Advantage Leicestershire after late wickets damage Lancs
Today's match report presented by C&C Insurance Brokers
Fine centuries by Peter Handscomb and Rehan Ahmed, plus the fall of three late wickets in Lancashire’s second innings, helped consolidate Leicestershire’s advantage after three days of this Rothesay County Championship match at Emirates Old Trafford.
The Division Two leaders posted 491 for eight declared in reply to Lancashire’s first innings 263 with the Red Rose side closing on 16 for three from the eight overs faced at the end of the day to trail by 212 runs going into tomorrow’s final day.
Ahmed and Ian Holland set off at a canter when play resumed this morning with Leicestershire on 120 for one, the pair adding 60 at a run-per-minute during the first hour of play.
Ahmed, who mixed some good defence with calculated aggression, enhanced his claim for a permanent spot at the top of the order by swiftly adding to his overnight 61 with a number of attractive strokes and while he was at crease it was compulsive watching - unless you were one of the bowlers.
Having hit 14 fours and reaching his second first-class century off 147 balls – but his first in four innings as an opening bat – Ahmed departed in surprisingly tame fashion, prodding a catch off Tom Hartley to Josh Bohannon at silly mid-off.
That was just reward for Hartley who plugged away throughout the morning in a 15-over spell from the James Anderson end, and two runs later Lancashire were celebrating a second wicket of the day.
Holland had helped Ahmed add 86 for the second wicket but succumbed to a bit of pressure after getting stuck on 35 and mistimed a pull to a back-of-the-length delivery from John Turner to give a comfortable catch to Saqib Mahmood at mid-on.
But these were the only successes before lunch for Lancashire as Leicestershire, on 242 for three, pressed on in sunny weather that helped flatten out the wicket further during the afternoon, in sharp contrast to the helpful bowling conditions on the first two mornings of the game.
Lewis Hill and Handscomb settled to steadily build their fourth wicket partnership through the afternoon session, Hill taking 91 balls to reach his half century and Handscomb 96 balls to get to the same landmark.
Eight years ago, Handscomb hit a 77-ball century at Emirates Old Trafford in his Yorkshire days and there were occasional reminders of that innings, not least when he produced a thunderous pull shot for four off George Balderson with the new ball.
Having helped add for 130 runs for the fourth wicket, Hill departed for 64 thirty minutes before tea after carelessly slogging Balderson to Michael Jones at midwicket.
For the second time in the day a further success followed quickly as Louis Kimber was beaten by a pitched-up delivery from Turner to be bowled for 8 leaving Leicestershire on 331 for five with a lead of 68 runs.
Handscomb and Cox built on that either side of tea with a 66-run partnership before Cox pulled Mahmood to Luke Wells on the deep square leg boundary for 31 while Leicestershire skipper Handscomb reached his 27th first-class hundred off 170 balls moments later.
Handscomb then ploughed on relentlessly with good support from Logan van Beek (29) while losing Ben Green for five, before finally pulling out of the innings just after 6pm having made an unbeaten 143 with the visitors leading by 228 runs.
Hartley, who bowled a marathon 44 overs - only the second time he has got through 40 overs in a first-class innings - took two wickets while both Mahmood and Turner claimed a brace.
But in a final, frantic 30 minutes the Leicestershire bowlers made the most of the eight overs left by taking three wickets to ram home their advantage.
Keaton Jennings was bowled for 1 by Holland who then trapped nightwatchman Anderson Phillip lbw for 2.
To round off a great day for the visitors van Beek then bowled Jones for four leaving Bohannon (9 not out) and Marcus Harris (0 not out) to resume in the morning.
Head Coach Dale Benkenstein:
“I think we showed on day one it was a good toss for them to win. We would have bowled as well, and the ball went around quite a bit.
“I think they're also a confident side, they're playing good cricket. We knew we were going to be up against it these four days and that's going to be a good challenge really. I thought we actually battled really well.
“I think there was a stage there where it looked like they could have bowled us out for under 200. I think what was disappointing is then I felt we got into a position where we could have batted out the day yesterday and actually put on over 300. There were a couple of dismissals that were not really good balls with batters that were in.
“I think we didn't capitalize on fighting really hard, getting in a position where we could have maybe ended up with 300 and not had as many overs to bowl overnight.
“Obviously, it was a beautiful day today to bat.
“There were some positives,” he added. “Tommy Hartley bowling so many overs and bowling well, I think is a real plus for us.
“Seeing Saqib back actually getting through 20-odd overs, there's some positives there.
“But obviously, we want performances as well.
“I don't want to take too much credit away from Leicester. I think they're playing very well. To come out, knowing you've got eight overs to bowl. They’d been sitting in the changing room all day and were up for it. They're the frontrunners in the game.
“But from a championship point of view, I still think this is a very good side we put out.
“I don't think we've played as well as we could. But we've also had the back end of the wicket, really. You hold on for a good draw.
“The championship is a marathon. It's not a sprint. We've still got a lot to play for tomorrow and get through the game with as many points as we can. Then we just keep building on that.
“I don't mind scrapping it out for a draw. But I do think that we probably got the decision wrong in the first game.
“There are obviously things to work on, but I still feel that we can, after this game, still be in a good position after three matches.”
Ken Grime
Photos: Luke Adams & Dan Adams
