LIVE BLOG: Lancashire v Northamptonshire, Day One
6.40pm, CLOSE Day 1
Northamptonshire 1st inns 355-5 (96 overs) Zaib 111* McManus 40*
Saif Zaib has reached his fourth first class century and it has been a fine effort by the Northants batter and a tough day for Lancashire's bowlers.
6.00pm
Northamptonshire 1st inns 307-5 (88 overs) Zaib 86* McManus 19*
The visitors continue to make steady progress as we head into the final eight overs of the day.
5.35pm NEW BALL TAKEN
Northamptonshire 1st inns 279-5 (80 overs) Zaib 68* McManus 11*
Saif Zaib and Lewis McManus have proceeded fairly cautiously over the last ten overs with just 23 runs scored as they look to consolidate their position.
Lancashire take the new ball immediately it becomes available and hand it to Tom Bailey.
4.57pm WICKET
Northamptonshire 1st inns 256-5 (69.2 overs) Zaib 56* McManus 0*
James Sales takes on Tom Hartley but drags the ball straight into the hands of Marcus Harris at mid-on. Great breakthrough for Lancs to end that 97-run partnership.
4.50pm
Northamptonshire 1st inns 256-4 (69 overs) Sales 92* Zaib 56*
Saif Zaib becomes the third Northamptonshire batter to reach fifty (from 70 balls) and James Sales goes into the nineties with a lovely on drive off Anderson Phillip for four.
Zaib then pulls a short ball over square leg for the first six of the day.
4.13pm, TEA Day 1
Northamptonshire 1st inns 234-4 (64 overs) Sales 83* Zaib 43*
That is a good positive response by James Sales and Saif Zaib who have now added 75 runs in 17 overs.
3.35pm
Northamptonshire 1st inns 185-4 (54 overs) Sales 61* Zaib 16*
Steady progress being made by James Sales and Saif Zaib in the last thirty minutes after that double wicket strike by Lancashire.
3.01pm WICKET
Northamptonshire 1st inns 159-4 (46.5 overs) Sales 54* Zaib 0*
Two quick wickets have changed the afternoon for Lancashire.
Rob Keogh is lbw to George Balderson for 0.
2.54pm WICKET
Northamptonshire 1st inns 158-3 (45.3 overs) Sales 54* Keogh 0*
Luke Procter has gone for 64 after gloving a short ball down the leg side to Matty Hurst and it's a first Lancashire wicket for John Turner!
2.44pm
Northamptonshire 1st inns 158-2 (45 overs) Procter 64* Sales 54*
James Sales reaches his fifty off 78 balls and that is followed by the century partnership coming up between Sales and Luke Procter, although Procter didn't know much about it. He was surprised by a bounce from Balderson and hit the ball just over the head of Marcus Harris at midwicket.
2.22pm
Northamptonshire 1st inns 131-2 (38 overs) Procter 59* Sales 32*
Luke Procter has reached his half century and played some nice drives since lunch, and James Sales has done likewise to reach 32. This partnership is building nicely for the visitors, now worth 77.
2.07pm
Northamptonshire 1st inns 109-2 (35 overs) Procter 45* Sales 24*
James Sales punches a nice shot off the back foot, backward of square for 4 to bring up Northamptonshire's first 50 partnership of the season.
1.47pm
Northamptonshire 1st inns 97-2 (31 overs) Procter 44* Sales 13*
Back under way and quick progress for Northants as Luke Procter clips the first ball from Tom Bailey to fine leg for four, and a wide legside delivery goes for four byes three balls later.
Anderson Phillip is sharing the ball with Bailey at the start of this session.
1.03pm, LUNCH Day 1
Northamptonshire 1st inns 89-2 (30 overs) Procter 40* Sales 13*
Luke Procter has batted through the session to lead his side into lunch on 40 not out and Northants have made a good start to the day after being put in to bat this morning.
George Balderson and Anderson Phillip were the pick of the Red Rose bowlers in this opening session with Phillip producing a lively six over spell of 1-9.
12.50pm
Northamptonshire 1st inns 78-2 (27 overs) Procter 36* Sales 7*
Tom Hartley comes on for his first bowl this season as we approach lunch. George Balderson is also back in action for a second spell and has had a big lbw shout turned down against Luke Procter in his previous over.
12.36pm
Northamptonshire 1st inns 71-2 (23 overs) Procter 31* Sales 4*
Luke Procter is doing a good job for his side and plays a rising delivery from Anderson Phillip off his glove into short cover.
