MATCH REPORT: Wells and Jennings century partnership leads strong Lancs reply against Northants
A century opening partnership between Luke Wells and Keaton Jennings led a strong Lancashire reply after the Red Rose attack bowled Northamptonshire out for 342 on the second day of this LV= Insurance County Championship at Emirates Old Trafford.
After taking the last five Northamptonshire wickets in the morning session, Wells and Jennings combined to post their second century opening partnership of the season before rain arrived on the stroke of tea to end play early with Lancashire 121 for one and 221 runs in arrears.
The Red Rose opening pair, having negotiated eight overs safely before lunch, counter attacked successfully during the afternoon with Alex Russell a clear target, Jennings reverse sweeping the leg spinner successfully on several occasions and Wells also driving the bowler straight and through extra cover.
Jennings also benefitted from being dropped off Jack White - a fairly regulation catch to Justin Broad at third slip – when he was on 17, but otherwise the opening pair remained fairly solid as the visitors skipper Luke Procter rotated his bowlers, hunting a breakthrough.
As the day wore on, the odd ball did enough to suggest the pitch, now in use for the sixth day following the Test, might be deteriorating, albeit slowly.
Russell got the last ball before lunch to pop off a good length, while Wells was left shaking his head later when a White delivery hit a crack and scuttled sideways and low past the startled batter.
“It’s a really good surface,” said Wells, “but when one hits a crack like that and gets extravagant movement, there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s worse when the ball moves a little bit.
“You do your best to put it out of your mind and face up to the next ball.”
Jennings also endured a tough moment when on 42, receiving treatment for a blow to the arm from a Dom Leech delivery that reared up off a length, with the ball also deflecting onto his helmet.
Jennings responded positively driving the bowler for four moments later.
But these were isolated incidents as Wells and Jennings timed the ball nicely throughout their partnership, both hitting eight boundaries in reaching half centuries: Jennings from 78 balls and Wells taking 99 balls.
Having made 55, the Lancashire captain fell lbw reverse sweeping at the third delivery from Saif Zaib, the left arm spinner coming into the visitor’s attack in the 32nd over, to leave Lancashire on 114 for one.
Josh Bohannon (3 not out) helped Wells (61 not out) add seven runs to that total before rain brought proceedings to an early close just before tea.
At the start of the day, Lancashire had enjoyed just the sort of morning they desired, taking the last five Northamptonshire wickets for 40 runs during the first 80 minutes of the opening session.
Tom Bailey made the initial breakthrough when Zaib edged an indeterminate drive to wicketkeeper Phil Salt for 19.
And the visitors innings ended in a hurry once Jennings turned to spin with Jack Morley and Tom Hartley both picking up a brace of wickets as the last four fell for 13 runs in 28 balls.
Morley had Leech stumped by Salt for 13 after drawing the batter down the pitch, before producing a sharply turning delivery to bowl James Sales for 11.
Having pulled Morley for six, Lewis McManus attempted to hit Hartley high and straight but instead holed out to Bailey running back from mid-on, and the left arm spinner wrapped up the innings on 342 when White gloved a reverse sweep that was well caught by Salt diving forward to his left.
It was the ideal start for the Red Rose, who had the better of both sessions played today, and they will hope to capitalise further tomorrow, weather permitting.
“Batting was quite hard work, but it was nice to get a good partnership with Keats,” said Wells.
“We’ve haven’t had as many of those as we would have liked so far this season, so it was nice to get some runs on the board.”
And Wells described how this wicket is behaving.
“There’s a lot of rough, especially for us left-handers. It comes with the territory,” he said.
“When the spinners landed it there, especially Russell, it was hard work.
“We tried to put him under a bit of pressure and he started missing his length a bit more as a result which meant we could get a few scoring shots away.
“The cracks have started to open up a bit more now. The seamers became harder work as it went a bit more up and down.
“Keaton got hit pretty hard from a ball that was just on a length. It reared up at him. That gets the heart-rate going when you see things like that.”
Nevertheless it was a challenge Wells clearly enjoyed.
“It was good fun,” he admitted. “You had to think about the way you were going to play, and luckily it came off so far.
“After a while I felt that I was able to trust my judgement of length.
“The pitch has spun a lot out of the rough, but it didn’t do a lot more than yesterday. If you throw the ball nice and wide there are some craters there where it will really jump.
“It’s probably doing a little bit more off the seamers now the cracks start to open up, he added.
Wells feels Lancashire are well poised in this game with two days left.
“We’re really pleased with the position we are in,” he said. “The ball is a bit softer now, which makes a big difference.
“If we can bat well tomorrow, bat all day and get any sort of lead, I’d back ourselves to bowl them out cheaply.”
Ken Grime
Photos: Barry Mitchell, Luke Adams
