Lancashire v Leicestershire County Championship Div 2 at Old Trafford April 18-22

Neil Whitaker reports

Day 1

LANCASHIRE  were glad of the Manchester rain when it prevented any play after lunch against Leicestershire.  

Leicestershire stumper Ben Cox said: “We had control of the ball in that session and we bowled brilliantly.  The lacquer on the ball came off after the seventh over and then the ball did a bit more.  The session couldn’t have gone better. We  got three wickets and we could have got a couple more but we go again tomorrow.

We’ve had two very good performances in our first two games under our belts which have given us confidence and against one of the teams who are one of the  favourites to go up there is a lot of confidence in the group.”

Put into bat by Leicestershire, Lancashire lost their first wicket in the seventh  over when Michael Jones  pushed at Ian Holland and the ball  came back and knocked his off stump out of the ground.  Earlier both Holland and Logan  Van Beek had Jones and KeatonJennings playing and missing.

To combat the swing of Holland, Jennings moved down the pitch to him. But in Holland’s next over Jennings  tamely guided him to Louis Kimber at first slip.  In the only  session of play Holland’s two wickets cost him 13 runs in his eight overs.

Former Leicestershire player Marcus  Harris on eight  survived a strong caught behind appeal off Tom Scriven. In Scriven’s next over Harris drove him the extra cover boundary for the shot of the morning.

Josh Bohannon was strangled down the legside off Ben Mike’s fourth ball and stumper  Cox took the catch diving to his left.

Matty Hurst must have thought his luck was in and must be eying a big score, when he was twice dropped in his first nine balls.  On one he got a thick edge to Scriven but Cox diving forward and to his right couldn’t take the catch. In the next over Hurst was dropped on four, again this time by Rehan Ahmed at third slip, the went straight in and straight out.

Day 2

LEICESTERSHIRE’s Tom Scriven took his first Rothesay County Championship five wicket haul as Lancashire were dismissed for 263 on  the second day.

The 26 year old finished with five for  46 and three of them were leg before and two were bowled, an indication of how straight he was bowling . His first victim was  Matty Hurst who Leicestershire must have thought that they were never going to get him out after he was dropped for the third time. Again the culprit was Rehan Ahmed at third slip. On 14 Hurst   pushed at Logan Van Beek and the ball flew to third slip but  burst through  Rehan Ahmed’s hands.

Hurst decided that his luck was in and decided to go for broke. He pulled Van Beek over deep backward square leg for a six. In that over he hit 18.  Two balls after that six he got an inside edge which missed his stumps  and went to the fine leg for a boundary. That was followed by another two fours.

Leicestershire finally got rid of Hurst when Scriven trapped him plumb leg before with his second ball of the day.  Hurst’s 46 came from 78 balls with six fours and that six.

His next victim was the Aussie run machine for Lancashire Marcus Harris who top scored with 77 and has now scored 360 runs in five Championship innings. But it wasn’t faultless, on  24 he edged Van Beek but the ball fell short off Louis Kimber at first slip.  He repeated the shot with the same result two balls later.

If he was lucky with those two shots he wasn’t lucky when he clipped Ian Holland off his toes to the mid-wicket boundary for the shot of the morning. He  reached his fourth 50 in five innings when he guided Scriven to third man for a single.  His 50 came from 108 balls with eight fours in 160 minutes.

But just when everyone in the crowd was anticipating his second Championship century of the season Harris played down the wrong line to Scriven and was leg before for 77 which came from 150 balls and included nine fours.

Scriven said: “It was quite a big wicket to get and  I am grateful that I managed to hit the pad.”

On nine, Luke Wells suffered a glancing blow on his funny bone from Ben  Mike and retired hurt.  He came back in at the fall of Tom Hartley’s  wicket with the score on  201 for 6. Wells became Scriven’s third  leg before victim when Scriven went around the wicket and angled one into him.