Phillip has produced five lively overs and currently has figures of 1-5, with James Sales a tad fortunate in that last over, playing too soon and hitting the ball high into the covers and relieved to see it land safely.
12.06pm WICKET
Northamptonshire 1st inns 54-2 (17 overs) Procter 18* Sales 0*
Anderson Phillip strikes with his tenth delivery!
A fast yorker beats George Bartlett and he is palpably lbw for 18.
12.00pm
Northamptonshire 1st inns 47-1 (15 overs) Procter 18* Bartlett 13*
A pretty steady opening over from Anderson Phillip, and we have a double change with John Turner coming on at the James Anderson End.
11.55am
Northamptonshire 1st inns 46-1 (14 overs) Procter 18* Bartlett 12*
Luke Procter straight drives George Balderson for four to end the 14th over.
The first bowling change of the day sees Anderson Phillip replace Tom Bailey at the Brian Statham End.
11.45am
Northamptonshire 1st inns 32-1 (12 overs) Procter 12* Bartlett 4*
Tom Bailey and George Balderson continue to ask questions of Luke Procter and George Bartlett. Bailey had a big shout for a caught behind in his last over but replays suggest it came off Bartlett's thigh. A good contest developing.
11.22am WICKET
Northamptonshire 1st inns 23-1 (6 overs) Procter 6* Bartlett 0*
That miss of Vasconcelos didn't prove too costly as the left hand opener on 16 edges George Balderson behind with Matty Hurst taking the catch in front of first slip.
11.09am
Northamptonshire 1st inns 10-0 (3 overs) Vasconcelos 4* Procter 6*
Ricardo Vasconcelos gets a let off after he edges Bailey in-between second and third slip for 4.
11.04am
Northamptonshire 1st inns 0-0 (1 over) Vasconcelos 0* Procter 0*
Tom Bailey starts with a maiden over and beats the outside edge of Vasconcelos a couple of times.
George Balderson has been handed the new cherry and opens from the James Anderson end.
11.01am
Northamptonshire 1st inns 0-0 (0.1 over) Vasconcelos 0* Procter 0*
Here we go with the first ball of 2025 at Emirates Old Trafford from Tom Bailey which goes down the leg side, left alone by Ricardo Vasconcelos and through to wicketkeeper Matty Hurst.
10.30am
TOSS
Lancashire have won the toss and elected to bowl.
TEAMS
Lancashire: Keaton Jennings (capt), Michael Jones, Josh Bohannon, Marcus Harris, Matty Hurst (wkt), Luke Wells, George Balderson, Tom Bailey, John Turner, Anderson Phillip, Tom Hartley.
John Turner makes his Red Rose debut and becomes the 718th cricketer to play first-class cricket for Lancashire.
Northamptonshire: Luke Procter (capt), George Bartlett, James Sales, Saif Zaib, Rob Keogh, Lewis McManus (wkt), Justin Broad, Liam Guthrie, Raphy Weatherall, Calvin Harrison.
9.00am
Good morning from a sunny Emirates Old Trafford ahead of the start of our 2025 season home opener against Northamptonshire in the Rothesay County Championship.
Play will start at 11am with news on the two teams and the result of the toss available shortly after 10.30am.
Before then you can catch up on our match preview by clicking here.
TEAM NEWS
Lancashire
Men's Head Coach Dale Benkenstein has named a 15-man squad with West Indies fast bowler Anderson Phillip, who arrived in the UK on Wednesday, in contention to make the XI, while fellow paceman John Turner is included in the matchday squad following his short-term loan signing from Hampshire.
Left-arm spin bowler Tom Hartley also returns to the squad after recovering from a broken hand which he sustained during England Lions tour of Australia in January.
Squad: Keaton Jennings (capt), Michael Jones, Josh Bohannon, Marcus Harris, Matty Hurst (wkt), Luke Wells, George Balderson, Tom Aspinwall, Tom Bailey, Will Williams, John Turner, Ollie Sutton, Anderson Phillip, Tom Hartley, George Bell.
Northamptonshire
Our visitors have added Calvin Harrison to the side that lost their opening game against Kent last week.
Leg spinner Harrison joins the Club on a two-game loan from Nottinghamshire.
Squad: Luke Procter (capt), George Bartlett, James Sales, Saif Zaib, Rob Keogh, Lewis McManus (wkt), Justin Broad, Dom Leech, Liam Guthrie, Raphy Weatherall, Calvin Harrison.
