REPORT: Harris century puts Lancashire in a strong position
Today's match report presented by C&C Insurance Brokers
A second century of the season by Marcus Harris has helped put Lancashire in a strong position on the first day of this Rothesay County Championship match against Gloucestershire with the hosts closing on 342 for five.
Hurst and Josh Bohannon led an initial recovery with a 98-run stand after Ajeet Singh Dale took two early wickets to have Lancashire in early difficulties, before a big 212-run alliance between Harris and Matty Hurst sealed an excellent opening day for the home side.
Harris, who now has 559 runs for the season to become the leading run scorer in the competition, ended unbeaten on 165 while Hurst fell for an excellent 78 just before stumps.
The first hour of the day saw Gloucestershire made early inroads into the Lancashire top order with Singh Dale taking two wickets in a challenging five-over spell where he consistently beat the bat without reward. His luck changed when George Bell, having defended a short delivery, saw the ball spin back onto his stumps via his pad to be bowled for 10.
Keaton Jennings then edged an angled Singh Dale delivery to Cameron Bancroft at second slip for 4 with Lancashire in trouble on 23 for two.
In fact Gloucestershire’s dominance during the first hour was reflected by the fact just 35 runs had been scored by noon, but Josh Bohannon and Harris led a steady recovery from that point posting their fifty partnership from 76 balls with Bohannon also passing 5,000 first-class runs for Lancashire – the seventh fastest to do so – from 120 innings.
Bohannon was the first to reach his half century, off 96 balls, early in the afternoon was but then lbw for 56 when misjudging a pull against the spin of Ollie Price to end a valuable 98-run partnership.
Harris became the first Lancashire player to score five fifties in his first 7 innings for the club when he went to his half century from 106 balls moments later, and he forged an excellent alliance with Hurst that put Lancashire firmly in the ascendency either side of tea.
The pair picked up the scoring rate to reach their fifty partnership off 76 balls, with Harris moving on remorselessly to his 31st first-class century off 176 balls with a series of well-timed drives and pulls.
Hurst settled into a supporting role, contributing 37 runs to the century partnership while having a moment of anxiety when his top edge pull off Tom Price fell for six just over the fielder placed at fine leg before going to his fifty from 98 balls.
Harris pushed on, launching Ollie Price into the members seats in front of the pavilion, and looking in complete control when imperiously flicking Shaw over midwicket for six more.
The Australian overseas player was soon raising his bat again after taking just 47 balls to move from 100 to 150 (223 balls, 2 sixes, 14 fours) and the two hundred partnership arrived from 277 balls during the final half hour.
Zaman Akhter claimed two late wickets, having Hurst caught behind when the batter decided to pull out of a shot only for the ball to clip the toe of his upraised bat, and then Sajid Mahmood superbly yorked for 4 four balls later.
But it proved to be Harris’ day and Lancashire’s best day of the season thus far.
“It was nice to finally win the toss and bat first when we wanted to and have the conditions how we wanted them,” admitted Marcus Harris.
“It's always nice to be not out at the end of the day and having contributed to a good day's play.
“We spoke a bit as a group through the week, about the sort of some KPIs (key performance indicators) that we wanted to meet, and we pretty much ticked them all off today.
“It's a pretty good day when you can do that.”
And Harris is delighted with his start to the season.
“I think the tempos of my innings have been really good,” he said.
“And (I’m) just trying to make the most of being in some good form.
“You always get drummed into you by coaches of doing stuff around when you're in good form. So I’m just trying to make the most of that.
“You always want to make a big hundred when you're out there. Sometimes you can get a little bit ahead of yourself once you get to a hundred.
“But it was nice today to be able to play with some freedom and actually get us some bonus points and get us in a position now where we can try and attack for a few more tomorrow.
“In the two games we've played here, I think you've sort of seen one of the teams makes a big score and you can sort of attack for the rest of the game.
“So, there'll still be some hard work to do tomorrow, but the plan will be to bat as long as possible and attack for a couple of days hopefully with the ball.”
Ken Grime
Photos: George Franks, Luke Adams
