Petersen ton revives Lancashire in Championship opener

Alviro Petersen made a vital contribution on his Championship debut for Lancashire scoring 115 as the visitors finished on 292/8 after a shaky start against Derbyshire at the 3aaa County Ground.

Petersen shared 135 runs for Lancashire's fifth-wicket partnership with Tom Smith (38) who made his first appearance as the Red Rose captain to help the visitors recovery from 55/4.

Alex Davies (40) and Australian debutant Peter Siddle (46) added a further 86 runs in the evening session to leave Lancashire with a respectable total after their top-order batsmen failed to make a good start in testing conditions.

Derbyshire inserted their opponents on a green wicket and the early-season conditions got the better of Lancashire who lost both openers with just five runs on the board. Paul Horton (5) was the first Lancashire wicket to fall when he edged a Tony Palladino (3-70) delivery behind to Harvey Hosein and Luis Reece fell for a ten-ball duck, losing his middle stump to Mark Footitt (2-63).

Petersen and countryman Ashwell Prince (21) led an initial recovery, adding 49 runs to Lancashire's score, but Prince was next to fall in a morning-session onslaught from Derbyshire when the South-African was bowled by Shiv Thakor (2-28).

Palladino claimed three wickets as Derbyshire contested
an even first day against Lancashire.

Lancashire then lost their second wicket for just one run when vice-captain Steven Croft (1) was trapped lbw by Palladino to leave the visitors struggling on 55/4 before lunch. Skipper Smith joined the South-African veteran at the crease and assembled a strong partnership as conditions eased somewhat in the afternoon session.

Petersen did the majority of the work in terms of keeping the scoreboard ticking over but he and Smith played very different roles in their crucial partnership. Smith had to deal with plenty of tough deliveries with a breeze aiding bowlers from the Racecourse End of the ground, while Petersen benefited from his application in the morning session to reach a fifty on debut in 92 balls.

The pair batted for most of the afternoon session as the hundred partnership came up in next to no time, Smith accounting for only 24 of these runs, although his role was no less important as the Derbyshire attack were frustrated before tea.

With the interval in sight, Petersen registered his 36th first-class century in 149 deliveries with 14 boundaries to help the visitors towards a teatime score of 192/5. Davies made a useful contribution to help the 34-year-old batsman and shared a vital partnership with debutant Siddle in the evening session at Derby.

Siddle made 46 on debut adding 86 with Davies for the seventh-wicket.

Footitt had an incredible four-day campaign for Debyshire last year claiming 82 wickets in red-ball cricket alone and his efforts were rewarded when Petersen eventually fell for 115 to give the left-arm pace bowler his second wicket of the innings with the score at 206/6.

Davies and Siddle enjoyed a relatively risk-free partnership adding 86 vital runs to Lancashire's total, although they were removed in quick succession before close of play. Both batsmen were also denied half-centuries and Siddle was the first to fall when he was dismissed by Palladino four runs shy of a debut fifty for the Red Rose.

Lancashire lost two wickets with the score at 292 when wicketkeeper Davies was wrapped on the pads by Thakor and when he was given out the players left the field, leaving the visitors the uncomfortable task of adding eight more runs to claim a crucial third batting point tomorrow morning.