2NDXI REPORT: Balderson century leads strong Lancashire reply against Essex
A century by George Balderson and fifties by Matty Hurst and George Lavelle led a strong Lancashire reply with the bat on day three of this Second Eleven Championship match with Essex at Chester Boughton Hall.
Replying to the visitors first innings’ 457-6 declared, Lancashire had reached 417-5 at stumps to trail by 40 runs going into the final day tomorrow.
Essex batted on at the start of the morning, Ronnie McKenna advancing his innings to 131 before losing his middle stump to Balderson, and Jamal Richards chipping the same bowler to Arav Shetty at mid-on for 55 with the visitors declaring once they had achieved maximum batting points.
Lancashire responded positively with two century partnerships, Balderson and Hurst putting on 116 for the first and Lavelle then adding 167 for the second in alliance with Balderson.
Hurst, who reached his fifty from just 58 balls, had moved on steadily to 68 before departing lbw to Eshun Kalley when the bowler nipped one back to beat the batter’s attempted drive.
Lavelle and Balderson then scored at more than four runs per over across the following 40 overs to put the visitors on the back foot, Balderson producing a dominant display that included 21 fours and two sixes, both straight hits off left arm spinner Aum Patel.
Balderson reached his second century in this competition off 161 balls when driving Ayden Gouldstone over long-on, and he went on to make a Second Eleven Championship career-best 134 before sweeping Patel to Ali Zeb at deep mid-wicket.
Lavelle, who struck sixes off both Patel and Gouldstone during his three-hour innings and looked set to reach three figures, fell for 82 after driving leg spinner Gouldstone into the hands of Patel at long-on.
Cian Dickinson produced a late afternoon assault of 47 off 43 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes, and was particularly severe on leg spinner Zeb, before being run out at the bowler’s end in unfortunate circumstances after being sent back.
When Kesh Fonseka followed swiftly for 4 after gloving a pull to wicketkeeper McKenna off Richards, three wickets had fallen for 9 runs, but Shetty (24 not out) and Jack Carney (19 not out) added 47 runs during the final hour to reach stumps on 417-5.
Photo: Dan Adams