Arron Lilley has made a superb impact in
the Lancashire first-eleven this season and he is confident that the Red Rose
can beat Northamptonshire to achieve their seventh Championship win of 2015.
A return of 122 runs at an average of 61.00,
as well as vital contributions against Derbyshire at Southport and latterly
Leicestershire at Old Trafford, have made Lilley one of Lancashire’s most
important contributors of late and he is happy to have the opportunity to prove
what he is capable of doing with bat and ball.
He said: “It is good to get a chance in the
Twenty20 and four-day format. Hopefully it continues for a long time and we can
keep winning as a team.”
“I play like anybody else. I like to play
my shots and finding the boundary. When I come into bat it is eight or nine so
I arrive with 400 runs already on the board, so there is less pressure than the
lads going in at the top. Anybody likes playing their shots and scoring runs,
but I do like playing aggressively.”
When asked if he was pushing to be
considered Lancashire’s frontline spinner, he said: “There’s no point in me
getting ahead of myself.”
“Me, Pazza [Stephen Parry] and Kegs [Simon
Kerrigan] work together really well as a trio and help each other out. I think
Kegsy is still one of the best spinners in the country, so hopefully we keep
working together as a unit.”
Lancashire have responded well to
Norhamptonshire’s score of 438, posting 257/4 by close of play on Day Two and
Lilley believes that his side have every chance of winning this game, although
he admits that there is a lot of hard work ahead.
Lilley said: “As a team we think we can
still win the game, but I think it is a long way off. We need to get another
150 runs to be level with them so if we can do that tomorrow and bat on and get
a lead, hopefully the wicket will deteriorate a bit and hopefully spin the game
to victory.”
“We are a bit disappointed that we lost the
two late wickets of Ashy [Ashwell Prince] and Browny [Karl Brown], but I feel
that we have consolidated really well.
“We are still behind so hopefully tomorrow
morning Crofty [Steven Croft] and Jim [James Faulkner] can get us up and close
to their score and crack on from there,” he added.
Karl Brown made 97 to take his tally to 306
runs in his last four innings, recording half-centuries in all four of these
knocks, although he was understandably gutted to miss out on a century for the
second time in as many matches in the Championship.
Lilley said: “It is a big milestone for him
to get a hundred and we are disappointed as much as he is for himself. But he
has done a really good job for us. Obviously it would have been nice to go on
and score 100 and been not out at the close but these things happen. He
deserves a lot of credit for the last two games to score 96 and 97.
Brown shared hundred-partnerships with Alex
Davies and Ashwell Prince to leave the match evenly poised, with the latter
reaching 18,000 first-class runs in his innings of 83, becoming the first
player in the country to reach 1,000 runs this summer.
Lilley said: “Obviously all the lads really
want him to stay. We are not one-hundred per cent sure at the minute. His
family and kids are an important part of his decision, so I think it is just a
matter of waiting and seeing what happens. None of the lads know at the minute.
Hopefully he stays, but you never know.
“He is so professional in what he does,
even in the morning when he is practicing. His intent is of the highest class
and when he is batting he makes it look effortless,” he added.
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