Gloucestershire take control on third day at Old Trafford

Siddle was excellent with bat and ball before Gloucestershire assumed control.

Peter Handscomb (74*) and Hamish Marshall (71*) shared an unbeaten partnership worth 130 runs as Gloucestershire retained control of their evenly-fought Championship encounter against Lancashire.

The visitors closed on 206/3 with a lead 230 runs as they had the better of the third day at Old Trafford, claiming Lancashire's final four wickets for 17 runs before extending their slender first-innings advantage into an imposing overall lead against the Division Two leaders.

Paul Horton's finished with 157 in Lancashire's first innings as he reached 150 for the fifth time in his career to help the hosts to reach 364, giving the visitors a slender first-innings lead of 24 runs.

Liam Norwell continued his fine season taking his tally to 19 wickets this Championship campaign as he finished the pick of Gloucestershire's bowlers with figures of 4 for 95, including the wickets of Horton and Peter Siddle, who added 40 in his 82-run partnership with the Lancashire opening batsman.

A disappointing final session saw Lancashire lose four wickets for 58 runs but the in-form Horton remained unbeaten overnight as he and Siddle sought to chip away at Gloucestershire's lead. Siddle, playing in his final Championship game for Lancashire before joining Australia's tour of West Indies, proved once again to be a more than useful batsman, particularly after the mini collapse Lancashire had suffered yesterday evening.

Horton made his fifth score of 150 or more in his career and his third at Old Trafford

Siddle made 89 against Northamptonshire last week and he carried his form with his Kookaburra into this match as he and Horton played cautiously in the first hour. Lancashire needed 24 more runs for their third batting point and Horton continued to dominate the scoring as he guided the hosts beyond this landmark.

Horton began the day needing 16 more runs to earn his third score of 150 or more on home soil and his eighteenth boundary earned him this feat in 273 balls. He and Siddle soon brought up the fifty partnership at a patient speed of 111 deliveries as Horton went on to make his highest score for Lancashire at Old Trafford, beating his previous best of 156 against Leicestershire in 2013.

It was the first time since that match where a Lancashire opening batsman had gone on to reach 150, although not the first time this season after Ashwell Prince's innings at Wantage Road last week. Norwell had endured a tough day yesterday, dislocating his finger while fielding, but he proved to be the standout bowler for the visitors as he eventually ended Siddle's resistance with a delivery which kept low and wrapped the Australian on the pads with the score at 347/7.

Lancashire were in a good position to get a marginal lead over Gloucestershire after this partnership, but the hosts went on to lose their final four wickets for just 17 runs as Norwell and indeed Craig Miles (3-71) ripped through the Lancashire tail. Horton's best score for Lancashire is 173, which he scored against Somerset in 2009 and he was denied the opportunity to beat this score when he edged behind to Gareth Roderick off Norwell.

The Gloucestershire pace bowler claimed 2 for 32 in a ten-over spell in the morning session before he was replaced by Miles, who then accounted for debutant Nathan Buck (4) when he edged to Chris Dent at second slip to give Miles his third and final wicket of the innings.

The hosts managed another batting point, their fourth of the innings and seventh of the match before the dismissal of Horton and Buck, but when Kyle Jarvis (6) skied a Tom Smith (1-78) delivery to Norwell as Lancashire handed their opponents a small lead.

Dent and Will Tavare made a cautious start in the second innings as a combination of fading light and the deadly opening duo of Siddle (2-24) and Jarvis were given plenty of respect. Siddle was particularly ferocious and exploited the conditions when Dent (9) shouldered arms and was bowled by Lancashire's overseas fast bowler. Siddle claimed 2 for 21 in an eight over spell at the start of Gloucestershire's innings, encouraging Roderick to edge through to Alex Davies for 4 at 30/2.

Lancashire were in a commanding position with these two early wickets going some way towards restoring parity, but Tavare replicated his efforts in the first innings with another responsible display as the 25-year-old added 34 to the total, playing a key hand in his 46-run partnership with Peter Handscomb. 

However, Tavare's innings came to an end when he got an inside edge onto his off-stump as debutant Buck (1-41) claimed his first wicket for Lancashire to remove the dangerous opening batsman. Gloucestershire extended their already useful lead with another accomplished partnership, this time between Handscomb and Marshall who added 124 runs for the fourth wicket.

A feature of their partnership was the urgency and running between the wickets and this allowed the pair to add 100 runs in 166 balls before close of play. Marshall had made a half-century in the first innings and the veteran batsman added another fifty in 83 balls alongside the young Australian Handscomb, who reached the same milestone in 90 balls as Lancashire's bowlers were dejected in the final session.

This gave the visitors a lead of 230 runs and if Gloucestershire utilise their wickets in hand tomorrow morning it is likely that they will set up a fourth-innings run-chase for Lancashire, although they will be cautious of declaring too soon given the favourable conditions for batting.