SECOND XI REPORT: Bell hits century as Lancs spin to 117-run victory against SACA
George Bell continued his red-hot form with his third century in three games before spinners Charlie Barnard (4-56) and Arav Shetty (3-73) combined to take seven wickets as Lancashire turned a 110-run first innings deficit into a 117-run victory over The South Asian Cricket Academy at Rochdale C.C.
Bell followed his unbeaten 284 against Worcestershire and 111 not out against Sussex with another big century, making 186 off 199 balls on the third and final day of the match.
Resuming on 89 with Lancashire 161-2, Bell soon reached his century from 98 balls and his innings dominated the first half of the day. His partnership with Shetty, worth 61 runs overnight, had reached 95 when Shetty played on to left arm seamer Hishaam Khan for 30.
The SACA attack enjoyed further success when Tom Aspinwall was caught off a leading edge for 10 to give Hishaam his third wicket in the innings and fifth of the match before Jack Carney was bowled for 15 by left arm spinner Thilan Walallwita.
Bell sailed on, reaching a run-a-ball 150 before lunch with Lancashire 294-5 at the break leading by 184 and he continued in similar vein during the afternoon.
Rian Maisuria fell for six, but Ollie Sutton (23) helped Bell add 30 runs for the seventh wicket before Bell’s fine effort ended in attacking fashion when the batter drove spinner Hamidullah Qadri to Savin Perera having hit 20 fours in his four-and-a-half-hour innings.
Sutton and Barnard pushed the lead further with 36 runs for the eighth wicket while Will Williams made an unbeaten 25 before declaring on 395-9 to set SACA a target of 286 runs in 44 overs.
The visitors suffered early setbacks in that quest when Atharva Prasad drove Sutton to Williams at mid-off for 1 and skipper Perara top edged a catch off Williams to Charlie Parkinson at midwicket, also for 1.
Shetty took the first of his three wickets when trapping Daaryoush Ahmed lbw for 20 and Barnard struck twice having opener Daniyal Khan caught at long-on by Hassan Mughal for 40 and Ismail Mohammed caught behind by Bell off a spitting, turning delivery for 22. When Ajay Khunti drove Shetty to Williams at mid-off for 12, SACA had quickly subsided to 98-6.
An attacking 45-run partnership off 28 balls between Walallwita and Dylan Rawal ended when Barnard bowled the former for 30 (off 14 balls) and after Mughal ran out Rawl for 23, Barnard and Shetty wrapped up the Red Rose victory swiftly, both spinners finishing with seven wickets in the match, with SACA 168 all out off 27.3 overs.