[themaclad]

Specsavers County Championship Division Two, Sedbergh School (day one):
Lancashire 275-5: Vilas 67*, Jones 52, Davies 38; Rushworth 2-50
Durham: Yet to bat
Lancashire 2 pts, Durham 1 pt
Scorecard
Lancashire captain Dane Vilas hit his fourth half-century of the season to help his side bat through the day against Durham at Sedbergh School.

Vilas finished the day unbeaten on 67, out of 275-5, having so far shared an unbroken 47-run stand with former Lancs skipper Steven Croft, who is on 29.

All the home batsmen got starts - and Rob Jones was a key contributor, with 52 in three and a quarter hours.

Chris Rushworth spearheaded the Durham attack with 2-50 from 21 overs.

Rushworth should have had a third victim too, but Croft was put down by Alex Lees at first slip.

Lancashire captain Dane Vilas and opposite number Cameron Bancroft shake hands before the off at Sedbergh
Lancashire captain Dane Vilas and opposite number Cameron Bancroft shake hands before the off at Sedbergh
Bryson Carse, Nathan Rimmington and last week's matchwinner Ben Raine all weighed in with a wicket each as the visiting bowlers generally did a good job on the first day of first-class cricket at this spectacular setting in the Cumbrian fells.

After being put in by Durham, Lancashire will be happy at having only lost five wickets. But their scoring rate was kept down all day by the Durham bowlers, who limited them to just two batting points.

With 14 overs left in the morning, Lancs will be eyeing a third, possibly even a fourth batting point, while Durham are just one wicket away from a second bowling point.

[themaclad]

Specsavers County Championship Division Two, Sedbergh School (day two):
Lancashire 337: Vilas 72; Rimmington 4-74
Durham 199-5: Bancroft 77; Anderson 2-35
Durham (2 pts) trail Lancashire (4 pts) by 138 runs
Scorecard
England's James Anderson claimed his 950th first-class wicket on day two of Lancashire's County Championship Division Two match against Durham.

Replying to Lancashire's 337 all out, Durham captain Cameron Bancroft helped his side to 136-1 at Sedbergh School.

But Durham then lost two wickets in successive balls, including Australian Bancroft bowled by Anderson for 77.

Two overs later, Anderson (2-35) reached his latest milestone by trapping Graham Clark lbw for a duck.

That burst of wickets from Anderson and fellow veteran seamer Graham Onions swung the momentum in Lancashire's favour, and Anderson took a slip catch to remove Jack Burnham (26) late on as Durham closed on 199-5, trailing by 138.

Exactly one month before the start of England's Ashes series against Australia, 36-year-old Anderson moved onto 30 Division Two wickets this season at an average of 9.23.

Earlier, home skipper Dane Vilas (72) added only five runs to his overnight score as the hosts lost their five remaining wickets for 44 runs.

My view

Decent little ground spectacular views, not a warm day early on the wicket bit unpredicatable especially if bowling from the Church End some shot, some lifted visciously off a length.
Bohannon batted well possibly batting too low.
They started well with Bancroft looking in good form, lots of nicks through the slipos possibly a couple could have been taken, Jennings injured his hand dropping one. Jimmy celebrated in style when getting Bancroft however the lack of spin intil the end made it a bit of an attritional day.
If you go a quirk of the ground if you turn right on leaving the church with the ground in front of you the seats there are free as it is public land although you can watch for free from the path next to the Church and the main road.
Ice cream was ace

damp early doors
Croft being wathed as he walks off

Jimmy walks back to mark

[themaclad]

Specsavers County Championship Division Two, Sedbergh School (day three):
Lancashire 337 & 204-7: Vilas 74*
Durham 281: Bancroft 77, Rimmington 53; Onions 5-93
Lancashire (6 pts) lead Durham (4 pts) by 260 runs
Scorecard
Durham fought back well on day three to leave all three results still possible against a Lancashire side which lost England's James Anderson to injury.

Anderson will play no further part in the match because of a calf problem.

Graham Onions finished with 5-93 as Durham's first innings ended on 281.

That gave Lancashire a 56-run lead, but Chris Rushworth removed England duo Keaton Jennings and Haseeb Hameed in the first over to leave the hosts 0-2 and they closed on 204-7, 260 ahead.

