SECOND XI: Sutton takes 5 as Lancashire bowl Derbyshire out on Day One
Lancashire Cricket’s Second XI bowled out Derbyshire on Day One of their Championship match at Northern CC.
Left-arm quick bowler Ollie Sutton took five wickets as the Red Rose put themselves in a strong position. They previously lost the toss and were asked to bowl first on Merseyside.
Lancashire did early damage with the new ball, with Tom Walker (3-45) the man causing issues for the visitors. Inside his first four overs, he’d restricted Derbyshire to 29-2. First, he dismissed Will Tarrant, who played onto his own stumps leaving the ball, before Yousaf Bin Naeem was caught on the boundary taking on a short ball.
Sutton picked up his first wicket not long after, bowling Amrit Basra, but the away side managed to rebuild thanks to a strong century partnership between Mitch Wagstaff (82) and Ajay Khunti (61).
It was not until after lunch when the Red Rose managed to break that partnership. Sutton struck once again, drawing Khunti forward and finding the edge, with Matty Hurst taking the catch behind the stumps.
With 180 on the board when that fourth wicket fell, the floodgates somewhat opened and wickets became a more regular occurrence again.
Wagstaff lost his wicket just 17 runs later, out hit wicket to Walker after swivelling fedning off a short ball, before Ben Walkden superbly ran Joe Hawkins out, with a direct hit when the Derbyshire batter was looking for a quick single.
Walkden, who went wicketless with the ball despite bowling well, could not be kept out of the game. He snaffled a good catch at slip off the bowling of Tom Hartley, moving to his right to dismiss Rohan Vallabhaneni and help break a 31-run partnership that could have been dangerous for Lancs.
That was one of four wickets to fall after tea, with Sutton removing the tail to help bowl Derbyshire out for less than 300.
The first to go was Niall McHale, who was once again caught by Walkden in the slip cordon for a resilient 31. The left-armer then pinned Joe Hall LBW, before bouncing out Will Rogers to dismiss Derbyshire for 291.
That sealed Sutton’s five-wicket haul, making him the first Red Rose bowler to achieve such a feat in the Second XI Championship this season. He finished with figures of 5-59 from 18.2 overs.
Lancashire will begin Day Two with bat in hand, as they look to chip away at Derbyshire’s lead and make strides towards one of their own.