Pictures from day four of Kent match.

Lancashire Vs. Kent LVCC Day Four

Nash hits century as Kent match ends in a draw.

Despite Lancashire having the upper hand in this fixture, Brendan Nash hit an impressive century to give the away side the spoils on the final day of this LV County Championship fixture. Lancashire took more points from the game, but the late momentum was awarded to Kent, as Nash and Michael Powell shared an unbeaten third-wicket partnership worth 142.

Unsurprisingly there was a touch of rain in the air before play, but this would not prevent Lancashire from resuming play on 356-5, with both Simon Katich and Steven Croft closing in on milestones. 

Katich, who scored 84 versus Worcestershire in the first round of matches was keen to reach his century, but it was important that he accelerated, in order to give his team any chance of pulling off a miraculous victory. But from his first delivery of the day he edged the ball behind to Geraint Jones off Matt Coles for 93, as he was clearly trying to guide the ball over the top of the slip cordon.

A collective groan of disappointment sounded at Old Trafford, as the home fans were hoping to see him add to his total. Matt Coles refused to stand on ceremony, dismissing Gareth Cross LBW first ball, setting up a hatrick ball, as he claimed figures of 3-84. Lancashire captain, Glen Chapple survived the delivery, but the Lancashire fans were disappointed to see Cross dismissed so easily, as the young Alex Davies seems to be increasingly likely to replace the wicket-keeper in his lack of form.

Steven Croft’s fifty had been overshadowed by Lancashire’s early loss of wickets, but it was a reassuring knock for the Blackpoll-born all-rounder. With the help of Chapple, Croft was able to settle the home side, who had suffered from several early setbacks, as they approached a declaration. A risky piece of running and comical drop from Jones could have ended Lancashire’s innings sooner, but when the home side declared 149 runs ahead, it was due to a combination of rain and hail.

Lancashire’s already minimal chances of forcing a result were eliminated, as 11 overs were lost, forcing the lunch interval to arrive earlier than had been planned.  

Wickets needed to fall at a constant rate and with James Anderson opening the bowling for Lancashire, the home side attempted to achieve the impossible. The England international beat the bat almost every ball and bowled several maidens, but he and Kyle Hogg were unable to take any early wickets against the defiant batting of Sam Northeast and Rob Key.

Eventually with the score on 22, Simon Kerrigan bowled Northeast for 11, but the match was clearly heading for a draw. Key then edged behind to Cross off Chapple for 19, to give the Lancashire captain his second wicket of the match.

Although Lancashire were frustrated by the fact that the weather had deprived them of a potential victory, they found solace from their success with the ball, but this was soon to be taken away from them. Nash and Powell were the only Kent players to show any form of resistance in their first innings and this action was to be repeated once more.

Nash in particular displayed great confidence with the bat, dispatching Lancashire’s bowlers for 12 fours in his innings of 100 not out. The West Indies international hit his fourth fifty in a row from just 76 balls and he continued to accelerate to the despair of Lancashire.

Due the absence of wickets in the afternoon session, it became clear that the players were going to shake hands early in this game, but not before Nash had completed his century, which came from 141 balls. Powell had taken the back seat in the partnership, but remained as collected as his partner, as he finished on 39. This could have easily been converted in to fifty, but the players saw no point in continuing play, as the game came to an inevitable draw.

Another fantastic batting display from Lancashire was overshadowed by poor weather, but their slow batting at the start of their innings resulted in them missing out on another bonus point. Long gone are the days of Aigburth where wickets fall in large quantities, as another draw at Old Trafford highlights the difficulty for bowlers, even of James Anderson’s quality.

His bowling partner Kyle Hogg said that “After twenty overs, the ball becomes very soft, and taking wickets becomes hard” and based on the way this match played out, this was a fair statement to make.

Lancashire will find some relief from playing away from Manchester, as their next four day fixture takes them to Wales, as they take on Glamorgan at Colwyn Bay, where, perhaps, Lancashire’s abilities will be put to the test for the first time this season. 

Lancashire Vs. Kent LVCC Day Three

Katich shines for Lancashire on third day of Kent match. 

The third day had the potential to unfold in a number of ways, thanks to the late wickets Kent claimed yesterday, but due to the loss of 55 overs, this match was unlikely to produce a result.

James Anderson continued his fine work as night watchman, facing 75 balls in his innings of 26, but the morning session proved to be slow work for both batsmen under the bowler friendly conditions. Anderson was eventually removed by Charlie Shreck, trapped LBW with Lancashire now on 98-3.

Karl Brown had started the day confidently despite the tough conditions and, now joined by Ashwell Prince, the pressure started to ease as Lancashire approached lunch.

