MATCH REPORT Lancashire and Northamptonshire battle to a hard fought draw
Lancashire and Northamptonshire fought out a hard-earned draw in the LV= Insurance County Championship clash at Emirates Old Trafford as the visitors batted out most of the day to reach 213 for five.
George Balderson (49 not out) and Tom Hartley (24 not out) had thumped 46 runs in three overs at the start of the day to extend Lancashire’s lead to 202 before Keaton Jennings declared on 544 for seven.
That left the majority of the day for Lancashire to put Northamptonshire under pressure, but after losing two early wickets, the visitors rallied sufficiently to eliminate the runs deficit and reach the close safely with only a further three wickets lost.
After Tom Bailey trapped Ricardo Vasconcelos lbw for 2 with a ball that appeared to stay a bit low to claim his 350th first-class wicket, and Jack Morley had Justin Broad well caught by Jennings at slip from a beautiful turning delivery, Northamptonshire were in early trouble on 31 for two.
A determined, well-crafted, partnership of 96 runs between Emilio Gay and Sam Whiteman across 39 overs led the visitors fightback into the afternoon session.
The pair played steadily on a pitch that continued to be a good batting surface albeit with the odd delivery misbehaving as Lancashire bowled 62 consecutive overs of spin, mainly from Morley and Hartley with Bailey and Wells chipping in, until the new ball was taken just after tea.
It was Hartley who broke the Gay-Whiteman alliance by having the former caught at slip by Jennings for 61 followed by the latter, caught for 40 at short leg where George Bell pulled off a great one-handed grab just before tea.
When Luke Wells struck with his third ball early after the break, trapping Saif Zaib lbw for 18 offering no shot, Northamptonshire were still 40 runs in arrears at 162 for five.
But led resolutely by skipper Luke Procter who made 27 off a marathon 125-ball stay at the crease superbly supported by James Sales (35 off 92) in a 51-run partnership in 25.3 overs, the visitors were 11 runs ahead when the players shook hands on the draw at 5.30pm.
Lancashire take 12 points from the match and Northamptonshire nine.
“It’s been a frustrating week,” said Keaton Jennings.
“We bowled a side out on a fairly docile wicket on day one and then went at five and a bit per over with three guys getting hundreds.
“Today we pushed the game to where we thought we could win it. I don’t feel like we could have done any more.
“In that middle session we had balls going over guys shoulders, hitting guys on the head, and just going straight down.
“We lost two sessions to rain and it’s become a bit of a theme.”
And Jennings was delighted with the effort and skill from his team.
“I feel like the quality of cricket we have played this week has been exceptional,” he said.
“I can’t ask any more of the boys. Every single one of the lads have put up their hand at some period of play and made an impact.
“It was great to watch a group of lads play high quality cricket over the last few days and put pressure on the opposition.
“I think we’ve played some fantastic cricket.”
The Lancashire skipper was full of praise for the effort put in by both Tom Hartley and Jack Morley.
“The work from both Jack and Tom was top drawer," he said.
“The expectation level can be on you as a young spinner to go in and bowl a side out on a used surface.
“They bowled a really aggressive line, bowled nice and wide to the left handers and they were really fantastic.
“They held their length even when the ball wasn’t doing as much on day one, and their scoring rate at around two and a half per over, and the way they went about their business on what could have been a really tough week for them was absolutely great.
“I’m really proud about how the guys have gone about their work this week.”
Ken Grime
Photos: Barry Mitchell & Luke Adams
