Wagner takes six wickets on Lancashire debut

New Zealand fast bowler Neil Wagner (6-66) claimed six wickets on his Lancashire debut as the home side enjoyed the better of the first day of their opening County Championship match of the season against Nottinghamshire at Emirates Old Trafford.

Wagner and Kyle Jarvis (3-72) combined superbly to dismantle the Nottinghamshire top order either side of lunch, who slipped to 98/6 before a determined partnership between Chris Read and Stuart Broad allowed the visitors to recover.

The pair added 74 runs for the seventh wicket, with captain Read top-scoring with 52, as Notts were eventually bowled out for a meagre total of 242. Read added a further 57 runs with Jake Ball, who struck a quickfire 33 in helping the visitors to add 141 runs in the afternoon session, but Wagner’s ferocious pace and ability to move the ball both ways proved too much for the majority of Nottinghamshire’s batsmen.

Lancashire then had to negotiate a difficult spell of 19 overs before close of play, losing Karl Brown without score to create a nervous end to the day for the home side. But Haseeb Hameed (6*) and Luke Procter (17*) endured the challenging Notts pace bowling attack to ensure that the Red Rose did not lose any more wickets before stumps, reaching 25/1 with a deficit of 217 runs.

Jarvis and Wagner took two wickets apiece in the morning session, as Nottinghamshire stumbled to 73/4 at lunch after the visitors had won the toss and decided to bat first. After winning the only match in Division One from the first round of matches last week, Notts came into this fixture with a spring in their step, receiving an added boost by the addition of Stuart Broad to their already imposing seam attack.

Many might have expected the away team to bowl first and take advantage of the early swing available at Old Traffors with the likes of Broad and Australian Jackson Bird at their disposal. However, Chris Read’s decision to bat was to backfire horribly, as they faltered in the morning session against an equally imposing Lancashire pace attack.

Although James Anderson was the more economical bowler at the start of the match, it was Zimbabwean Jarvis who was responsible for taking Lancashire’s first wicket of the season, forcing former Red Rose allrounder Steven Mullaney (19) to edge behind to Alex Davies at 31/1.

This was a vital breakthrough for Ashley Giles’ side, given that Mullaney entered this match on the back of scoring a century against Surrey, forcing his opening partner Greg Smith to take responsibility for negotiating a testing spell of bowling.

Jarvis, who took 62 wickets in four-day cricket last season, struck again for Lancashire, this time pinning Michael Lumb lbw on the crease, as the hosts made a promising start to life back in the first division.

All eyes were on debutant Wagner and he didn’t disappoint the home fans, as he claimed two wickets before lunch to leave Notts in all sorts of trouble. The New Zealand paceman bowled three consecutive maidens, getting the ball to shape ominously away from the right-handed batsmen, before he eventually forced Smith (17) into a rash shot.

The Notts opener had applied himself well in trialling circumstances, but he failed to pick the gap when he found the safe hands of another Lancashire debutant, Liam Livingstone, who held on to the catch at cover to leave the visitors on 56/3 and hand the Red Rose their first bonus point of the season.

With no James Taylor in the Notts middle order, the visitors were missing an invaluable batsman, which gave Lancashire the incentive to push on for another breakthrough before lunch.

Wagner continued to get the ball to move both ways off the surface and there was little Zimbabwean batsman, Brendan Taylor, could do to keep out a fierce delivery from Wagner, one that knocked his middle stump out of the ground at 63/4, with Taylor adding only three runs to the Notts total.

Nottinghamshire’s misery continued after lunch with Jarvis and Wagner proving to be unrelenting in their approach. The former struck his third breakthrough of the day when he had the dangerous Samit Patel trapped lbw for 11 and Wagner enhanced Lancashire’s dominance by removing Riki Wessels (27) via the same method, with both wickets falling on 98.

Wagner’s third wicket came with his first ball after lunch and gave him impressive figures of 3-15, but the Kiwi paceman was far from finished. Captain Read was forced to dig in and salvage a respectable score for his side, with his decision at the toss hardly vindicated by the efforts of the top and middle order.

It would have been impossible to launch a recovery all on his own and thankfully for the away side, he didn’t have to. Broad played a typically positive and sometimes cavalier innings, adding 43 in 45 balls to assist the skipper in his cause for a valuable session.

It proved to be a profitable afternoon for Notts, as Read and Broad’s 74-run partnership laid the platform for a lower-order rally. Broad’s knock eventually came to an end when he attempted to deposit Simon Kerrigan (1-20) into the stands and was cleanly bowled at 172/7.

Nottinghamshire continued to fight on, with Ball’s brisk innings of 33 proving invaluable, but it only delayed a marvellous finish by Wagner, who collected the final three Notts wickets to finish with six victims in his first appearance for the Red Rose county.

Having hit two huge sixes, Ball could only guide a bouncing delivery from Wagner behind to Davies off the face of his bat, as Notts reached 229/8 just after the tea interval. Wagner struck again, securing a five-wicket-haul with the wicket of Jackson Bird (1), who also edged behind to Davies.

A deserted Read managed to claw his way to a valiant half-century in 106 balls, but he was to be the final Nottinghamshire wicket to fall on a superb day for promoted-Lancashire, hooking Wagner to Kerrigan at long leg for 52.

With 19 overs still left in the day, the visitors had the chance to redeem themselves with the ball and they made the perfect start by removing Brown for no score. Having scored a vital 33 for his side, Ball claimed the early wicket of Brown, who was trapped lbw in the third over. Hammed and Procter stayed determined in the face of adversity, negotiating the likes of Broad, Bird and Gurney to take Lancashire to close without any further setbacks.