Croft century leads strong day for Lancashire

Steven Croft cemented a ninth first-class hundred as Lancashire posted 368 all out on Day Two against Leicestershire at Grace Road.

The Lancashire stand-in captain ended the first day unbeaten on 98 and with only one batsman left, there was a chance that Croft would be stranded just shy of three figures, but he went on to reach his first hundred since recording a career-best 156 against Northamptonshire last season.

In reply, Leicestershire finished the second day on 195/6, still trailing by 173 runs as captain Mark Cosgrove made 65 not out to lead the home side's response.

The second day started at 3.30 after heavy rain caused every game in the country to be delayed before lunch and by the time play finally commenced a maximum of 48 overs were left in the day. All of these overs were to be completed in an extended evening session with play eventually finishing at 7 o'clock.

Croft started the day with the uncomfortable task of watching number eleven Kyle Jarvis survive a handful of deliveries, after the late dismissal of Simon Kerrigan. The Zimbabwean managed to face the two balls left in Charlie Shreck's 26th over and with the fifth ball of Raine's over Croft hit his thirteenth four to take him to his century in 151 balls.

This represented a tremendous effort from Croft and Lancashire who managed to reach 368 before losing their final wicket, a score which may have been worth 100 more runs on a pitch with with less of a green tinge to it.

Five balls after reaching his century, Croft mistimed a shot into the leg-side and skied a Ben Raine (1-42) delivery to Rob Taylor, who ran in from the square-leg boundary to take a good catch. Justice was done from Raine's perspective after a series of dropped catches denied him a single wicket on the first day, but the 23-year-old was rewarded with the prized wicket of Croft, with Jarvis unbeaten on eight.

Dark clouds drifted over the ground in the change of innings and this, twinned with a green wicket with plenty on offer for the bowlers, left the Leicestershire openers with unfriendly conditions for batting in.

Kyle Jarvis, the leading wicket-taker in the second division, had already claimed 23 wickets this season and he continued his imperious form in the absence of Peter Siddle, striking with his second ball to remove Angus Robson.

Buck struck in his first over against his former county.

Robson had a peculiar stance, starting a long way outside the leg-stump and shuffling back across the crease as a sort of trigger movement. The Leicestershire opener attempted to fend the ball into the leg-side, but he was judged to be caught at short-leg by Karl Brown, leading to a certain amount of dissent from Robson (5) who was adamant that the ball had only hit his pad.

Lancashire were just as sloppy with the amount of extras they conceded, with sundries accounting for 47 runs by the end of second day and Tom Bailey (1-53) bowled a total of ten no-balls, as he struggled to keep his front-foot behind the line.

The Lancashire pace bowler delivered his sixth no-ball in only five overs, but he struck with the very next ball, sending Ned Eckersley's (13) off-stump cartwheeling with the score at 44/2. Jordan Clark had a positive impact with the bat and he made an all-round impression on the game, removing Lewis Hill with the final ball of his first over with a beautiful delivery.

The remaining Leicester opener was undone by a ball that bounced sharply and took the edge through to Alex Davies, as Hill departed for 25 with the score at 68/3. Former Leicestershire bowler, Nathan Buck (2-44), then became the third Lancashire bowler to strike in their first over when he forced Neil Pinner to edge to Croft at second slip for a duck with his fifth ball, leaving the hosts in an abject position on 78/4.

Leicestershire captain Cosgrove dug in and and went on to reach an important half-century in 80 balls, sharing a useful partnership worth 59 runs with Niall O'Brien (22) as the hosts recovered in the evening session.

Jarvis took his tally to 25 wicket this season with two more
wickets against Leicestershire on Day Two at Grace Road.

Cosgrove offered very little to the Lancashire seamers, but a sharp chance to Ashwell Prince at third slip wasn't taken by the South-African and the extras continued to add up as they threatened to overtake Cosgrove's score.

The Leicestershire skipper recorded back-to-back boundaries, reaching his fourth half-century of the season with his eighth four and Buck's frustration at the dropped catch became evident after these consecutive boundaries. However, a bowling change was once again responsible for a Lancashire breakthrough as Jarvis returned to remove O'Brien with a fairly average delivery.

Jarvis claimed his 25th wicket of the season, finishing with figures of 2 for 41 as he tempted the Leicestershire wicketkeeper to swat at a wide delivery, as he edged behind to Davies with the score at 137/5.

This was the fourth wicket to fall in the first over a new spell for a Lancashire bowler, but the excessive amount of extras meant that an already delayed second day didn't finish until 7 o'clock.

With nine balls left in the day, Raine (15) continued to suffer from a run of bad luck when he dragged the ball back onto his stumps and was bowled by Buck after he and Cosgrove had added 51 runs for the sixth-wicket partnership in just under 12 overs.

Cosgrove stood strong and remained unbeaten on 65 with Tom Wells (3*) for company and the Leicester captain will know that he has an important job tomorrow morning, with his side still needing 23 runs to avoid the follow-on in this rain affected fixture.