[themaclad]

Josh Bohannon’s unbeaten knock of 92 boosted Lancashire’s chances of forcing victory in a see-saw contest against Northamptonshire and maintaining their LV= Insurance County Championship title challenge.
Bohannon shared a partnership of 117 with Steven Croft (47) to steer the Red Rose to 192 for five at stumps after losing both openers to controversial lbw decisions as they chased an awkward target of 278 at Wantage Road.

Keaton Jennings and Luke Wells were both given out despite apparent inside edges onto the pad, but Bohannon’s solid knock tilted the contest back in the visitors’ favour until a cluster of late wickets gave Northamptonshire renewed hope.

Earlier, Ryan Rickelton’s unbeaten 58 had guided Northamptonshire to 174 in their second innings, with Simon Kerrigan (43) helping him to add 95 for the eighth wicket despite Will Williams’ first five-wicket return in Championship cricket.

With overcast conditions offering plenty of swing for Lancashire’s bowlers, Tom Bailey (four for 65) got the fifth ball of the morning to nip back and dismiss Will Young lbw, while Luke Procter edged to first slip.

Emilio Gay weathered the storm, digging in to nudge Northamptonshire’s lead above 150, but his two-hour vigil for just 17 was ended by Luke Wood’s lethal inswinging yorker to trap him leg before.



Returning for a second spell before lunch, Bailey made deeper inroads as he castled Lewis McManus before foxing Tom Taylor with a slower ball that sent middle stump flying and left the batting side reeling at 75 for seven.

However, their fortunes were transformed after the interval as Kerrigan went for his shots and that drew Rickelton – dropped on eight by substitute wicketkeeper George Lavelle off Williams – out of his shell in turn.

While Rickelton pulled out the reverse sweep to combat Washington Sundar, Kerrigan fought a personal duel against Wood’s short-pitched bowling, taking a sharp blow on the hand but recovering to carve him over the slips for one of his six boundaries.

Lavelle put down another chance off Williams, with Kerrigan the man to escape this time, but it proved less costly for Lancashire as the next ball was snicked to first slip, where Rob Jones knocked it up for Wells to grab.



Ben Sanderson lasted just two deliveries, with Wells taking the catch again, and Williams wrapped up a well-deserved five for 41 by knocking back Jack White’s off stump to end the Northamptonshire innings for 174.

Sanderson struck in the third over of Lancashire’s chase, with Jennings hesitating after the umpire’s finger went up and there was visible frustration from Wells (26) when he suffered the same fate against Taylor after tea.

But Bohannon began to find his rhythm, particularly against the spinners, and swept Rob Keogh for three boundaries in an over as Northamptonshire rotated the bowling without reward.

Yet Sanderson kept his side in contention by capturing the wickets of Croft and Dane Vilas late in the day and nightwatchman Matt Parkinson also perished to leave the visitors still 86 short of victory.

[themaclad]

Washington Sundar capped a memorable Red Rose debut, following up a five-wicket haul with a match winning 34 not out as he helped steer Lancashire to a four-wicket victory on a tense final morning of this LV= County Championship match at Wantage Road. He combined in an excellent unbeaten partnership of 69 with nightwatchman Will Williams to take Lancashire to their target.

Lancashire had started the day needing 86 more runs to pull off a win to keep their Championship challenge alive with five wickets in hand. Josh Bohannon fell early, shortly after reaching his century, a wicket that could have opened the door for the home side, but Washington and Williams (29 not out) kept their cool, increasing in confidence as they inched towards their target.



Northamptonshire who had taken a late flurry of wickets the previous night were buzzing when they took the field and buoyed further when Jack White, who skittled Lancashire in their first innings, removed Bohannon early. It was to be their only breakthrough of the morning though as Washington and Williams continued to frustrate their efforts.

The result leaves Lancashire 31 points behind Surrey in the Division One table with four games to play.

Bohannon, 92 overnight, was expected to be the key man if Lancashire were to achieve victory. His knock had helped keep Lancashire in the hunt as wickets fell on day three and he got the scoreboard moving by steering Ben Sanderson’s second legitimate delivery down to third for a boundary. He moved to his century off 166 balls when he played Jack White aerially past a diving Emilio Gay at short midwicket, his 18th boundary of the innings. His reprieve was short lived though as he fell to White’s next ball thanks to a stunning one handed grab at wide gully by skipper Will Young. It left Lancashire on 209 for six still needing 69 to win.