After a hesitant start when he  couldn’t get the ball away  and being involved in the run out of Hartley, George Balderson grew in confidence and played some delightful shots the best of which was a drive off Holland to the extra cover boundary in the final over before tea.

Balderson reached his first 50 of the season when he glanced Scriven off his legs to the fine leg boundary for his sixth boundary.  Two balls later Scriven knocked Balderson’s middle stump out of the ground 

Scriven got his fifth wicket with one that pitched on Anderson Phillip’s off stump, took his edge and Ben /Cox took the catch diving to his right.

Scriven added: “It was a wicket where a few balls didn’t offer anything then you would get one or two that would rise quite sharply, it was about being patient and hoping that one of those would go your way. I tried to put it in a rough area and hope.

We just thought about sticking to our plans and to keep them to a low run rate which I thought we did on a good pitch.”  

The run out with Hartley came when he swatted Mike into the covers where it was fielded by Lewis Hill in the meantime Hartley had set off for a run.  He was sent back by Balderson and Hill’s throw was met by Sol Budinger at short leg who demolished the stumps.

Van Beek wrapped the innings when last man John Turner  hung his bat out and Cox took the catch.

Lancashire had two chances to break the opening partnership and both benefited Budinger.  The first  before he had scored when he edged Saqib Mahmood between Michael Jones  and Keaton Jennings at first and second slip. On 31 Budinger turned Hartley to Josh Bohannon at short leg  who had three attempts to catch it but couldn’t hold on.

Eventually they got rid of Budinger when he pulled Saqib Mahmood to Bohannon who took the catch at mid-on running to his left.

With the floodlights on, Rehan Ahmed reached his 50 from 79 balls with seven fours.

Harris said: “It was quite a tricky wicket yesterday. There's obviously a bit more grass on it than the last game, so there's a bit more in it. Batting first under probably cloudier conditions, we haven't had the best of conditions, but it felt like 265 was probably around par. They came out and scored quite quickly there at the end, but I thought we dragged it back in the last sort of 45 minutes and bowled a lot better.

It still feels like there's enough in the wicket, we’ve just got to put the ball in the right spot for long enough. It wasn't an impossible wicket to bat on. There was obviously a bit more in it than what there has been, but if you could apply yourself for long enough, there were chances to score.

I think having opened the batting for a long time, I’m used to having the batting in all different types of conditions. So, it wasn't anything unusual. And like I said, the wicket felt like it wasn't like a minefield.

“It's like the odd ball did a bit, but more often than not, it came on okay. So, it was sort of just about applying your game plan and sticking out there for long enough, I think. Credit to them, they bowled pretty well.

They had slightly more defensive fields that didn't let the board tick as much. So, maybe in previous games we would have scored a few more runs, but with their field set, it sort of stopped the runs flowing as much. Today the wicket had two heavy rollers on it. So, that plays quite a big part in English conditions.

I think if we can bowl well tomorrow, control the board a bit more, I think Hartley looked really good at the end.”

Day 3

LEICESTERSHIRE captain Peter Handscomb hit  an unbeaten 142, his first Rothesay Championship century of the season as Leicestershire dominated the third day at Emirates Old Trafford.

Handscomb declared on 491 for eight their highest first-class score at Emirates Old Trafford and gave his eight overs to bowl at Lancashire and in those overs they took two Lancashire wickets.  He pushed Anderson Phillip into  the covers for a quick single to bring up his ton from 170 balls with 10 fours. With Lewis Hill, Handscomb quietly and without any fuss kept the scoreboard ticking over as they added 32 in  11 overs and their 50 partnership came in the last  over before lunch after they had lost two wickets in three overs for two runs.

He said: “That was a pretty good day, we’ve been batting really nicely  as a group and we wanted someone in the top six to stand up.  Rehan Ahmed  did that and I followed him.

