MATCH REPORT: Wells back at the top with a century
Today's match report presented by C&C Insurance Brokers
Luke Wells led Lancashire’s batting effort with a fabulous century as the hosts made 250 for five on the opening day of this Rothesay County Championship match against second-placed Derbyshire at sunny Emirates Old Trafford.
Marcus Harris contributed 45 to a century partnership with Wells on his first day as Lancashire captain to help the Red Rose recover from an early setback to take his season total to 794 runs after his counterpart Wayne Madsen put Lancashire into bat.
Wells and Matty Hurst then added another century stand during the evening session before both fell late in the day to Ben Aitchison who finished with three wickets to help even things up for the visitors.
Wells had relinquished the openers role for the last two Championship matches of 2024 in an effort to help shore up Lancashire’s faltering middle order and he had continued in that role this season until today.
The left-hand batter instantly settled back into a more familiar role but had to cope with the early departures of Keaton Jennings, out for 2 to a good catch low down to his right at second slip by Madsen off Tickner, and Josh Bohannon who got a faint edge to a leg side delivery from Aitchison that was taken by wicketkeeper Brooke Guest for 3.
Kiwi quick Tickner found some early movement to pose all the batters some problems, but Wells and Harris passed that test to prosper during the second hour with a series of good drives, Wells the chief aggressor making 40 of Lancashire’s 67 for two by lunch.
The pair continued to rebuild steadily after the break, Wells going to his half century from 94 balls with 8 fours while Harris drove to great effect before falling to a great catch by Madsen at second slip off Tickner forty minutes into the afternoon to end a 103-run partnership.
Hurst had an eventful start to his innings, taking 10 runs off the first four deliveries from Tickner but then nearly playing on when the ball spun back but just missed the stumps. The wicketkeeper/batter settled in to provide Wells with strong support either side of tea.
Opener Wells drove his 13th four off Jack Morley to go to his 27th first-class century and 9th for Lancashire from 212 balls as he and Hurst dominated the evening session.
Wells greeted the arrival of the new ball with a glorious drive for four off Tickner to pass his highest score at Emirates Old Trafford while Hurst straight drove Aitchison to reach his half century from 129 balls before bowled for 51 by an excellent delivery two balls later, ending a 121-run stand.
Aitchison (3 for 51) then prised Wells out for 141 (270 balls, 19 fours) with a steepling delivery that flew off the shoulder of the bat to Caleb Jewell at gully after the previous ball had kept low. It was also Wells’ highest score opening the batting for Lancashire on this ground.
The two Georges, Bell and Balderson batted out the remaining six overs to take Lancashire to a first batting point in the match and they will resume tomorrow on 4 and 1 respectively.
“Obviously (I’m) pleased to get a score,” said Luke Wells.
“I actually called Benky the other day asking to go back up the order.
“I did have opportunities to win a couple of games in run chases batting at six, so I did have opportunities to impact the team there and was disappointed that I didn't get a match-winning contribution score,” he added.
“You just want to take some responsibility, and for me that meant going back up and doing what I've done for most of my career. I would never get used to batting at six.
“But I just felt, especially when everyone's under pressure, we haven't got the results we wanted.
“I'd rather go to what I know best, having done that for the majority of my career.
“It paid off and the game is such a funny one because, you know, narratives completely change according to the result and what happens. Dropped second ball or whatever, that gets caught, (it’s a) whole different narrative.
“Constantly you're being judged as part of our world. Things go your way; you get 141 and the whole narrative changes. So obviously I'm very happy.
“I'm very level about it as well. We're desperate to try and force a result. We obviously couldn't score at a really high rate today, but I thought we battled really hard on a pitch that did a bit early and then got hard to score during the middle.
“I was quite disappointed to not bat through the whole day as I wasn't finished and wanted to get some more.
“I thought they bowled really well in patches, especially Blair Tickner. I thought he was really impressive today. He bowled quick and swung it both ways.”
Looking ahead to tomorrow Wells added:
“The two Georges, they've got to set their stall outs again.
“Bat most of the day, go get hundreds, go get 30-100s for each other, for themselves, for the team.
“Let's get a really big score on the board and with Jimmy back in the ranks let's see what we can do.”
Ken Grime
Photos: Luke Adams