The usually dependable Sanderson, who claimed three wickets the previous evening, proved expensive initially, gifting Lancashire three no balls and leaking runs down the leg side, but challenged the batters as his radar started to fire, backed up well by White and Tom Taylor.

Young continued to rotate his bowlers against a watchful Washington and Williams who were content to take their time before unfurling some aggressive shots as they approached their target.

Washington confidently smashed a half volley from Simon Kerrigan through extra cover for four and late cut Rob Keogh for another boundary to take Lancashire past 250. When Northamptonshire took the new ball he confidently hit two leg-side boundaries against Sanderson.

Williams looked increasingly assured, running hard and bringing up the win with a late cut off Kerrigan for four.

[themaclad]

Kent made the most of bowler-friendly conditions on a rain-shortened first day to seize the early advantage against Lancashire in this LV= County Championship match.

Only 34 overs and two balls were bowled but in that time the visitors struck four times to have Lancashire on 112-4 before rain and bad light ended proceedings early with nearly 16 overs remaining.



It was Kent’s overseas quick Navdeep Saini who did most of the damage taking three for 45 from the Brian Statham End including two wickets in two balls just after tea.

Lancashire’s batters fought hard in conditions with Luke Wells top-scoring with 35 before receiving a near unplayable delivery from the India paceman and Josh Bohannon contributing a fluent 27.

The Red Rose made two changes from the team that won at Northampton last week with George Lavelle taking over behind the stumps from the injured Dane Vilas (fractured finger) and Jack Morley replacing Matt Parkinson.

Kent also made two changes from the team that defeated Warwickshire with Grant Stewart and Nathan Gilchrist replacing Matt Milnes and Matt Quinn.

Keaton Jennings and Wells made a steady start in tricky conditions against the international pace duo of Matt Henry and Navdeep Saini after being put in to bat, incredibly the tenth time Lancashire have lost the toss in their 11 Championship games.



Both bowlers found early movement on a wicket that had been covered for most of the previous two days but their only reward came when Jennings edged a pitched up Saini delivery to Zak Crawley at second slip to depart for 14.

Josh Bohannon combined well with Wells as the Red Rose pair took a positive approach, Bohannon cutting Grant Stewart for four off the back foot a particular highlight.

But after Bohannon had drilled Nathan Gilchrist through extra cover for four in reaching a fluent 27, the bowler hit back with the next ball finding an edge that was brilliantly caught low down at wide fourth slip by Jack Leaning.

That left Lancashire on 68-2 just before tea and Wells and stand-in skipper Steven Croft had pushed on watchfully after the resumption to take the total on to 97 before two wickets fell in two balls.

It was Saini who did the damage producing a rearing delivery to Wells that the left hand opener could do little against, the ball flying off the edge to Leaning at gully as he departed for a pretty decent 35 given the conditions.

And it got worse for the Red Rose when Saini’s next delivery nipped back to pin Rob Jones lbw.

Croft and Washington Sundar, playing at Emirates Old Trafford for the first time, negotiated a further six overs and two balls before rain and bad light brought an early end.



“It was hard work,” admitted Luke Wells. “We would have bowled first too given the overhead conditions.

“It’s quite a slow wicket and because it’s a used wicket the odd ball does misbehave a bit. The odd ball bounced too and there was seam movement,” he added.

“So there’s enough there for the bowlers. We’ve got to bear that in mind when it’s our turn to bowl.

“Try and keep the scoring rate as low as possible because there’s definitely a ball in that surface (that will get you out) and hopefully it will spin as well.

“I think they had the best of the conditions today; the overhead conditions plus the breaks (in play) refreshed their bowlers.



“They’ve come into this game with four frontline seamers and no real frontline spinners. So the ideal plan is to get those bowlers to come back for second, third and fourth spells and get them tired. Try and get the part-time spinners on and cash in.

“To be fair I thought they bowled pretty well in patches but we still scored at a reasonable rate which was encouraging. Crofty and Sundar looked really good out there so if we can get up to 300 we would be happy with that."

[themaclad]

Kent built on their overnight advantage to put themselves firmly in the driving seat on a day of fluctuating fortunes despite Tom Bailey's six-wicket haul for the Red Rose.

Day two of this LV= County Championship match ended with the visitors ahead by 123 runs with Lancashire two without loss in their second innings.

Two century partnerships between Joe Denly and Jack Leaning during the afternoon and Leaning and Grant Stewart in the evening built on a five-wicket haul by Matt Henry in a sensational morning session that saw nine wickets fall.