Him and Sol Budinger   played their natural game, they are both natural attacking batters and they got us off to a good start.  We know that we can trust the people behind us so it’s important that one of us stands up.

Hill  is in a really good place at the moment and we tried to set up the game.  We didn’t have a target or a time to bowl at them but Ian Holland wanted to have a crack and you’ve got to listen to your fast bowlers. We would have been happy to take on but to take three is brilliant.

”Hill turned George Balderson off his legs to the fine leg boundary just evading Phillip.  Two balls later he cut Balderson to the third man boundary for another four.  He forced Tom Hartley off his backfoot for a single to the point boundary to bring up his second Championship 50 of the season from 91 balls with five fours.

The former Foxes captain turned Hartley off his legs for three to bring up the 100 partnership with Handscomb off 163 balls in 101 minutes.  Their partnership of 130 in 41 overs was broken when Hill tried to pull Balderson  up git too far under it and skied it and  Michael Jones at mid-wicket took a routine catch.

Handscomb clipped the fourth ball with the new ball from Saqib Mahmood off his legs to the mid wicket boundary to bring up his 50 from 94 balls with five fours.  A couple of balls later he glanced Saqib Mahmood to the fine leg boundary to overtake Hill.

He showed utter disdain for Balderson when he pulled him to the mid-wicket boundary.  He clipped Hartley for a four through square leg to bring up their third batting point on the stroke of tea.

Handscomb hit two sixes, the first when he  pulled Saqib Mahmood over the square leg boundary and the second when he  smashed Wells for a big six over long-on and declared.

Ben Cox top edged a pull off Saqib Mahmood and found Luke Wells on the square leg boundary. With Handscomb they added 66 in 16 overs. Cox swept Hartley for a six over square leg, two balls before he swept Hartley for a couple to fine to bring up the 50 partnership with Handscomb.

Logan Van Beek was bowled by a flipper from Wells.  Ben Green was bowled round his legs by Hartley.

In the morning session Leicestershire added 122 in 34 overs for the loss of  two wickets. Initially Rehan Ahmed got bogged down by Hartley  but suddenly he sprang into action by smashing two boundaries in three balls. The first was a slog sweep to the square leg boundary and the second was straight which wrong footed Phillip on the log-off boundary.  When  Phillip had ball in hand Rehan Ahmed drove him  to the cover boundary for a glorious shot as he and Holland added 46 in the first 10 overs of the day.

Rehan Ahmed backed away from Hartley and cut him to the point boundary to take him into the 90’s which proved to be a cakewalk for Rehan Ahmed.  He reached his second first-class century off 147 balls with 10 fours. His previous one was against Derbyshire in 2022. Then it was a case of 100 and out as he prodded forward to Hartley and gave  Josh Bohannon a simple catch at silly mid-off.

As so often happens in a big partnership when one goes the soon follows back to the hutch as was the case today.  Three overs after Rehan Ahmed went back to the hutch he was joined by  Holland who  top edged a pull off John Turner and Saqib Mahmood took a simple catch at mid-on.

Louis Kimber came and went hitting two from seven  balls before he was yorked by Turner.

In the morning session Hartley’s bowling spell from the James Anderson end was 15 overs one for 54 and his 44 overs were the most he has bowled in a first-class match.

Lancashire lost third captain Keaton Jennings in the third over  when Holland grazed his off stump through the gap.  For the third time in fourth  innings Phillip came in as night watchman and he only lasted 14 balls, he edged one that came back and kept low and Cox took a simple catch.

It could have been worse in the next over Jones was dropped on four by Kimber at first slip off Van Beek. It didn’t make any difference because three balls later Jones was late on one that kept low and was bowled.

Day 3

LEICESTERSHIRE remain undefeated after the match with Lancashire was drawn at 5.27 on the final day.

Play eventually started at 4.30 on the final day  with 34 overs left because of morning rain but in the end we only had 16 of them with Lancashire on 90 for three. Josh Bohannon was unbeaten on 45 and Marcus Harris made 34.  During his innings Harris passed 12,000 first-class runs.

