MATCH REPORT: Centuries for Bell and Bohannon but Lancs lose to Durham
A first Lancashire century by George Bell and second successive hundred by Josh Bohannon propelled Lancashire to 320 all out but that proved insufficient as Durham made 321-6 to win by four wickets and more or less end Red Rose hopes in this season’s Metro Bank One Day Cup.
Half centuries by Alex Lees, Will Rhodes and skipper Ollie Robinson kept the visitors in contention with victory clinched in the 49th over, while Lancashire were hampered by the loss of Charlie Barnard to an injury that prevented the left arm spinner from bowling,
Bell and Michael Jones made an excellent start after Lancashire had been put in to bat, the pair rattling up 50 runs off the first five overs with Jones hitting both Codi Yusuf and Mitch Killeen for sixes.
That adventurous opening ended on 61 when Jones pulled a short ball from Yusuf high to Emilio Gay at deep square leg having made a rapid 30 off 17 balls.
Durham were soon celebrating a second success when Red Rose skipper Marcus Harris charged off spinner George Drissell and was stumped for 8.
Meanwhile Bell continued to prosper, reaching a 61-ball half century that included seven fours as Lancashire reached halfway on 135-2 with Bohannon steadily settling in to help rebuild the innings.
Bohannon progressed cautiously, but steadily, in compiling a half century from 67 balls that included just two boundaries. But he then pushed the accelerator with a series of outstanding shots in passing his batting partner to be the first to post a century with his second fifty runs coming from just 29 balls.
A first six off Drissell brought up the century partnership off 115 balls and a second off Yusuf took Lancashire past 200 as Bohannon became the fifth Lancashire batter to post back-to-back hundreds following his 133 against Kent three days ago.
Neatly, given this game is at Aigburth, the previous Red Rose player to achieve this feat was Liverpool-based Paul Horton in 2009.
Bell, whose innings included an array of shots around the wicket, followed to three figures off 113 balls moments later, and his delight at finally making a century for Lancashire was clear for all to see.
Having added 175 runs for the third wicket, the first of the pair to fall was Bell who pulled Rhodes high to Lees at deep midwicket for 104 with Bohannon following for 106 five balls later in near identical fashion, this time off the bowling of Colin Ackerman, to leave Lancashire 259-4 at the start of the 43rd over.
But the innings stuttered from that point with those two wickets part of a collapse that saw Lancashire lose their last eight wickets for 65 runs in 8.4 overs with an unbeaten 26 off 17 balls by Arav Shetty by some way the main contribution from the rest of the batting order as wickets tumbled in the quest for late runs.
Chasing 321, Durham openers Lees and Emilio Gay outdid their Red Rose counterparts with an excellent 84-run stand before Gay pulled a short delivery from Tom Aspinwall, returning from duty in The Hundred, to Jones at deep square leg for 29.
But Lancashire had an immediate setback, losing Barnard to a dislocated finger injury after the left arm spinner dived to save a boundary.
Two wickets evened up the game with Lees, having reached a 51-ball half century that included a six and 7 fours, driving Shetty to Joe Moores for 64 and Ackermann, who slog/swept Harry Singh for six to get off the mark, doing likewise off Aspinwall after making 39.
That left Durham on 168-3 needing 153 runs from 20 overs, but the experienced pair of Rhodes and Robinson produced a decisive partnership of 127 runs to swing the game the way of the visitors.
Rhodes reached his fifty from 48 balls while Robinson took just 39 balls to get to the same mark with their century partnership struck from only 74 balls to underline how well the pair accelerated the scoring just when their side needed it.
With 25 runs needed off 5 overs, the visitors had a slight wobble when Rhodes holed out for 75 to sub fielder Jack Blatherwick at deep midwicket off Tom Bailey who then caught Ben Raine off his own bowling for 4 four balls later.
Aspinwall had Scott Borthwick caught behind for 4 but Robinson, who finished unbeaten on 80, and Robbie Bowman scored the 13 runs needed with nine balls to spare leaving Lancashire to rue their late innings batting collapse.
“That's been a long time coming,” said George Bell after making his maiden first team century today.
“I’ve had a few 90s, so I was obviously very proud to get there.
“It’s a shame about the result because I think we've been in some close games the past four games as well, so to go down to the wire again and just come home on the wrong side of it is obviously a shame.
“But personally, I couldn't be happier with the way that I played and getting to three figures.
“This has obviously been a target of mine to come and score runs in the One Day Cup and do well.
And I'm just pleased that I've got there. It's taken a while, but I'm very happy and my dad and grandad were in the crowd as well.
“Bosh helped me get there, really, and with him playing so well. At times, we took the pressure off each other with the way that we played. And to be in such a good partnership with him was massive.
“I was really happy that he was there for it because he knows more than anyone how hard I'm trying to work to get big scores and do this.
“So it was really good to have Bosh there, and he played so well as well. And if anything, without him playing like that, I might not have got there.”
Regarding the results in this competition, Bell added:
“We're putting in good performances.
“It just seems like the final little hurdle, we're just not quite getting to the end. We're not quite there either with the bat or with the ball, we're slightly short or let them get slightly too many.
“I think we're all trying hard to win. And I think the good thing is getting into these positions.
“When it does come down to a game where we could win, like Sussex the other day, for example, we got ourselves back in that game. And obviously, they then took it away from us again. But we worked really hard to get back into the game.
“And similar there at the end today, we took wickets and got ourselves sort of back in it for a second. So that's obviously pleasing to see that we're not just falling over and letting people run over us and win easily.
“We're dragging them right to the end and pushing them hard to try and get a result.
“If we do that for long enough, then the results will come for us as well.
Ken Grime
Photos: George Franks, Dan Adams