Henry had four balls of his interrupted over from the previous evening to bowl when play began on time at 11am and the New Zealand international grabbed two wickets in three deliveries to give the visitors the perfect start.

Washington Sundar played no shot to the second delivery of the day only to see the ball jag back and take out his off stump while George Lavelle edged his second ball to Zak Crawley at first slip.

Buoyed by that success Henry ran amok as the ball seamed and swung in overcast conditions similar to the first day, taking 5-14 in 29 balls and adding Steven Croft, Tom Bailey and Luke Wood to his tally in quick succession with some near unplayable deliveries.

When Will Williams fiercely cut a half-tracker from Nathan Gilchrist straight to Daniel Bell-Drummond at point, Lancashire had been bowled out for 145 with six wickets falling for 33 runs in exactly 11 overs inside the first hour.

But that was not the end of the morning carnage as Kent made a terrible start to their reply, losing three wickets for 12 runs.

Ben Compton was caught at point for 0 by Washington via a leading edge after trying to work Bailey towards midwicket in the first over; Williams trapped Bell-Drummond lbw for 5 and Zak Crawley fell to a brilliant diving catch by Luke Wood off Bailey at square leg to make a 27-ball duck.



By contrast the afternoon was an ocean of relative calm as Denly and Leaning dug in to steady the innings with a determined, resolute partnership that slowly but steadily prospered in the afternoon sunshine.

Just when it looked like the session would go wicket-less – in sharp contrast to the morning mayhem – Lancashire made a breakthrough to end a partnership that had added 109 priceless runs

It was slightly fortuitous; Denly, playing in just his fifth Championship match of the season, had produced a gem of an innings for Kent showing great technique and application in challenging circumstances, but his change of mind about playing a shot outside off against Bailey was too late to prevent a nick going to a delighted Lavelle.



That left the visitors on 120-4 at tea but before they could add to that total two wickets fell in the first over after the break bowled by Bailey.

Jordan Cox top-edged the first delivery straight to Wood at midwicket and Ollie Robinson, having travelled up to Manchester today to take over as replacement wicketkeeper from Sam Billings after the Kent skipper tested positive for Covid, was lbw third ball.

Stewart helped Leaning take the visitors well into the lead with an attacking approach that yielded the first six of the match and brought the Italian international a 62-ball fifty in a partnership worth 103 runs.

Leaning, who Lancashire dropped three times albeit from difficult opportunities, looked set to cap an excellent knock with a century only to fall ten short after edging Jack Morley to Wells at slip late in the day.

Bailey claimed his 11th five-wicket haul when Henry edged down the leg side to Lavelle for 16, Williams bowled Gilchrist for 5 and Bailey finished with 6-64 when last man Saini was caught at mid-off leaving Stewart unbeaten on 64 in Kent’s 270 all out.



Jennings and Wells survived two overs before the close but Kent are in a strong position after the second day.

“It was an interesting day. I think we would have liked to have bowled them out for a bit less but we would have liked to have scored more runs as well,” said Tom Bailey following his second best bowling return in first-class cricket today.

“The wicket did a lot this morning,” he added. “Once the sun came out it flattened out a bit.

“The surface has definitely got more abrasive as well so it wasn’t as easy to bat later in the day. It was nice to bowl on today.”

Kent showed today it is possible to get scores on this pitch and Bailey added:

“Hopefully our batters can out in a performance tomorrow and make a game of it. If they can get past the first ten to fifteen overs of the new ball hopefully they can kick on from there.



“I think it will spin more in the fourth innings and we’ve got two good spinners in our team.

“We did it last week at Northampton. We had a hundred deficit and turned that around so the boys do know how to win from that position.

“The experience and confidence going into tomorrow knowing we did it last week will help and there’s no reason why we can’t do it again.”

[themaclad]

Josh Bohannon and Luke Wells led an excellent Lancashire fightback on the third day of this LV= County Championship match against Kent as the Red Rose side produced a great batting performance to reach the close on 377-5 to lead by 252 runs.

Bohannon posted his sixth first-class century while Wells fell agonisingly two runs short of a ton as the Red Rose batters put their first innings disappointment behind them to give stand-in skipper Steven Croft the opportunity of a declaration at some point tomorrow that gives hope of pushing for victory.



It was a complete contrast to the first two days of this match that saw wickets tumble as the pitch and overhead conditions eased considerably today.

Lancashire batters’ made excellent progress on the third morning with two good partnerships virtually wiping off the visitors’ 123-run first-innings advantage by lunch.

