 overs.

Lancashire could reflect on a satisfactory morning’s work after Nottinghamshire’s strong finish to day one. Forcing the home side to concede another 25 runs for their last two wickets, most of them courtesy of Tom Bailey’s bat. The 33-year-old seam bowler hit five boundaries in his 42-ball unbeaten 31.



Olly Stone, whose performance with the ball on day one deserved more than his one wicket, dismissed Will Williams, caught at second slip, and Saqib Mahmood, who chipped to extra cover, to finish with three for 56 from 23.2 overs.

Seeking to overhaul Lancashire’s 331, Nottinghamshire started on the front foot but Ben Slater’s second-over boundary turned out to be his only scoring shot as Mahmood, bowling for the first time in a senior match for 12 months following a stress fracture, claimed his first comeback wicket via an edge to third slip.

Hameed and Will Young looked as though they could put that setback behind them, weathering what remained of Mahmood and Tom Bailey’s new-ball offensive, but when Williams replaced Bailey at the Stuart Broad End, Young was dropped at second slip on 17 and then bowled for 27, shouldering arms to a ball that hit his middle stump, having come back sharply off the pitch.

A sequence of beautiful shots by Hameed greeted the afternoon, and when Joe Clarke followed a deft steer to the third-man boundary off Bailey with a handsome drive through the covers to greet the return of Mahmood, it appeared the Lancashire bowlers might be in for a tough session.

But again a potentially damaging partnership fizzled out as Balderson came back into the attack, his away movement finding a thin edge to have Clarke caught behind before Tom Moores, recalled after a couple of hundreds in the Second XI, rather gave his wicket away with a rash swing outside off stump that saw him caught behind too in Balderson’s next over.



Jack Haynes proved to be a more patient accomplice, content with diligent accumulation as his captain cashed in on his form to dominate the bowling, most productively through the on side. Having reached his half-century from 99 balls, Hameed went past 100 in just 63 more, bringing up the milestone with his 15th boundary, tucked away backward of square off Balderson.

After going a full season without reaching three figures last year, in which his numbers were generally disappointing after an excellent 2022, there was relief in his celebration on account of that, but also in quelling any fears that the challenge of stepping into Steven Mullaney’s shoes as captain might detract from his batting.

It is his first hundred against his former county and his first against First Division bowling since 2016, when he was a 19-year-old prodigy hailed as the ‘new Boycott’ and made hundreds in both innings in the Roses match at Old Trafford.

He was promptly put down on 104, a difficult chance coming hard to slip Luke Wells off Hartley, but though Hameed survived Nottinghamshire suffered another setback in the last over before tea, Haynes, on 35, becoming the second batter on the day to be out not playing a stroke as Balderson brought one back to claim his third success.



With Hartley and seamer Williams matching each other for economy, Hameed and new batter Lyndon James had to graft for runs after tea, the first 50 runs of their partnership needing 145 deliveries.

The sixth-wicket pair reduced the deficit to 83 runs but the second new ball, with which the Nottinghamshire bowlers had enjoyed success on the first day, brought a rapid dividend. James, driving expansively, was caught at first slip as Balderson picked up his fourth scalp, before Calvin Harrison’s bright 21 ended with an edge to second slip off Bailey.

[themaclad]

Vitality County Championship Division One, Trent Bridge (day three)

Lancashire 331: Jennings 91, Bruce 73; Stone 3-56 & 100-6: Pennington 3-25

Nottinghamshire 503: Hameed 247*, Stone 90; Balderson 4-102

Lancashire (4pts) trail (Nottinghamshire (6 pts) by 72 runs

Haseeb Hameed struck a record-breaking career-best 247 not out as Nottinghamshire took control of their Division One match against Lancashire in the Vitality County Championship at Trent Bridge.
The sometime England opener scored almost half his side’s runs as Nottinghamshire, all out for 501, turned an overnight deficit of 52 with seven wickets down into a first-innings lead of 172 before the visitors closed on 100 for six in their second innings, still 72 behind.

Bolton-born Hameed, who is in his first season as Nottinghamshire’s red-ball captain, was at the crease for 10 hours and 21 minutes and found brilliant support from an unlikely source in England fast bowler Olly Stone, his overnight partner, who made a career-best 90 in stand of 163, an eighth-wicket record in matches between these sides.

Stone’s new-ball partner Dillon Pennington then followed up his three first-innings wickets with three more as Lancashire made a woeful start to their second innings, before Dane Paterson and Lyndon James combined to take another three, with all six casualties caught in the slips or behind the wicket.



It was Hameed’s maiden double-hundred, yet Stone’s performance came as the biggest surprise of the day. Prior to this match, the 30-year-old had only once gone past fifty in his whole career, making 60 for Northamptonshire against Kent in 2016.

Indeed, as he dusted off a few shots from his batting repertoire at the start of the day, it was easy to imagine that the back end of the Nottinghamshire innings might follow a similar pattern to Lancashire’s 24 hours earlier: a quick dart at an extra batting point or two before the opposing bowlers brought things to a conclusion.

Indeed, it was Stone who played the lead role. As Hameed, whose fluent striking had taken him to 137 not out on day two, found himself scratching around by comparison, perhaps wary of a deteriorating pitch, Stone played as if big scores were second nature to him.

While Hameed was taking 11 overs to find the 13 runs he needed for the second 150 of his career, Stone was profiting so readily from authentic shots across a fast outfield that he clearly felt he may as well see how far it would take him.



