Northamptonshire Vs. Lancashire LVCC day three.

Katich double-hundred sets up thrilling final day.

Katich scored the first double-hundred since
2008 as Lancs took control of the game.

Simon Katich continued to excel with the bat today, reaching a best score for Lancashire of 200 to give the visitors a possibility of seizing victory tomorrow. 

The Australian passed his previous best of 122 which he scored against Essex earlier this season and after Australia's start to the Ashes he may be sorely missed.

Luke Procter added 23 more to his overnight score of 62, before he was caught down leg-side off Andrew Hall, ending a 145-run partnership for the fifth wicket.

David Willey enjoyed the morning session, as he swept away the middle-lower and finished with figures of 5-108. Both Gareth Cross (7) and Wayne White (1) fell LBW to the left-arm seamer, before Kyle Hogg was dismissed for a second ball duck.

At 308-8 Lancashire still trailed by two runs and with as many wickets left and they were in danger of failing to reach 350. Fortunately though a thoroughly entertaining partnership between Katich and Glen Chapple (57) saw
the visitors pass this milestone, bringing up their fourth
batting point with one ball to spare.

The pair raised 128, a record for the ninth wicket between these two teams at Wantage Road, beating the previous best set in 1955. Chapple reached fifty from 94 balls, beating his previous best score of the season which, like Katich, was also registered at Chelmsford.

Having batted with him for so long, it would have been fitting for Chapple to congratulate Katich on reaching 200, but a loose shot forced him to edge to Hall at first slip, giving Willey his five-wicket-haul.

Simon Kerrigan was therefore given the pleasure of watching the first Lancashire double-hundred since Mohammad Yousuf scored 205 not out against Yorkshire at Headingley in 2008. w reached this feat from 321 balls, accumulating 26 fours and a six, but was out instantaneously to Cameron White, attempting to register a second maximum.

With a lead of 132 Northants were well and truly up against it and Karl Brown's stunning one-handed catch to remove Kyle Coezter (10) exacerbated their problems, as Chapple claimed his fourth wicket of the game.

Fellow opener James Middlebrook remains unbeaten on 46 and he will have been disappointed to see three other wickets fall before close of play. Captain David Sales was bowled by Kerrigan for 30, shortly after the fifty-run stand had been brought up.

Wayne White felt he should have had a caught behind off Ben Duckett, but it he next over Kerrigan ended the matter by bowling him for 24. The left-arm spinner then added to his fortunes when Cameron White, who scored 90 in the first innings, played-on for one, as Kerrigan finished the day with 3-28.

Northants closed on 123-4, still trailing Lancashire by nine runs, meaning that tomorrow will be vital in settling who will qualify from the second division.