Wells and Keaton Jennings, resuming on two without loss, took the total to 54 before Jennings departed in similar fashion to his first innings dismissal when edging Nathan Gilchrist to Jack Leaning at second slip for 14.

Bohannon, who survived a sharp caught and bowled chance off Gilchrist when on 11, continued Lancashire’s positive approach to help Wells steer the Red Rose to 109-1 at the break just 16 runs behind Kent with a fifty partnership from 98 balls.



Wells’ aggressive approach saw the left handed opener reach his half century from 69 balls and it was a testament to the batters success that by lunch Kent had turned to their part-time bowlers with Joe Denly and Daniel Bell-Drummond summoned into the attack.

Bohannon drove and cut Matt Henry for two boundaries immediately after lunch to put Lancashire ahead and that set the tempo for the afternoon with Wells twice straight driving Gilchrist for four in the same over on his way to a nicely constructed and composed innings of 98.



In fact Wells looked destined to reach three figures before he edged a wide Navdeep Saini delivery to Leaning at second slip to break a 117-run partnership with Lancashire now 46 runs ahead.

By then Bohannon had reached his fifty in style with a trademark drive through mid-on for four from his 90th delivery and he progressed steadily and with few alarms – apart from being felled by a painful low blow from a Navdeep Saini delivery - to reach his third first-class century of the season soon after tea from 186 balls with 14 fours.

It was another assured performance by the Boltonian full of well-timed shots and exemplified by a handsome drive for four through cover off Henry that brought up the hundred partnership with Croft from 202 balls moments later.



With little help forthcoming from the pitch today the visitors’ resorted to restricting the scoring as much as possible with a combination of defensive fields and trying to bowl as straight as possible.

Surprisingly the delivery that did the most came from an unlikely source when medium pacer Daniel Bell-Drummond got a ball to rear up off a good length to surprise Bohannon – on 94 at the time – and it’s possible this used pitch may still have a few surprises in it tomorrow.

Croft played a great supporting role in making 41 off 104 balls - included just three fours – in a 109-run partnership for the third wicket before being beaten when Henry, armed with the second new ball, nipped one back to hit middle stump leaving Lancashire on 280-3.

And the tiring Kent attack suffered further punishment as Rob Jones’ positive approach during the final session helped Bohannon add 73 runs in 14 overs for the fourth wicket with Jones striking an excellent unbeaten 53.



Bohannon edged Grant Stewart behind after reaching a fabulous 134 in five and a half hours having faced 239 balls, Washington Sundar was lbw for 10 to Leaning, leaving George Lavelle at the crease (3 not out) alongside Jones at stumps for what potentially could be an exciting and fascinating final day.

“I think we’ve set ourselves in a position to win this game,” said century-maker Josh Bohannon.

“From where we were in the first innings that is a massive positive to take from that.

“It’s a big morning tomorrow to set it up. Hopefully our bowlers can extract the movement from the pitch and we can get ten wickets tomorrow.



“I think the pitch has got a bit flatter as it’s dried out. But there’s still enough there with the cracks and a bit of spin for our bowlers.

“All we can do is try our best and give ourselves the time we need. Hopefully we’ve get the score we want and the bowlers to back it up.”

Bohannon has hit a good run of form in recent games and he added:

“I’ve felt good for a number of weeks.”

“I had a bit of a lull in the middle of the summer which is frustrating but I always felt good and tried not too high or too low.

“The process has stayed the same and thankfully I’m now reaping the rewards for the hard work in the nets.

“Long may that continue.”

[themaclad]

Tom Bailey led Lancashire to a fabulous comeback victory after his five-wicket haul helped skittle Kent for 127 to clinch a fifth LV= County Championship success of the season by 184 runs and keep the Red Rose in the title hunt with three games to go.

It was a stunning turnaround after Lancashire had conceded a 125-run first innings deficit on day two of the match and becomes the second match in a row that Lancashire have won after being behind by more than one hundred runs during last week’s win at Northampton.



Lancashire added 59 runs in the first 50 minutes of play with George Lavelle striking a run-a-ball 30 and Rob Jones finishing unbeaten on 65 before Steven Croft called a halt, setting Kent a target of 312 runs to win from a minimum of 82 overs.

And the Red Rose bowlers then made early inroads to the Kent top order for the second time in the match.

Bailey produced a rising delivery that Zak Crawley could only nick behind to Lavelle behind the stumps, a seaming Will Williams delivery also induced an edge behind from Ben Compton with the same bowler next trapping Joe Denly lbw for 0 to leave Kent 10-3.