The answer was undoubtedly much further than he could have imagined. Nottinghamshire increased their batting bonus points tally from one to three and by lunch they were 63 runs in front, Stone having gone past his eight-year-old career-best. Hameed, ever patient, was on 182.

Lancashire finally broke through 65 overs into the day as Tom Bailey uprooted Stone’s off-stump. As he walked off, Stone must have wondered if such a chance to make a first-class hundred would come his way again but surely allowed himself to enjoy the appreciation of the crowd. He had hit 15 fours, with scarcely a false shot among them.

Hameed, meanwhile, was just past his own milestone, a double hundred of which half the runs had literally been run. It beat his previous best of 196 against Derbyshire in 2022.

Remarkably, it is the third double hundred in consecutive matches by a Nottinghamshire batter following Joe Clarke’s unbeaten 213 against Somerset and Ben Duckett’s 218 versus Warwickshire last month.



Even with the eighth-wicket stand broken, Lancashire still needed another 19 overs to finish the job. Pennington was leg before without scoring but Dane Paterson stuck around for almost an hour, finding the boundary four times before he was bowled by leg-spinner Luke Wells for 18.

Wells was the first casualty of Lancashire’s second innings, caught at third slip by a diving Will Young off Pennington, who struck again three balls later as Josh Bohannon nicked into the gloves of wicketkeeper Clarke.

Pennington struck for a third time when George Bell edged to second slip before Paterson had Lancashire skipper Keaton Jennings caught at first slip, the South African almost grabbing what would have been a brilliant catch off his own bowling when George Balderson was on four.



Lyndon James had the visitors in more trouble when New Zealand batter Tom Bruce was caught behind for 15, Paterson further reducing them to 61 for six as Balderson was grabbed at third slip, having not added to his score.

[themaclad]

Nottinghamshire 503 (Hameed 247*, Stone 90, Balderson 4-102) and 81 for 1 beat Lancashire 331 (Jennings 91, Bruce 73, Stone 3-56) and 252 (Hurst 104, Hartley 50, Pennington 4-61) by 72 runs

A maiden first-class century from young wicketkeeper Matthew Hurst could not stop Nottinghamshire completing a nine-wicket first victory of the season in their Vitality County Championship match at Trent Bridge.
Nottinghamshire had begun the final day of this Division One clash sniffing an innings win, holding a 72-run advantage with Lancashire six down. Yet 20-year-old Hurst defied them with an impressive 104 that included 10 fours and four sixes.

Lancashire were dismissed for 252, leaving the home side needing just 81 to win with 50 overs remaining, so the result was never in serious doubt, but given that they had been 61 for six on the third evening, the visitors could console themselves with having put up a fight.



Hurst and England spinner Tom Hartley (50) were the principal sources of frustration for Nottinghamshire, sharing a seventh-wicket stand of 116.

Dillon Pennington, who delivered several spells of top-class fast bowling over both innings, was rewarded with figures of four for 61, his best return so far for Nottinghamshire after moving from Worcestershire over the winter, before the home side wrapped up a 22-points win in 18.4 overs with opener Ben Slater their only loss.

Lancashire remain bottom of Division One after three defeats in their opening five matches, while Nottinghamshire have their first win under new red-ball captain Haseeb Hameed, whose magnificent unbeaten 247 in their first innings was the biggest component in their victory. Opener Hameed, who finished 24 not out in his second innings, was on the field for every minute of the contest



When Hartley joined Hurst at 61 for six on Sunday, a target of 172 just to make the home side bat a second time was looking beyond Lancashire.

But having battled through to the close, the pair set themselves again on the fourth morning, determined that those efforts would not go to waste.

They began with Nottinghamshire, who had made 501 in reply to Lancashire’s first-innings 331, still comfortably ahead and at short odds to get the job done ahead of the lunch interval.

But after seeing off Pennington and Olly Stone through their opening overs, the two kept their focus well enough to survive the first hour unscathed and grew confident enough as the ball began to lose its hardness to up the tempo, Hurst greeting leg-spinner Calvin Harrison’s appearance in the attack with a six over long-on.



An on-drive for four by Hurst off Harrison took the partnership into three figures. The pugnacious right-hander was dropped by Harrison at slip off Lyndon James on 46 but quickly completed his fifty from 87 balls, bringing the scores level in the same over.

Hartley’s half-century came off 98 balls with seven fours but he could not add to it before Harrison atoned for his earlier error with a fine catch at second slip as James at last achieved a breakthrough.

Pennington then had too much pace for Tom Bailey, who was dismissed leg before just ahead of lunch, Lancashire heading for the dining room with a lead of just 26 and only two wickets in hand.

With Phil Salt currently playing in the Indian Premier League, Hurst has made himself first-choice ‘keeper in the Lancashire squad but would justify his place as a batter on the evidence so far.



He had three half-centuries in nine first-class innings before this match and had the confidence to take on the likes of England speed merchant Stone and the similarly pacy Pennington despite suffering a painful blow on his bottom hand facing James just before lunch.

After Harrison’s dismissal of Will Williams left him and Saqib Mahmood as the last men standing, Hurst hammered Stone over the wide midwicket boundary and cleared the rope twice in the same James over to go to his hundred, before another attempt at a maximum saw him caught at deep midwicket off Harrison.

Mahmood ended Slater’s attempt to bring a rapid conclusion by having him caught behind for 31 off 32 balls but Hameed and Will Young guided Nottinghamshire to the finish line with no further alarms.