Entering the break on 48*, Brown was keen to complete his half century, but may have been fortunate to do so, having been dropped in the process by Mark Davies. This became a motif in the afternoon and indeed the evening session, with both Brown and Prince being dropped by Kent who may have seized control had they held these chances.

Instead it was Lancashire who had the upper hand, thanks in large to the fourth-wicket partnership, which added 93 runs to the home sides total. Both players were closing in on their respective milestones, but it was Brown who fell short of his century, as he was bowled by Shreck for 87 having offered no shot to the ball. Now 191-4, Lancashire looked forward to the partnership of Prince and Simon Katich, the same pair that thrived in a 181-run stand versus Worcestershire.

Prince soon reached his fifty, achieving 4 fours and 1 six, as he hit his second half century in two innings. But on this occasion, the stand between Katich and was not to be outstanding, as Prince fell just before tea for 58, with Darren Stevens achieving his second breakthrough of the innings. Lancashire added six more runs to go in at 224-5, but it is fair to suggest that Prince was not happy to be given out.

Light rain in the teatime interval threatened to intervene, but for once the impact of the rain was minimal, with play starting on time. Shortly after play resumed Lancashire surpassed the visitors total, as Katich, now joined by Steven Croft began to look increasingly confident.

Katich and Croft accelerated throughout the evening session, reaching a fifty partnership from just 80 balls. The Australian overseas talent joined Prince, by reaching his second fifty in a row, coming from 76 balls.

A pleasant evening session for the home side was capped by Katich reaching 20,000 first-class runs, a milestone of incredible magnitude, as Katich finished on 93 not out. In some way this was frustrating for Lancashire, as both batsmen fell agonisingly short of their respective milestones. Croft closed on an equally impressive score of 47, as the sixth-wicket partnership reached an impressive and unbeaten138.

Both batsmen hope to complete their milestones quickly tomorrow morning, but in truth the result in this match has been decided for some time now, due to the long delay in play yesterday.

Lancashire Vs. Kent LVCC Day Two

Rain reduces Lancashire’s chances for victory.

After a promising start to the second days play at Old Trafford by the home side, rain fell once again, to halt the progress of both teams. Lancashire were particularly frustrated by the delay, which saw 55 overs lost, given their impressive start to the day prior to the prolonged interruption.

The day started in a similar fashion the evening session of the first day, with England International James Anderson claiming all four of Kent’s last wickets. It took him just four balls to remove Mark Davies, who was bowled for 11, as Kent advanced to 219-9.  James Tredwell and Charlie Shreck were able to add 25 more runs for the final wicket, including a six for the latter, but Anderson finally removed the middle stump and subsequently the Kent captain who made a valiant score of 40.

Anderson finished with the best figures in the innings, as he claimed 4-57 from a late burst of success, over the course of the two of days of play. 244 was perhaps under par, particularly for the amount of time Kent took out of the game, but the real value of the time that they consumed was yet to be recognised.

Paul Horton and Luke Procter opened the response, but the presence of floodlights in the latter stages of Kent’s innings forewarned the crowd of the bad weather that was to come.

After just one over rain fell, but fortunately for no great amount of time, as play resumed at noon, with just a handful of overs lost. In hindsight this delay was minimal but demonstrated the nature of the days play, as one that was subject to mitigating factors.

Lancashire’s openers resumed with a cautious temperament, possibly suggesting that Kent’s unhurried effort with the bat was due to the tough conditions that were clearly present. The home side had hoped to reach lunch unscathed, but Procter fell with a matter of minutes to go, as he was caught by Tredwell at second slip off the bowling of Darren Stevens.

The restart was scheduled with the score at 22-1, but the second spell of rain fell before play resumed and unfortunately this delay would take a sizeable portion of the days proceedings. Finally at 5:30 the players stepped back on to the field, but with such a large amount of play lost, once again to the weather, the outlook of the entire fixture had been changed.

The likelihood of yet another rain-interrupted draw was by no means aided by the cautious approach from both teams, but conditions proved to be incredibly difficult and neither side wanted to fall under the weight of making up for lost time.

Horton, now joined by Karl Brown, continued to bat at a rate that justified Kent’s slow approach to their first innings, as Lancashire carried on slowly but surely. Horton found it hard to come by runs and was eventually bowled by the impressive Matt Coles for 15, facing 92 balls. Anderson had proved a vital inclusion in the squad with ball and when he came in as a night watchman he had another important duty to fulfill, with the home side now struggling on 36-2.

By this stage in their innings, half of Lancashire’s overs had resulted in maidens, which showed just how tough batting had been, but also just how well Kent did to perform in similar circumstances.

The last thing Lancashire needed with so little time left in the day was another wicket and the Lancashire batsmen made it their duty to see out the Kent bowling attack untroubled, as they finished the second day on 43-2, with Brown on 11 and Anderson 4. 