Daniel Bell-Drummond and Jack Leaning survived the remainder of the session and fought back with a 62-run alliance well into the afternoon.

But Leaning became the fourth wicket to fall after being given out caught behind for 15 from the spin of Washington Sundar although the stand-in Kent skipper appeared unhappy with the decision.

Washington then produced a high class piece of spin bowling, turning the ball from well outside off on to Ben Cox’s stumps leaving Kent in trouble on 74-5 and with 52 overs still to negotiate.



Bell-Drummond and Ollie Robinson mounted a good rear-guard effort to keep the Red Rose attack at bay in a partnership of 31 across 13 overs but two wickets by Bailey just before tea proved decisive.

Robinson’s resistance ended when he was trapped in front for 21 followed by Grant Stewart who edged behind to Lavelle for 0.

It took just twenty minutes after the break for Lancashire to wrap up a fine victory as the final three Kent wickets fell for one run; Matt Henry stumped off Washington before Bailey yorked Nathan Gilchrist and castled Navdeep Saini on his way to career-best match figures of 11-110.

Kent’s lone resistance came from Daniel Bell-Drummond who finished unbeaten on 69 from 151 balls but found nobody able to stay with him and deny Lancashire – or Bailey.



“It was a bit of a different win this week,” said Head Coach Glen Chapple reflecting on Lancashire’s consecutive comeback victory today.

“The pitch had been used for the one-day international last Friday so it was going to be a good surface. There was a lot of poor weather around over the weekend, and then we lost the toss so it was difficult batting on day one.

“When you get bowled out on day one it doesn’t look great, but it did a fair bit.

“I don’t think I’ve got any qualms about any of our performance.

“We knew that how we were set up meant that if we played good cricket we could still get back into the game and have a chance of forcing a result on the last day.

“I thought we played really well all the way through the game.”



Lancashire’s second innings effort with the bat started the comeback and Chapple said:

“We had some good knocks in the second innings. Wellsy built a partnership with Keaton (Jennings) and then Bosh (Josh Bohannon) played superbly well. He’s back to his style of play and everyone knows he’s got great talent. I’m sure he’s enjoying it.

“We had good partnerships all the way through and the players showed real commitment to what we are trying to do.

“Jonesy played really well last night to keep the momentum of the innings and George (Lavelle) this morning got us off to a bit of a flyer.”

“It’s always tricky to know exactly when to pull out because it was still a decent pitch to bat on.”



Chapple also hailed the efforts of his bowling attack adding:

“Both Tom (Bailey) and Will (Williams) bowled superbly throughout the game. They complement each other well and Bails bowled terrifically well today.

“Mentally, to come back from that deficit takes a fair lot for a team.

“There was a lot of resolve shown by the team.”

And Chapple was taking a pragmatic view about the title run-in when the Championship returns in September.

“All we can do now is keep playing,” he said.

“There’s no pressure on us, it’s on Surrey and Hampshire. We will try and keep playing good, hard cricket and try to win as many games as we can.”

[themaclad]

Keaton Jennings made Roses history with a magnificent century against Yorkshire on the opening day of this LV= County Championship match.

Jennings’ 24th first-class century was also his fourth in four consecutive innings against Yorkshire – the first time a batsman on either side has achieved this feat in Roses matches.

But the visitors’ George Hill hit back in the final session with a sensational six-wicket haul to drag Yorkshire right back into this game.

A memorable first day ended with Lancashire on 272-8 with Hill having taken a career-best 6-26.



After Dane Vilas won the toss, Luke Wells and Jennings began in cautious fashion in the face of good opening spells by Ben Coad and Jordan Thompson.

But once the shine had departed from the new ball, the bowlers found little assistance from a pitch that had good bounce but offered little sideways movement.

Wells and Jennings capitalised with a magnificent opening partnership of 180 during the first two sessions.

The only real chance either batter offered came just before lunch when Wells, having hit Dom Bess for a straight six, was badly dropped on 43 by Steve Patterson at mid-on from the following delivery.

Jennings also hit a six off Bess soon after the resumption to go past the milestone of 3,000 f-c runs for Lancashire and he later reached 9,000 first-class runs when on 95.



Both batsmen appeared in complete control and it came as a surprise when Wells, having made an excellent 85 pulled a long hop from Hill straight to Matthew Waite at deep square leg, the anguished batsman going off with his head in his hands.

