Lancashire's Division One status is hanging in the balance after they were dismissed for 152 by Warwickshire on the second day of their visit to Edgbaston, in what could prove to be a winner takes all clash.
Keith Barker (4-30) led the Lancashire demolition to hand Warwickshire a handy first-innings lead of 67 in a low-scoring affair at the bottom of the first division, after the hosts were bowled out for 219 on the first day by the visitors. Captain Steven Croft top-scored with 45, sharing 55 runs with Jordan Clark (34) to help Lancashire recover from falling to 35/0 to 39/4 in the morning session, but batting continued to be difficult for the Red Rose.
Bad light and heavy rain saw the final session of the day washed out, but Lancashire will now be keeping an eye on events at Southampton, as Hampshire pursue victory against a Durham side who are already safe from the prospect of relegation. Should Lancashire lose, they would need Durham to hold on for a draw and they will start tomorrow needing 19 more runs to avoid the follow-on after Hampshire scored 411 in their first innings.
Overnight batsmen, Haseeb Hameed and Rob Jones, survived nine overs prior to the close on the first day and Lancashire were 15 minutes away from surviving the first hour of the second day unscathed, but a damaging spell left them on the back-foot. Hameed (17) was first to fall and the first of three Lancashire players to be out lbw, as Rikki Clarke (1-24) trapped the teenager in front attempting to play into the leg-side.
Having batted nearly 19 overs without losing a wicket, Lancashire lost both opening batsmen in the space of five balls, as Jones (8) fell in the next over to Chris Wright when he too was struck on the pad. Wright struck again at the start of his next over to remove Karl Brown (1) cheaply at 37/3 - the third lbw decision in 14 deliveries - and Luke Procter (1) followed soon after, driving and edging Barker behind to Tim Ambrose.
Croft and Liam Livingstone were able to pull Lancashire away from trouble with a positive partnership and Livingstone's temperament in particular was well suited to the situation. A series of purposeful strokes saw Lancashire recover to 79/4 on the verge of lunch, but the pair were unable to reach lunch before the fifth wicket arrived.
Livingstone's counterpunch and a sequence of well executed sweeps from Croft kept the scoreboard moving in the right direction, but Livingstone was forced to leave the field at lunch in a contentious manner after slapping Oliver Hannon-Dalby to Barker at mid-wicket, as he fell for 21 two balls before lunch was due to be taken.
Croft and Clark added a crucial stand worth 55 runs in 18 overs after the resumption, as Lancashire attempted to reduce the deficit, but Warwickshire made the most of their promising display in the morning session by ultimately claiming a hefty lead in a low-scoring contest. Clark punished anything that was overpitched from Barker, while Croft continued to favour sweeping against Jeetan Patel (2-42).
They achieved a fifty-partnership in 95 balls, the highest partnership of the match so far, but the last five wickets fell of 18 runs. Barker claimed the first of three lower-order wickets to finish with 4-30, claiming the prized scalp of skipper Croft on 45 when he was bowled at 134/6.
Clark took the aggressive route by slapping Patel for a huge six over deep mid-wicket, but Arron Lilley fell two balls later attempting to replicate this shot, only to be bowled by the off-spinner for 4. Tom Bailey took four wickets of his own on the first day, but he was unable to inspire with the bat, as he followed soon after without scoring, prodding Patel's spin to Ian Bell at leg-slip, the third wicket to fall in five overs.
Barker then wrapped up the innings, taking his Championship tally to 58 wickets for the season, as he bowled a defiant Clark for 34, before removing Kyle Jarvis (3) in the same manner. Warwickshire extended their first-innings lead from 67 to 79 runs before bad light brought a halt to proceedings, with heavy rain causing 33 overs to be lost at the end of the second day.
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