MATCH REPORT: Late wickets counter Middleton century on an eventful first day against Hampshire
Six wickets after the tea interval by Lancashire countered an excellent century by Fletcha Middleton with three wickets apiece for Tom Aspinwall and Luke Wells plus a brace from George Balderson that evened up the day as the visitors finished on 330 for nine after being put in to bat.
Hampshire were well placed on 203 for three at tea, but lost six wickets for 68 runs as the Red Rose bowlers hit back to great effect during the evening session to counter a century partnership between Middleton and Nick Gubbins that had dominated the first two sessions.
The day started well for Lancashire with Aspinwall finding an edge off Toby Albert that was neatly caught by George Bell at first slip after the Hampshire opener had made 6.
But that proved to be a false dawn for the Red Rose attack who bowled straight and to the fields set but had no further joy in the morning session as the Kookaburra ball softened and the wicket steadily flattened out.
Middleton and Gubbins dug in to slowly steer their side into a good position, adding 73 runs in 26 overs by lunch and then progressing to build a good platform with a further 78 in 22.3 overs after the break.
Both reached their fifties in quick succession, Gubbins from 122 balls followed by Middleton off 96 balls with Gubbins going on to hit Hartley for six over the short leg side boundary before edging an attempted cut off Luke Wells behind for 75.
That ended a 151-run partnership from one ball short of 51 overs and brought some much some much needed relief to the Lancashire bowlers who were quickly celebrating a further success.
Hampshire skipper James Vince, having made just 5 off 4 balls, advanced down the wicket to Tom Hartley but miscued his shot high into the air and he was already taking his gloves off before the ball landed safely in the hands of Josh Bohannon at extra cover.
That left the visitors on 165 for three after 54 overs but Middleton and Brown continued to build the innings with a fourth-wicket alliance of 84 across 21 overs.
Brown had a narrow escape on 0, playing no shot to a Wells googly that all but shaved his off stump, but the batsman/wicketkeeper lent excellent support to Middleton who went on to reach his second first-class century from 173 balls with 13 fours midway through the evening session.
It was a nice moment for the opener who thus emulated the achievement of his father Tony who scored a century here the last time Hampshire won at Emirates Old Trafford in 1992.
But on 109 Middleton became Wells’ second wicket when he bottom edged a wide delivery onto his stumps, the first of three wickets to fall for 14 runs as Aspinwall struck twice in the space of seven deliveries with the second new ball.
First, Ben Brown pulled a short delivery straight to Luke Wells at square leg for 40 and then Tom Prest played too early at a slower ball that he could only steer to Venkatesh Iyer at point having made 1.
That left Hampshire on 263 for six but James Fuller and Liam Dawson rallied with a 46-run partnership before a flurry of three wickets for 5 runs stymied the visitors progress further.
Balderson struck twice in the same over having Fuller caught behind for 23 and Kyle Abbott lbw third ball. Wells trapped John Turner lbw for a golden duck with Dawson hitting a defiant six and four in the final over to finish unbeaten on 46 alongside Muhammad Abbas (0 not out).
“I think that’s a pretty decent day for us,” said Luke Wells.
“When they got that partnership together it looked like they might get a match defining score. Potentially it could have got to a point where we couldn’t win the game.
“But we plugged away really well and there were a couple of soft dismissals from their point of view that helped us.
“Credit to our boys, we did everything we could on a pretty good surface and with a Kookaburra ball that did get soft but we tried at all times to do something to try and take a wicket whether it was trying to get the ball to reverse or spinners trying to attack.
“Things didn’t go our way last week very well and after the first wicket it didn’t look like things weren’t going to go well again. We have a young bowling attack, Bails hasn’t played first-class cricket for a while, and I thought we plugged away really well.
“There was not much sideways movement off the pitch but I’m not a big lateral spinner of the ball. I rely more on bounce, changes in pace and try and bowl my googly well.
“I’m not often used to bowl at the top order, I’m more used as a bowler to mop up the tail so I had to do the hard yards today!
“I was pretty happy with how I bowled, and happy with the wickets.”
Ken Grime
Photos: Barry Mitchell, Luke Adams, Dan Adams