Jennings reached his century, having struck 11 fours and that one six from 220 balls, soon after tea and upped the tempo before being bowled for 119 by Hill with a delivery that seamed enough to hit off stump, ending a 51-run partnership with Josh Bohannon.

Steven Croft was then dropped on 0 off Waite by the unfortunate Adam Lyth at midwicket who had to depart with a nasty looking cut after the ball rebounded into his face off his hands.



But the day swung dramatically Yorkshire’s way late in the day with a replacement ball at the centre of the drama.

Bohannon had driven a nice looking boundary off Bess, but on retrieval the ball was found in a pool of water left over last night’s rain and replaced.

And Hill, who was having a first bowl since breaking a toe in July, used the more lively replacement ball to great effect with an outstanding spell of 5-5 in 41 balls to wreck the Lancashire’s innings.



Having accounted for Jennings, Hill then had Bohannon caught by Fin Bean at short extra cover for 27 before three catches from edges to Tom Kohler-Cadmore at first slip accounted for Vilas (2), Croft (12) and George Balderson (0).

Ben Coad then improved Yorkshire’s evening with two wickets in two balls; Tom Hartley lbw for 3 and Tom Bailey caught behind first ball with seven wickets having fallen for 91 runs in the final session.

George Lavelle (17 not out) and Will Williams will be at the crease when play resumes tomorrow.



Keaton Jennings admitted it hadn’t been the easiest of days at Emirates old Trafford.

“It felt like a tough wicket this morning,” he said, “and I didn’t feel that fluid at first.”

“But we settled into a good partnership, and it’s good fun batting with my fellow giraffe!” he grinned.



Jennings has an extraordinarily good record against Yorkshire for both Durham and Lancashire.

“When I was at Durham, Yorkshire was the game you always wanted to win,” he explained. “ They were a tough side and as a young lad you want to get runs against the best side.”

“So I’m really thankful that I’m putting those performances in now for this side.”

Jennings was completely unaware that he had set a new Roses record today.

“I didn’t know that,” he said with surprise when told about it.

“It’s a really special day (getting a Roses century),” he said.

“I said after (getting) the three hundred at Southport, you look back on these days as special when you are retired.

“For now you just try and win the game and keep our Championship ambitions alive by playing some good cricket for the next three days.”



And Jennings gave his view on the way the day changed once the damaged ball had been replaced.

“Hill bowled really nicely all day,” he said.

“That firmness of the replacement ball, which was quite a lot newer, meant we saw it kick and zip off the surface quite nicely.

“And whether the heavy roller has a massive effect or not I’m not quite entirely sure.

“But the firmness of the ball is going to be key. The ‘new’ one was quite a lot newer. The umpires picked was the oldest one in the box and that’s just the way it is. But we went from a 72 overs old ball to one that still had gold writing on it!”

Looking ahead Jennings thinks the runs Lancashire have scored today could be pretty significant.

“We’ve got 272 on the board,” he said. “And we’ve seen some balls stay low and some jump around so we need to get as many as we can tomorrow and then bowl well. “

[themaclad]

This LV= County Championship Roses match is finely poised after two days with Yorkshire reaching 130-4 at stumps after bowling Lancashire out for 276 with Will Williams taking two important top order wickets in the White Rose reply.

It was a rain-affected day with play not starting until after lunch and then bad light halting proceedings in the evening with 16 overs left.

Yorkshire wasted little time in mopping up the Lancashire first innings when play finally began at 12.55pm, Jordan Thompson having George Lavelle caught behind and Ben Coad trapping Matt Parkinson lbw for the addition of four runs.

The Red Rose total of 276 meant the last nine wickets had fallen for 45 runs.

But Williams gave Lancashire an early boost when he had Adam Lyth caught by Josh Bohannon at short leg for 13.



And the Lancashire attack produced a searching new ball spell to test Fin Bean on his debut.

But the 20 year-old left-hand opener survived 19 balls without scoring before going on to produce some beautifully timed drives either side of the wicket and combine well with yesterday’s hero with the ball, George Hill in a partnership of 63 runs.

And just like yesterday the bowlers found life difficult once the shine and hardness had gone from the ball.

Bean and Hill consequently prospered in the afternoon sunshine until Parkinson produced a sharply turning delivery to hit Hill’s off stump just before tea to remove the Yorkshire number three batter for 32.



Bean fell soon after the break when Tom Bailey produced an inswinging yorker to trap the opening bat lbw for 42.

And when Williams struck again three runs later, clipping the top of the stumps after Will Fraine decided against playing a shot, Yorkshire were suddenly on the back foot at 108-4.

