SECOND XI REPORT: Notts stun Lancs with outstanding run chase
Nottinghamshire completed a stunning comeback against Lancashire with a superb run chase to clinch a seven-wicket victory at Lady Bay following two magnificent centuries from Tom Loten and Dane Schadendorf.
Set 424 runs to win from a minimum of 134 overs after they had bowled Lancashire out for 244 in their second innings yesterday, that target looked to be almost unattainable for the hosts once Ben Martindale departed for 4 to the fifth ball of the innings late in the third day.
Loten and Schadendorf reached the early close on 44-1, with the 26 overs lost due to bad light making the final day task of scoring a further 380 from 96 overs even harder.
But the Nottinghamshire pair responded superbly, reaching lunch on 180-1 with Schadendorf on 97 and Loten 77 at the break to lay the foundations for a spectacular change to the outcome of this game.
Schadendorf reached his century from 150 balls while Loten took nine balls more to reach three figures as they moved inexorably towards their target during the afternoon, both producing innings of the highest quality.
When Lancashire finally made a breakthrough to end the pair’s 290-run partnership it was from a Cian Dickinson long hop that Schadendorf somehow pulled straight to Tom Aspinwall at deep backward square to depart for 145, with the batter clearly horrified at his mistake.
But Loten marched on to reach his 150 from 219 balls just before tea with Nottinghamshire on 328-2 and needing 96 runs from a minimum of 28 overs with the new ball offering Lancashire’s last hope on a wicket that had flattened out.
It wasn’t to be as Loten and Freddie McCann steered Nottinghamshire to within 34 runs of their target before Loten’s five and a half hours innings ended on 184 when he was bowled by Charlie Barnard.
It was left to McCann (55 not out) and Sam King (23 not out) to complete a remarkable victory with 15 overs to spare.
Lancashire take 7 points from the match and Nottinghamshire 19 points.
The defeat sees Lancashire drop to third place in the Second XI Championship table with an average points total of 13.71 behind Somerset 14.60 and Leicestershire 13.80.
The team are in Second XI Championship action again next week against Durham at Burnopfield (Mon 3-Thur 6 July).