MATCH REPORT: Bohannon hits maiden one-day century as Lancs clinch convincing win over Kent
A maiden List one-day century by Josh Bohannon, fifties by George Bell, Dane Vilas and George Balderson and a career-best four for 52 by Jack Blatherwick helped Lancashire record a resounding 125-run win against cup holders Kent in the Metro Bank One Day Cup match at Stanley Park.
In a meeting of last year's finalists, Lancashire’s first win in the competition this season takes them into second place in the Group A table after three matches.
Bohannon arrived at the crease in the fifth over following the departure of Red Rose skipper Keaton Jennings for one, but initially the Boltonian played a supporting role as Bell seized the initiative with a series of fluently struck boundaries whenever the Kent bowlers strayed offline.
That didn’t happen too often during the ten over powerplay as James Bazley and Grant Stewart produced accurate, probing, opening spells after Kent had won the toss to restrict Lancashire to 34 runs and on another day might have collected more than a solitary wicket with both bowlers beating the outside edge on several occasions.
Bohannon and Bell began to prosper once Kent started to rotate their attack, Bell reaching his fifty from 58-balls in the 15th over and going on to hit seven fours in a career-best 71 before being bowled by seamer Jas Singh, playing his first List A match, after adding 112 in 23 overs with Bohannon for the second wicket.
It was an impressive, confident, performance by 20 year-old Bell playing in just his third List A game.
Bohannon had taken time to assess conditions on a wicket offering early assistance, facing 35 balls before hitting his first boundary – a six over long-on off spinner Hamid Qadri – followed by a second three balls later off Joey Evison hammered over the sightscreen.
Dane Vilas joined forces with Bohannon to increase the momentum during a 91-run partnership and having built a good platform of 132 for two after 30 overs Lancashire motored on rapidly from that point hitting 196 from the remaining 20 overs.
Bohannon hit his third six off Qadri while Vilas pulled Matt Quinn way over midwicket for six in the 35th over and repeated the dose when Evison returned in the next, to add to his five fours as he reached a second consecutive half-century from just 34 balls before driving Singh to mid-off for 51 in the 40th over.
Bohannon went to his century off 113 balls before holing out to Jack Leaning at long-on off James Bazley for 105 but a fabulous 28-ball blitz of 57 by Balderson over the closing ten overs saw Lancashire race past the 300-mark.
The left-handed all-rounder hit four sixes and five fours, before perishing to Singh when caught on the long-off boundary in the penultimate over.
Matty Hurst (15 not out off 6 balls) and George Lavelle (9 not out off 7 balls) closed out the innings with Lancashire’s 328 for five easily their highest total against Kent in one-day cricket.
That score proved to be well beyond Kent, who were in early trouble on 21 for two after Ben Compton popped up a catch to Lavelle at point off Tom Bailey for 4 and Leaning was bowled by Blatherwick for 12.
Alex Blake, dropped on one, hit a six off Balderson but the bowler quickly struck back by having the batter caught by Vilas at mid-on for 24.
And Balderson next removed Daniel Bell-Drummond after the opener had made a nicely compiled 38 on his return from The Hundred and playing his first List A game since 2019, before he top edging a pull that was easily caught by wicketkeeper Hurst to have Kent 97 for four in the 20th over.
A 51-run partnership between Finch and Evison briefly raised the visitors hopes but Blatherwick returned with a superb spell, seeing two difficult catches spilt but still claiming three more wickets having Finch caught behind for 31, Bazley caught at mid-off first ball and Evison lbw for 30.
Morley bowled Stewart for 3 and Blatherwick ended proceedings when he caught Quinn for 15 to give Tom Aspinwall his maiden one-day wicket, with Kent 203 all out in the 40th over.
The win also extended Lancashire's unbeaten one-day cup record at Blackpool to 13 matches.
Josh Bohannon was delighted that, “the stuff I’ve worked on in practice paid off.”
“It was tough early doors,” he admitted, “but me and Belly managed to tough it out and put a partnership together.
“That allowed the others to put some cameos on and get us up to what we knew was an above-par score.
“It took me a while to get going. It felt like a bit of a club pitch at times with the bounce and nip, and I was really struggling. But Belly was still scoring, which was great, and once the field started spreading it got a bit easier for us to tick over.
“With small boundaries we knew we could catch up later, so we were trying to keep everything for the back end, which thankfully we did, so that allowed us to get up to a really good score.
“I have made a lot of starts, so it was nice to kick on and get my first hundred in this (format). And for it to end in a win is even better.“
“It was a great team performance. Everyone chipped in. The way Blathers bowled was fantastic and there’s a lot of positives to take forward into the next game.”
Ken Grime
Photos: Conor Molloy & Dan Adams