Bohannon was dropped twice by stumper Ben Cox off Ian Holland.  The first one came when Bohannon was on 10, and he  edged Holland but Cox diving forward spilled the chance.  Cox dropped Bohannon again this time  on 21 when Bohannon got a thick edge to Holland and Cox could only get his fingertips to the ball.

Leicestershire Head Coach  Alfonso Thomas said: “I think we’ve outplayed Lancashire, we’ve won all the sessions.  We’ve done some things well.  In the games we’ve played we’ve ticked all the boxes we set out to at the start of the season except someone getting 150.  I am proud of the guys and the way they’ve gone about things. 

 The way they bowled in the first innings when everyone did their job.  They didn't get the rewards at first but they did at the end.

The way that Rehan Ahmed and Sol Budinger batted on the second evening they set the game up for the third day.  They batted with intent and to put on 100 for the  first wicket was fantastic and allowed the other guys to play.  Peter Handscombe led from the front and Holland did his job  leading the bowling attack.  We have got a good bowling attack.

Coming here not many people gave us a chance but we’ve outplayed them and it’s a pity that we didn’t have the time to take the seven remaining wickets.

”Lancashire Head Coach Dale Benkenstein said: “Firstly, I think the good thing is the worry about the pitch  not being able to produce results is over. I  think we showed on day one it was a good toss for them to win. We would have bowled as well and the ball went around quite a bit.

Leicestershire are a confident side, they're playing good cricket. We knew we were going to be up against it these four days and that's going to be a good challenge really. I thought we actually battled really well.

There was a stage there where it looked like they could have bowled us out for under 200. What was disappointing is I felt we got into a position where we could have batted out  day two  and actually put on over 300. There were a couple of dismissals that were not really good balls with batters that were in. 

We didn't capitalize on fighting really hard, getting in a position where we could have maybe ended up with 300 and not had as many overs to bowl overnight. Day four was obviously a beautiful day  to bat.

There were some positives, Tom  Hartley bowling so many overs and bowling well, I think is a real plus for us.  Seeing Saqib Mahmood back actually getting through 20 odd overs, there's some positives there.

 But  we want performances as well. I don't want to take too much credit away from Leicestershire. They are playing very well. To come out on Sunday knowing you've only got eight overs to bowl after they’d been sitting in the changing room all day and were up for it. They were the frontrunners in the game.

“But from a championship point of view, I still think this is a very good side we put out. I don't think we've played as well as we could. The championship is a marathon. It's not a sprint.

”Lancashire captain Keaton Jennings said: “I think when you look back at the four days, batting first on that surface was hard work. I thought  to get to 263 was probably about par. We had opportunities to push ahead of the game and get above par, but let them slide. And the same with the ball. I don't think we executed well enough.

We chatted about it as a group. And obviously, they're going to get a big score as the wicket sort of levelled  out a bit. Last night was a crazy half an hour. Balls jumped and stayed low and all sorts. Where that came from, I'm not sure.

Today, we were pretty clear with what we had to do. I thought Harris  and Bohannon went about their jobs beautifully.

Overall, it was frustrating. You feel like a bit of a stuck record coming in saying the same thing. I think with the ball we need to be more relentless, landing the ball in the right area often enough. You want guys getting hundreds, getting big hundreds, especially first innings. That's one where the points are.

“We want to be playing that type of cricket, the  first time around. We've seen Northamptonshire  and Leicestershire both put us under pressure with big first innings scores. We want to be the side doing that.I think the good thing is, when you look at it from our point of view, I suppose a positive spin is we haven't played our best cricket, but we're not a million miles off.We haven't played good cricket. We've got a week now to correct it.

”Both umpires and the Leicestershire players wore black armbands in memory of the former umpire Jeff Evans who died at the weekend.









 

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