Captain Dane Vilas (74 not out) registered his second half-century of the match, giving Lancashire a decent target to defend on day four - even without the services of their star bowler Anderson.

The 36-year-old, who claimed his 950th first-class wicket on Monday, managed to bowl only eight balls on his first spell on day three before being forced to leave the field because of injury.



Livingstone bowling



Rushworth bowling

[themaclad]

Lancashire draw Durham chasing 310 end 184-6

[themaclad]

v
Venue



Northamptonshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Northamptonshire. Its limited overs team is called the Northants Steelbacks – a reference to the Northamptonshire Regiment which was formed in 1881. The name was supposedly a tribute to the soldiers' apparent indifference to the harsh discipline imposed by their officers.[2] Founded in 1878, Northamptonshire (Northants) held minor status at first but was a prominent member of the early Minor Counties Championship during the 1890s. In 1905, the club joined the County Championship and was elevated to first-class status, since when the team have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England.[3]

The club plays the majority of its games at the County Cricket Ground, Northampton, but has used outlier grounds at Kettering, Wellingborough and Peterborough (formerly part of Northamptonshire, but now in Cambridgeshire) in the past. It has also used grounds outside the county for one-day games: for example, at Luton, Tring and Milton Keynes.

During the 2018 season, Northamptonshire played in Division Two of the County Championship, the North Division of the Royal London One-Day Cup and the North Division of the Vitality t20 Blast.

A four dayer at Northampton and with Glamorgan not playing if we get more than three points we go back to being top. Only three fit pacemen therefore high time Parkinson played, Livingstone probably also a doubt due to a side strain, anybodies guess who will replace him.
Never seen cricket at the venue but did watch Northampton Town when they played there, this man never played cricket for a county but he did score six at Northampton

[themaclad]

Specsavers County Championship Division Two

Northamptonshire
334/5 (96)
Lancashire

At an educated guess can safely say we are not winning this one, bat first should always be the way to go especially after a spell of warm dry weather, this pitch turns usually later on, the mone selection of Parkinson a blunder as stated earlier, most of other games seemed far well in advance of this in terms of wickets going down our straight forward return to Division 1 may not be so after this game

[themaclad]

Specsavers County Championship Division Two, County Ground, Northampton (day two):
Northamptonshire 442: Bavuma 103, Vasconcelos 77, Rossington 76; Onions 5-77
Lancashire 211-4: Davies 124*, Jones 44; Keogh 2-30, Sanderson 2-33
Lancashire (2 pts) trail Northants (4 pts) by 231 runs with 6 wickets remaining
Scorecard
Alex Davies made an unbeaten 124 as Lancashire recovered from 2-2 to reach 211-4 but Northants still had a 231-run lead at the end of day two.

The home side advanced their overnight score of 334-5 to 442 all out,

Lancashire then lost England opener Keaton Jennings and Haseeb Hameed for ducks inside five overs, with Jennings caught at slip off Ben Sanderson, who then bowled Hameed off an inside edge.

Davies hit 19 fours and put on 127 with Rob Jones (44) as they closed on 211-4

Relive County Championship day two as it happened
Steven Croft (38 not out) also provided the stylish Davies with valuable support in an unbroken stand of 80.

After reaching his 50 from just 59 balls, Davies ended the day at Wantage Road with 21 fours in his 179-ball innings, his first Championship century in over a year.

But Rob Keogh also picked up two wickets to leave Lancashire still needing 81 more runs to avoid the possibility of following on.

Northants captain Adam Rossington told BBC Radio Northampton:

"We lost a couple of early wickets but to rebuild and reach 442 having been stuck in we're really happy with that.

"They've managed to get another partnership going towards the close but we've got the new ball coming soon so hopefully we can take a good lead.

"We've been good at the start this year with the new ball and then we kept it reasonable tight until the breakthrough came after tea.

"We'd have liked another before the close but we can regroup and come back strong in the morning."

Lancs centurion Alex Davies told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"I've obviously missed quite a bit of the season, so to come back and get a few on the board is nice. Losing those early wickets focussed me a bit more and made my role even more important.

"Upon reflection, I've maybe tried a little too hard over the last few games having missed so much cricket, whereas going into this game I knew I was playing well and just needed to relax a bit.

"A trait of ours is having fight when we're behind. Jonesy played well and I always love batting with Crofty.

"We're behind the game, which we haven't been this season, so it's a test of what we're made of from here."


