SECOND XI REPORT: Lancashire close in on victory after intriguing third day battle
Lancashire are two wickets away from clinching victory in the Second Eleven Championship at Denby but they have made to fight all the way by a Derbyshire side who need 66 runs to win.
Lancashire resumed the third day on 173 for five with a lead of 277 runs and added 73 runs before being bowled out for 246.
Left arm spinner Aum Patel struck with three early wickets, all to catches in the slips, snaring both overnight batters George Lavelle for 69 and Arav Shetty for 40 plus Mitchell Stanley for 5.
Charlie Barnard edged behind for two and last man Louis Backhouse holed out to Rory Haydon at deep midwicket, both off spinner Mitchell Wagstaff, to leave Derbyshire needing 351 runs to win.
Those hopes were severely dented by Jack Blatherwick who had Will Tarrant caught at second slip and bowled Cian Dickinson, both for 0, to claim ten wickets in the match and leave Derbyshire on 15 for two.
Wagstaff and Yousaf Bin Naeem fought back briefly with a 47-run partnership in 10 overs before Wagstaff edged Blatherwick (match figures of 11 for 144) to second slip for 37 and two balls later Amrit Basra was lbw first ball to Backhouse. When skipper Alex Thomson edged Harry Birkman to third slip for 6 the hosts appeared to be sinking rapidly at 74 for five, still 277 runs away from their target.
Bin Naeem and Jack Carney fought back splendidly with a 94-run partnership either side of tea, Bin Naeem reaching his fifty from 79 balls.
It was spinner Shetty who finally broke the partnership, having Bin Naeem caught at deep backward square for 78 but Carney continued to push the hosts onwards as he dominated another excellent partnership, hitting 50 of the 72 runs added for the seventh wicket with Joe Hawkins before the latter fell lbw to Barnard for 13.
Carney, who pulled Barnard for six to add to his 15 fours, looked destined to reach a century but fell agonisingly three runs short late in the evening when he edged behind driving at Birkman.
Patel (11 not out) and Manraj Johal (16 not out) survived through to stumps with Derbyshire 285 for eight and they, along with last man, Harry Moore need 66 more runs tomorrow.
Teams
Lancashire: Charlie Barnard (capt), Harry Singh, Kesh Fonseka, George Bell (wkt), George Lavelle, Joe Moores, Jack Blatherwick, Arav Shetty, Tom Bailey, Mitch Stanley, Louis Backhouse, Harry Birkman.
Day 2: Tom Bailey replaced by Gennaro Reddy.
Day 3, lunch: George Bell replaced by Josh Boyden with Joe Moores taking over as wicketkeeper.
Derbyshire: Mitchell Wagstaff, Will Tarrant, Cian Dickinson, Yousaf Bin Naeem, Amrit Basra, Alex Thomson (capt), Jack Carney (wkt), Joe Hawkins, Harry Moore, Aum Patel, Manraj Johal, Daryn Dupavillon.
Day 2: Daryn Dupavillon replaced by Rory Haydon.