Glamorgan Vs. Lancashire LVCC Day Three

Lancashire complete miraculous victory over Glamorgan.

Lancashire took ten wickets in one session to give
them one of the most unlikely victories.

Today Lancashire achieved one of the most unlikely comebacks of the season as they completed a 14-run victory over Glamorgan. 

Katich scored 65 to lead
Lancashire's revival.

The visitors were able to fight back in their second innings, as they were eventually bowled out for 272. The revival, led by Simon Katich (65), gave them a respectable lead of 153 runs and saw extensive contributions from Lancashire’s lower order batsmen, who added 108 runs for the final three wickets.

Having started the day on 110-4, the visitors faced an arduous task, with a deficit of 15 runs remaining. Lancashire added just the solitary run to their overnight total before Jim Allenby bowled the night watchman James Anderson for naught, with the news of Anderson’s inclusion in England’s Champions Trophy squad announced shortly before play commenced.

Simon Katich and Steven Croft helped the visitors to pass Glamorgan’s score, with the former achieving an 88-ball fifty in the early stages of the morning session. Croft, who had been dropped by Stewart Walters on 9, failed to provide the long-term assistance to Katich that was required, falling for 18 when he edged behind to Wallace off Reed. Perhaps even more significantly though the sixth wicket fell with no further runs added and as Katich departed to John Glover’s bowling, Lancashire’s inevitable thrashing beckoned.

An admirable quality of any cricket team is their ability to come back from a futile position and Lancashire’s tail is renowned for having the capacity to do so, even if victory was far from possible. Entering lunch with a lead of 65 runs, Lancashire had avoided the humiliation of an innings defeat, which seemed to lift the spirits of the previously dejected visitors. Gareth Cross and Glen Chapple persisted to resist Glamorgan’s impressive bowling attack, as the Lancashire batsmen took an aggressive approach to their mission.

After smashing Michael Hogan for six, Glen Chapple appeared to be instigating a miraculous riposte, but he was soon dismissed for 26 by Glover, who finished with figures of 3-63. Now joined by Kyle Hogg, Cross persisted to dig in against the quality of Glamorgan’s seamers, but with a lead of 89 the match appeared to be taking the course that had been established on the first day. But against all likelihood, the ninth-wicket partnership contributed an astounding 63, as Hogg led the charge with 47 of these invaluable runs, although the true value of these runs were yet to be appreciated.

Glover, having already removed Katich earlier in the day, was given the responsibility of putting an end to Lancashire’s efforts and experienced further success as he removed both batsmen with the visitors eventually bowed out for 272. This comeback certainly gave the visitors what they needed, but in hindsight it will add to their frustration, given the inability of Lancashire’s quality batsmen to secure a stronger position throughout this match.

With such a sizeable amount of time left in this Championship encounter, the total of 154 gave Glamorgan the confidence they needed as Ben Wright and William Bragg initiated the chase. Despite the slow tempo associated with this fixture, the threat of rain occurring tomorrow forced the hosts in to scoring unusually quickly in the initial stages of their second innings, with Bragg leading the onslaught.

After just four overs the hosts were already on 30, with immense experience and quality of Anderson and Chapple proving ineffective for a long period of time. Lancashire eventually found the breakthrough when Anderson forced Wright to edge to Karl Brown at Gully, but at 38-1 the damage to the visitor’s minimal chances was severe. Bragg (61) continued to dispatch numerous boundaries but Walters and Marcus North were dispatched cheaply, with Glamorgan now 94-3.

Regardless of Lancashire’s poor display in this match, there was now talk of a miraculous victory and when Bragg was bowled by Chapple, the cynics became the minority. Having already dismissed North and the danger man, Chapple then removed Allenby cheaply and when Kerrigan dismissed Goodwin, the hosts were now 111-6, still requiring 43 runs to win. Somehow the momentum and odds were now with the visitors who had been out of this match since it began, but after losing five wickets for 40 runs Glamorgan were now under greater pressure.

Wallace and Glover halted the consistent loss of wickets and slowly eroded the remainder of runs late in to a tense evening session. The captain had already taken three vital wickets, but without question the removal of Wallace on 129-7 brought Lancashire’s most significant breakthrough, with the hosts still needing 25 to win. Lancashire’s left-arm spinner, Kerrigan, had already removed Walters and Goodwin, but when he dismissed Glover and Dean Cosker in quick succession Lancashire’s unbelievable victory looked increasingly likely.

Every dot ball and single applauded, as all three results were still possible, in this great advertisement for county cricket. Without question, the highlight of Lancashire’s season so far unfolded, as Kerrigan, who finished with 5-32, removed Hogan, to give Lancashire one of the most unbelievable victories in their history. No team has any right to win a match after scoring as few runs as the visitors did on the first day, but who would dare to take credit away from Lancashire, after pulling-off the most incomprehensible comebacks of the season, to give them their first win of the Championship campaign.