Tom Kohler-Cadmore, who earlier had whacked Parkinson for a six and two fours, and Yorkshire captain Jonny Tattersall had added 24 runs in determined fashion before bad light brought an early finish at 5.20pm.



“I think it’s in the balance,” was Bowling Coach Graham Onions assessment of the game after two days.

“I thought we fought pretty well with the ball today,” he added.

And Onions acknowledged the efforts of the opposition.

“I thought they batted nicely although they played and missed a lot,” he said. “But they hung in and showed a lot of character. Their two young lads played pretty well.”

Onions was pleased with the way the Red Rose bowling unit combined to put Yorkshire’s line-up under pressure.

“We did a lot of things right with the ball,” he said. “We feel we probably deserve a few more wickets.

“I feel we are on the cusp of breaking through and putting them under pressure.



“On this type of pitch you need to be challenging off stump and you don’t want to let the batter leave too much.

“The ball had just started to reverse a bit today, the outfield is still pretty dry and you just try and keep the ball as dry as you can.”

Will Williams took two important wickets today and Onions said: “Will been’s fantastic with his energy and enthusiasm.

“And ninety percent of time puts the ball in the right areas.”



With two days left, Onions is focused on what happens when play resumes tomorrow.

“We can’t look too far ahead and worry about the weather,” he said.

“We’ve got to focus on tomorrow morning and put them under pressure with the ball as much as we can.”

[themaclad]

Luke Wells scored one of the great centuries for Lancashire today to keep Red Rose hopes of pushing for a vital LV= Championship victory alive on a memorable day at Emirates Old Trafford.

In a stunning demonstration of strokeplay and powerful hitting Wells raced to a 65-ball century striking 5 sixes and 9 fours and narrowly falling short of Ian Austin’s 61-ball hundred, also against Yorkshire, at Scarborough in 1991 and Andrew Flintoff's 61-ball effort against Gloucestershire at Bristol in 1999 which are believed to be fastest authentic centuries for Lancashire – excluding hundreds scored against declaration bowling.

Wells magnificent effort now stands third on that list.



Yorkshire skipper Jonny Tattersall was forced to put seven fielders on the boundary at one point - such was the ferocity of Wells and Keaton Jennings second innings’ onslaught - as Lancashire looked for the quick runs that may enable them to make a reasonable declaration tomorrow.

Wells produced an array of shots around the wicket; several sweetly struck drives and some beautifully timed sixes, one picked up off his hip and swung way back into the temporary stand was particularly memorable.



Jennings, who hit a six and five fours in reaching a slightly more measured half-century also posted 1,000 runs for the season when reaching 54.

For the second time in the match the pair reached a 180-run plus partnership, extending the lead to 200 runs before Wells tried to hit Dom Bess for another six only to fall a couple of yards short and caught by Will Fraine at deep midwicket having made 124 off 82 balls.

Jennings fell to the part-time leg spin of Tattersall for 68 with Kohler-Cadmore getting a stumping off Bess after Josh Bohannon had attempted to hit out just before bad light and then rain brought an early close at 5.20pm.



Lancashire ended on 203-3 and have a lead of 224 runs going into the final day and Wells’ astonishing innings will live long in the memory.

“It’s was obviously good fun,” said a smiling Luke Wells.

“The game and season situation dictated that we needed to do something with the time we had available and dark clouds rolling over.

“We knew we didn’t have much time to force a lead that could give us something to bowl at.

“Probably I wasn’t expecting to score quite that quickly!” he laughed.

“I just felt in a good groove, got a few out of the middle of the bat and went with it,” he concluded.



“Keaton just let me go with it," he added. "The rate I was scoring at took the pressure off him. So he didn’t feel like he had to go and blast away.

“It’s a short boundary and we just tried to put the spinner under pressure.

“We were still scoring at more than seven runs per over and he didn’t say much to be honest. He just let me get on with it and it worked for the best today.”

When play began on time at 10.30am Lancashire produced a good bowling performance to have Yorkshire on the back foot for the vast majority of the morning, but were then frustrated by a stubborn last-wicket partnership of 36 runs between Ben Coad and Steve Patterson.

Having resumed on 130-4 the visitors lost two early wickets both to catches at the wicket; Tattersall nicking Will Williams for 26 and Matthew Waite fencing at Tom Bailey after making three.



But Kohler-Cadmore led a positive White Rose reply in a 40-run alliance with Bess for the seventh wicket reaching a valuable half-century from 121 balls before top edging a sweep off Matt Parkinson that was well caught by Tom Hartley running in from deep square leg.