Lancashire Vs. Kent LVCC Day One

Late Anderson wickets give Lancashire edge.

England pace-man James Anderson ended the first day at Emirates Old Trafford in style, removing the potentially dangerous Michael Powell for 57, ending with figures of 2-48.

The performance of the day came from Kyle Hogg (3-32) who claimed both of Kent's openers in the morning session and then the explosive Darren Stevens for just 11, as the visitors reached a modest total of 216-8 by stumps. Both Powell and West Indies overseas batsmen, Brendan Nash, secured half centuries, but Kent suffered from a loss of regular wickets under the cosh of an impressive bowling attack.

It seemed slightly strange of Kent to bat first, after all of the first round of matches proved to hinder this decision and the visitors were up against it from an early stage, loosing Sam Northeast and Rob Key, who were both trapped LBW by Hogg.

Nash and Powell mounted a successful third-wicket partnership worth 70, but the formers departure for 50 lead to a flurry of wickets, as Kent stumbled from 130-2 to 156-6.

Anderson, who bowled the most overs in the days play with 23, suffered a frustrating day but eventually picked up key wickets in the evening session, bowling Powell and shortly afterwards Matt Coles to hit to Simon Kerrigan to give Anderson his second victim. 

Kent finished on 216-8, which puts Lancashire in the driving seat in this second County Championship encounter of the season, after both teams suffered from rain affected starts to this campaign. 

Yorkshire Vs. Lancashire Friendly Day 3.

Smith shines on final day of friendly with Yorkshire.

The final day of this friendly game was unlikely to bring any result, but the fans were certainly guaranteed entertainment, after the first two days, which have both shown how strong these teams could be if they apply themselves. Yorkshire in particular will be ecstatic with their batting performance thus far, after their innings and 12-run loss to Sussex in the championship.  Lancashire will be less impressed by their inability to rip through Yorkshire’s lower order batsmen, much like their encounter with Worcestershire.

Yorkshire replicated the action of declaring overnight on 381-8, but with a lead of 112 runs their position in this match was certainly stronger than Lancashire’s. Both Tom Smith and Stephen Moore have been struggling to nail down their place in the first-team and they were given the chance to prove themselves, when they opened Lancashire’s second innings.

They seemed to cope largely better than expected, on an incredibly windy mornings session, with Smith looking particularly strong. Moore was arguably more in need of form but unfortunately it was he who was removed first, edging to Liam Plunkett at fourth slip off Tim Bresnan for 22, with the score at 47-1.

Karl Brown joined Smith at the crease, hoping to improve on his score of 32 from the first innings. Smith built on his already impressive work, advancing to his half-century from 79 balls. By lunch, Lancashire had reached an impressive total of 105-1, scoring at an impressive rate against the highly qualified bowling attack Yorkshire possessed.

Lancashire were scheduled to declare at some stage in the afternoon session, in order to give their opponents another chance to bat and, likewise, give themselves an opportunity to bowl. 

Smith continued to impress after lunch, building on his score of 65 not out from the break. He appeared to be bound for a century but, possibly in an attempt to accelerate his innings further, he top-edged Bresnan to Andrew Gale at cover for 89, with Lancashire on 152-2, ending Smith and Brown’s stand – worth 105 runs.

Steven Croft replaced the Lancs opener, but managed only a single before he played-on to his own stumps to give Adil Rashid his first wicket of the innings, after he struck an impressive century yesterday.  Gareth Cross (3) joined Brown (45), but the fourth-wicket stand was halted when Lancashire declared on 163-3, with a lead of just 51. It was therefore clear that no outright winner would emerge, but both sides would get in some much needed practice.

Unlike Lancashire, Yorkshire opened with the same batsmen as they had from their first innings, as Adam Lyth and Joe Root sought to build a strong opening partnership. Adnan Ghaus failed to claim any wickets on his debut in the first innings, but at the second time of asking he claimed Lyth’s wicket at 45-1. By tea Yorkshire had long passed their ‘target’ of 52, as Root and Jacques entered the pavilion for 72-1 from just 13 overs.

Newby claimed the wicket of Root in the first over after the break and then dismissed the Yorkshire captain, Andrew Gale, at 102-3. Phil Jacques showed some resistance as he managed to obtain a well-deserved fifty, but six runs later was dismissed by Stephen Parry, as he was caught by Smith, with Yorkshire now 162-4.

Smith then took his second catch in quick succession, as Simon Kerrigan removed Liam Plunkett on 163-5. Bresnan was then removed by an Oliver Newby catch to give Parry his second wicket of the innings and when Steve Patterson was trapped LBW by Kerrigan at 164-7, the day came to a close.