MATCH PREVIEW: Nottinghamshire v Lancashire
Lancashire head to the East Midlands in search of their first win of the season.
Nottinghamshire v Lancashire
Vitality County Championship, Division One
Friday May 10 - Monday May 13, 2024, 11am
Trent Bridge
The Red Rose county have lost two of their first four games, drawing the other two. They face a Nottinghamshire side who are also without a win in their opening four games of 2024, them drawing three and losing the other.
Lancashire are aiming to bounce back from defeat against Kent at Emirates Old Trafford on Monday, by seven wickets.
They will be boosted by the return of fast bowler Saqib Mahmood. The England quick will be in contention to play his first game of the summer having regained full fitness following his recent and well documented back issues.
It is expected that this fixture will be Tom Hartley’s last before he turns his attentions to England white ball commitments over the next two months - a Pakistan white ball series later this month and then the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and USA through June.
Opposition:
Coach Peter Moores’ Nottinghamshire were not in action last week.
Notts lost their first game of the season against Essex at Trent Bridge, when they were bowled out for 80 in their second innings, but they recovered with the aforementioned trio of draws.
Moores and company finished firmly in mid-table last year, sixth in Division One. They were 10 points and a place behind Lancashire having won four and lost four of their 14 games.
Ex-Red Rose opener Haseeb Hameed has taken on the Championship captaincy this season from another former Lancashire man, Steven Mullaney, who is now skippering the second team.
South African Dane Paterson returns as overseas player, joined for the first half of the year by New Zealand batter Will Young.
They signed trio Jack Haynes, Dillon Pennington and Josh Tongue from Worcestershire over the winter, the latter yet to feature because of injury.
Club legends Stuart Broad and Samit Patel have since either retired or departed. Patel is now on a white ball contract at East Midlands neighbours Derbyshire.
England opener Ben Duckett has played three of the four matches so far, scoring a superb 218 in their last match - a draw against Warwickshire at Edgbaston in their last match.
Joe Clarke, also with a double hundred to his name this summer, is their leading run-scorer with 480 runs and leg-spinner Calvin Harrison their leading wicket-taker with 13.
Opposition player to watch:
Wicketkeeper-batter Joe Clarke is amongst the leading run-scorers in Division One.
With 480 to his name in four matches, Nottinghamshire’s number five is just one run behind Warwickshire’s Alex Davies, who leads the way in the top-flight.
Clarke has posted scores of 104, 105 and 213 not out so far in 2024.
Very much a modern day player, Clarke can adapt his style to all formats. He is highly sought after for winter T20 cricket, for example.
He is both classy and dynamic and falls into the bracket of one of the best current county players not to have been recognised at senior level by England.
Former Worcestershire man Clarke, 29, will captain his county in the forthcoming Vitality Blast later this month.
Previous meeting:
Lancashire and Nottinghamshire played out a pair of Division One draws last season, the latter at Emirates Old Trafford during the penultimate week of the campaign.
Not even one innings was completed in that match because of rain.
The first two days were washed out along with pretty much all of the fourth.
In what play was possible, Lancashire - having been inserted - made 272-7 from 84.1 overs.
Matty Hurst made his first-class debut in that match and top-scored with a measured 54 from number seven. Keaton Jennings hit 42 and Steven Croft 45, the latter in his final home appearance of his first-class career.
What they said:
Dale Benkenstein says Lancashire will head to Trent Bridge with plenty of encouragement, despite back-to-back Championship defeats against Essex and Kent.
The Red Rose are aiming to get back on the horse quickly, and the coach has pointed to their performance during the second innings of the Kent game as a reason to be heartened.
Having been bowled out for 92 in the first innings, conceding a lead of 169, they battled back to set Kent a target of 164, which the visitors achieved for the loss of three wickets.
Whilst that target was never going to make Lancashire favourites for the win, it was definitely something for their bowlers to work with having been so far behind the game.
Benkenstein said: “We need our senior players to step up. I think there’s obviously room for them to be as good as they can be.
“We aren’t quite there yet with bat and ball, and that is exciting for me because if we can play as well as we can - and with our youngsters getting a bit of confidence - I think the team will get stronger and stronger as the season goes on.
“The last two days (against Kent), we feel a lot better about the way we played.
“I think had we rolled over and had another three days like Essex, that would be really tough.
“But I think we showed some real fight there, and there are some positives in the back end of the game. I think that takes us into Trent Bridge quite nicely.
“We will also have Saqib Mahmood back to give us some firepower and quality.
“There’s some good things going into Trent Bridge.
“As I say, we have some quality players who haven’t hit their straps yet. I’m sure they will - and when they do, I think the team will be at its best.”
How’s Stat!
Lancashire’s Luke Wells is four wickets short of 100 in his first-class career.
Of his 96, Wells has taken 27 in 44 matches with his leg-spin for the Red Rose county since joining ahead of 2021 at 30.81, including a best of 5-25.
For Sussex, he took 67 in 138 matches at 46.23, including a best of 5-63.
The other two came whilst playing some winter cricket for Colombo CC in Sri Lanka in early 2012.
The breakdown of his statistics indicates the improvement in the 33-year-old’s bowling since his arrival at Emirates Old Trafford three years ago.
He has struck four times this season.