Bailey, armed with the new ball, then removed Jordan Thompson – caught at mid-wicket for 4 – and Bess for 26 from a nicely judged catch at square leg by George Balderson – his three hundredth wicket in first-class cricket.



That left Yorkshire on 219-9 but Coad and Patterson produced a defiant last wicket stand that importantly, from the visitor’s perspective, took 21 overs out of the game as well as reducing Lancashire’s lead to just 21 runs by the time Coad top edged a cut to Steven Croft at backward point off Parkinson to be last out for 26.

But Wells and Jennings outstanding partnership means this game is far from over.

[themaclad]

Lancashire and Yorkshire battled to a hard-fought draw in the 277th Roses Match at Emirates Old Trafford.

Lancashire scored quick runs at the start of the day adding 77 runs in 10 overs to set Yorkshire a target of 302 runs and give themselves 84 overs to get the ten wickets needed for victory.

The visitors never attempted to chase down the runs and produced a determined rear-guard effort with the bat to claim the draw and thwart Lancashire’s ambitions, finishing on 102-3 before rain ended the day early with 20 overs and four balls remaining.

The result leaves Lancashire in third place with 188 points in the LV= County Championship table, 29 points behind leaders Hampshire and 21 points behind Surrey who have a game in hand.



Resuming on 203-3 and leading by 224 runs, Dane Vilas and Steven Croft signalled immediate intent by taking 19 runs off the first two overs of the day from Dom Bess and Ben Coad.

The pair added 57 for the fourth wicket before Vilas was bowled for 28 off 20 balls attempting a cut off Bess.

George Lavelle was caught for 1 hitting out and Croft had plundered 45 off 34 balls before Vilas called a halt at 280-5.



And Lancashire nearly made a sensational start when Adam Lyth clipped Tom Bailey’s first ball into the body of Josh Bohannon at short leg with the fielder unable to gather the ball.

But Lyth soon departed for five, edging a drive behind to Lavelle off Will Williams.

When George Hill was smartly caught by Vilas at second slip off Tom Hartley for six, Red Rose ambitions soared with 68 overs still left to be bowled.



A 41-run partnership that occupied 18 of those overs between Fin Bean and Tom Kohler-Cadmore gave the visitors some much needed respite until Hartley had Bean caught by Lavelle after the opener had made a determined 25 off 82 balls.

Kohler-Cadmore and Will Fraine dropped anchor, scoring 17 runs in 19 overs up to tea to steer Yorkshire to 84-3 with 31 overs left and they gave Lancashire few chances after the break, reaching 102-3 before rain ended proceedings at 4.10pm with Kohler-Cadmore unbeaten on 34 from 159 balls and Fraine 18 not out having faced 83 balls.



“I think we played pretty good cricket for the majority of the game,” said Lancashire Head Coach Glen Chapple.

“Maybe we’d like to get more runs after the partnership we had in the first innings.

“We were 180 for none and in an ideal world we would have made more runs. Then the weather came in a little bit and it started to do a bit and they bowled quite well for a period.”



Chapple felt the declaration set today was a fair one.

“We made 280 in 43 overs and set them 302 in 84 overs which for me is 50-50 game,” he explained.

“I don’t know what more you can do.

“It was a flat enough to block if you want to. But that was a fair target.

“We’d have got 300 on that no problem,” he added. “But we can’t judge how positive (other) teams are going to be.

“I suppose we are at the stage of the season where a win is not that important, but to set any less would have been giving the game away.”



Chapple was full of praise for the effort put in by his players to try and go for the win.

“On a pitch like that you might need a bit more pace in the attack,” he said.

“We’ve got our best bowlers out there and I thought everyone bowled well. You just need a breakthrough when you can.

“If a few decisions had gone our way in the first innings the game might have speeded up.”

And Chapple described Luke Wells’ second innings performance yesterday as “amazing.”

“That just shows the pitch is good,” he said. “You’ve got to play out of your skin to do that and take chances. But his shot execution and power was unbelievable.

“And that showed what can be done on that surface. We scored at seven runs per over comfortably.

“It was a brilliant innings and it put us in with a shout and given two teams with an appetite for a win it would have been a great game.”



Chapple is determined to finish the season on a high.

“We’ve got to keep playing good cricket and finish as high as we can and see what happens,” he said.

“We’ve worked too hard to let our standards slip. We’ll come out in our last two games to try and win those and see where that takes us.”