Lancashire's ability to start at 0-2 is becoming the norm, Jennins and Hameed both totally out of form as for the latter, maybe it's time for him to move on away from the old boys coaching club at OT and also maybe move away from his family, personal view think he has been let down by those behind the scenes.

As for the game behind the eight ball let's hope Onions stays fit

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OOps deleting my images has slightly cocked things up on here DOH

[themaclad]

Northants 214-6 lead by 341 given we will be 0-2 when we bat again safe to say not winning this

[themaclad]

Specsavers County Championship Division Two, County Ground, Northampton (day four):
Northamptonshire 442 & 263-9 dec: Keogh 74, Newton 48: Parry 3-59
Lancashire 315& 275-4: Bohannon 65*, Hameed 55, Vilas 53*, Davies 53
Northants (12 pts) drew with Lancashire (10 pts)
Scorecard
Lancashire returned to the top of Division Two in the County Championship after escaping with a draw against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road.

Resuming on 214-6, Northants batted on before declaring on 263-9, setting a notional 391 to win in 89 overs.

But they could prise out just four wickets as four Lancashire batsmen posted half-centuries.

England opener Haseeb Hameed went past 50 for just the second time this season as the visitors reached 275-4.

After failing to make any further breakthrough with the new ball, Northants skipper Adam Rossington shook hands with opposite number Dane Vilas at 18:00 BST.

Vilas, by then, was on 53, having shared a 90-run unbroken fifth-wicket stand with Josh Bohannon, who was on 65.

First-innings centurion Alex Davies earlier added 53 to his first-innings career-best 147 to end up with 200 runs in the match.

How things stand
Lancashire, who are now seven points clear of Glamorgan at the top, host Sussex in their next match, beginning on Saturday.

But the Red Rose have been hit by another injury, with Saqib Mahmood suffering an abdominal problem which will force him out of this Sunday's England Lions game against Australia A at Canterbury.

They went into the match at Northampton without Jimmy Anderson, Tom Bailey and Liam Livingstone, although spinner Matt Parkinson is now fit for selection again.

Northants are now sixth, but just 12 points off the third promotion place,now occupied by Derbyshire, who they face in their next fixture from Sunday.

Just 29 points separate the bottom eight clubs in Division Two, with just one round of fixtures to go before the T20 Blast break.

---

v


All to rare visitors to the citadel of accumulating money, a big welcome to Sussex by the Sea, it is our only meeting this season in Division 2 due to the utter farcical arrangements of playing some sides once.
At the moment Sussex are fourth having won two matches and are on 99 points 35 behind us. They have recently signed Chopra from Essex on a three match loan period, he should play against us. Not many star names Luke Wright tends to play mainly one dayers, add into that Archer and Chris Jordan and highly rated Phil Salt.
Gone are the days of Suttle, Oakman, Parks, Dexter and the Nawab of Pataudi from days gone by,

Lancs down to bare bones in the seam department for this one, no Anderson and Mahmood abdominal strain, Bailey knee and Anderson ECB resting, speaking of the ECB which Divs decided to schedule a four day game to coincide with the World Cup final.
Will be there Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

[themaclad]

Specsavers County Championship Division Two, Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester (day one):
Sussex 127: Salt 40; Parkinson 6-23, Maxwell 4-41
Lancashire 149-1: Davies 72, Jennings 53*; Rawlins 1-17
Lancashire (3 pts) lead Sussex (0 pts) by 22 runs
Scorecard
Spinner Matthew Parkinson took a career-best 6-23 as Lancashire skittled Sussex for 127 on day one of their Championship game at Old Trafford.

Along with fellow spinner Glenn Maxwell (4-41) Parkinson helped remove Sussex's last nine wickets for just 50 runs.

Lancashire opener Alex Davies was dropped on nought before going on to score 72 as the Red Rose reached 149-1 in reply.

The hosts lead by 22 runs with nine first-innings wickets remaining.

After winning the toss, Sussex openers Philip Salt (40) and Varun Chopra (32) put on an opening stand of 77, but only England white-ball all-rounder Chris Jordan (22) was able to also reach double figures for the visitors.

Lancashire responded well before Davies was caught behind off the bowling of Delray Rawlins shortly after tea, while skipper Keaton Jennings struck 53 not out as the Division Two leaders look for their fifth win of the season.