MATCH REPORT: Warwicks take charge after Lancs out for 149
Career-best bowling by both Jacob Bethell and Jake Lintott helped Warwickshire take charge of this Vitality County Championship match at Emirates Old Trafford.
The pair combined to put the skids under the Lancashire batting during the first half of the third day, Bethell finishing with four for 20 and Lintott three for 10, as the last six wickets fell for 36 runs to bowl the home side out for 149 – the third time the Red Rose have been out for less than 150 in the first innings this season.
Warwickshire built on their 135-run lead to reach the early close on 96 for three to lead by a commanding 231 runs on a wicket taking increasing amounts of spin, with Ed Barnard 40 not out and Dan Mousley on 18.
Lancashire had resumed their first innings on 66 for three but lost Tom Bruce in the second over of the morning, bowled by Olly Hannon-Dalby for three.
Keaton Jennings and George Balderson steadily rebuilt the innings with a solid partnership of 44 runs, twice interrupted by short showers that took seven overs out of the allocation to add to the four overs lost after a delayed start at 11.15pm.
But in the fifteen minutes before the lunch the visitors struck two important blows.
First, Balderson was given out for 12 to a sharply turning delivery from Bethell that went on to hit the wicketkeeper’s pad and caught at slip by Will Rhodes.
And ten minutes later Bethell was celebrating again after his lbw appeal against Jennings was upheld to dismiss the skipper for 36 with Lancashire 120 for six at the break.
The remaining four wickets fell in rapid succession when play resumed, Tom Aspinwall slapping the fifth delivery of the afternoon from Bethell to Alex Davies at mid-off for 3, Tom Bailey stumped by Michael Burgess off Rob Yates for 4, Nathan Lyon well caught by a diving Will Rhodes at slip off Lintott for 7 and Jack Morley lbw to the same bowler for a duck with Matty Hurst left unbeaten on 20.
Warwickshire lost three early wickets themselves with Balderson producing a lifting snorter that took the edge of Rob Yates’ bat on its way to wicketkeeper Hurst, Alex Davies inside edged onto his stumps for 17 off Lyon and straight after tea Morley struck with his sixth delivery of the innings, when trapping Will Rhodes lbw for 5.
Barnard thumped a six and three fours, adding 62 with Mousley for the fourth wicket against a background of dark clouds and loud rumbles of thunder with rain eventually arriving just after five o’clock, with play abandoned for the day at 6pm.
They will be at the crease tomorrow when play resumes with the visitors in charge of this game.
“Realistically we’ve got to make sure we bat well when it’s our turn sometime tomorrow,” said Keaton Jennings.
“They will try and score quickly in the morning and try and put us under pressure.
“We need to make sure we are really disciplined in the way we go about things.
“There were a lot of dismissals that we need to try and eradicate. We have to come back tomorrow and have a higher standard for ourselves.
“I think we’ve done really good stuff in this game and done some poor stuff as well.
“Some things haven’t gone our way.
“It’s been a good game of cricket generally, but we need to make sure we get something out of the game.
The Red Rose skipper was delighted by the efforts of the two players back in the side this week.
“It’s been good to have Jack Morley back,” he said.
“He’s happy and been bouncing around and its been brilliant to see him learn from Nathan. It’s nice to see the effect a guy like Nathan has on the environment and also on the young lads’ cricket. It’s brilliant to have him around.
“I’m really happy too for Tom Bailey. He struggled in the first few weeks, so to watch the way he got himself into rhythm was absolutely fantastic.
“To go through a struggle like that, try to make things happen and it not working, and then take a week off – which is not a long time – and correct it so quickly was really impressive.
“I’m really happy for him, he’s put in a lot of hard work, so for him to come in and bowl the way he did was fantastic.”
Ken Grime
Photos: Barry Mitchell, Luke Adams, Dan Adams
