Lancashire lose in tense affair against Nottinghamshire.

A margin of just one wicket separated Lancashire and Nottinghamshire at Liverpool, as the visitors successfully chased a humble target of 170 on Day Three to go top of Division One in the County Championship.

Lancashire’s batting was, once again, called into question after they were bowled out for 205 in their second innings, but Tom Smith (3-38) became the leading wicket-taker in the division and led a recovery with the ball to give the hosts a small chance.

His spell before tea put the match back in the balance, claiming three wickets inside 20 balls to make Nottinghamshire stumble to 79/4 at tea. However, a 64-run stand between Chris Read (40*) and Luke Fletcher (18) for the eighth-wicket helped the visitors to secure a tense victory.

Fletcher fell to Kabir Ali (2-30) with Nottinghamshire 163/8 and when Andre Adams skied the ball down to Stephen Parry at long-leg, Read was left stranded by a late collapse, but Harry Gurney drove Glen Chapple (3-59) through the covers to secure a memorable win. 

The hosts started the third day with eight second-innings wickets in hand and made good progress thanks to Usman Khawaja and Ahwell Prince (45), as the pair added 71 for the third wicket in the morning session.

The former completed his half-century in 78 balls as Lancashire appeared to be progressing comfortably in glorious sunshine. However, the loss of eight wickets for 106 runs rather summed up their tribulations with the bat this season, as they failed to set an imposing target against a strong opponent.

Khawaja (53) was the first to depart, edging behind to Read off Harry Gurney, who played a key role for Nottinghamshire, claiming 4-22 in just nine overs. Prince failed to mimic his former partner in reaching fifty and was also out to Gurney after being trapped lbw.

Gurney continued to wreak havoc on Lancashire’s middle-order, removing Steven Croft (5) and Tom Smith for no score on his fifth ball as a respectable session became demoralizing for the hosts.

Jos Buttler (25) and Glen Chapple (19) added useful runs in the context of what proved to be a tense finale, but when the former was bowled after leaving a straight delivery from Flecther (3-33), Nottinghamshire were in pursuit of a comfortable victory.

Flecther collected another wicket when Kyle Hogg fell for a duck with the score at 169/9 and a last-wicket stand worth 36 runs between Stephen Parry (16) and Ali (20*) proved to be incredibly worthwhile, as they gave Lancashire something to bowl at.

Lancashire needed early wickets and to find breakthroughs at regular intervals if they were to stand any chance of achieving a famous win at Aigburth and the wicket of Alex Hales (9) opened the door for such an event early on in Nottinghamshire’s second innings.

The presence of Smith this season cannot be praised highly enough by the Lancashire squad and it was his spell of 3-7 in 20 deliveries before lunch, which put the hosts in charge.

Having fallen to 53/4, Nottinghamshire had lost their way and will be thankful to possess one of the strongest batting line-ups in the Division, as they recovered their run chase, initially through Riki Wessels (28) and captain, Read.

At 119/7 Lancashire would have fancied their chances of achieving an unlikely win, but the efforts of Read and Fletcher took the game away from the Red Rose outfit and helped Nottinghamshire to inflict defeat on their opponents.