Match Reports

Lancashire v Gloucestershire

Day 4

Gloucestershire claimed a second successive LV= County Championship win as they beat Lancashire by 91 runs during an eventful final day at Emirates Old Trafford.

Sixteen wickets fell in a day which saw Geraint Jones’s side set a target of 300 in a minimum of 70 overs shortly before lunch having declared on 275 for nine following the decision to not risk Liam Norwell’s injured finger with the bat.

Lancashire fell to 22 for four before half-centuries for fifth-wicket pair Alviro Petersen and Alex Davies took them to 140 for four in the 33rd over, only to see Davies and then Petersen fall either side of tea for the addition of only eight more runs.

Petersen and Davies hit 63 and 58 respectively, with the latter’s innings including three straight sixes against left-arm spinner Tom Smith.

Lancashire, who retain top spot in Division Two following a first defeat in four, were ultimately bowled out for 208 inside 57 overs as Jones and company built on last week’s win over Essex with a 22-point haul.

Craig Miles led the way with four for 58 and David Payne added three for 31.

Eight wickets fell before lunch, including the first two in Lancashire’s second innings as they slipped to 11 for two following the departures of openers Luis Reece and Paul Horton.

Reece, who has endured a miserable start to the season, was trapped lbw by Payne and Horton caught behind driving loosely at Miles.

Shortly after lunch, Lancashire slipped further as Ashwell Prince and stand-in captain Steven Croft fell, leaving Lancashire four down and still 278 away from their target.

Prince and Croft were both caught behind off Miles and Payne respectively.

Petersen and Davies steadied the ship and then counter-attacked, with Davies taking a particularly liking to Smith.

He hit 14 off Smith’s first over, including the first six, with the ex-Sussex man conceding 43 off his first five overs.

The visitors were given a significant pre-tea boost when Davies miscued a pull at  medium pacer Kieran Noema-Barnett to mid-wicket.

And when Petersen sliced Payne to cover, leaving the score at 148 for six in the 36th over, the game was Gloucestershire’s for the taking.

Peter Siddle fell shortly afterwards to Norwell, caught behind off a top edged pull, but Jordan Clark and Nathan Buck continued to chase a home win.

They hit three more sixes off Smith upon his return to the attack as the target dropped below 100. But they departed in the 49th and 50th overs to leave the score at 203 for nine with 97 required.

Buck was caught behind off Norwell and Clark (34) was trapped lbw by Miles, who wrapped up the win by bowling Simon Kerrigan.

Gloucestershire started the day at 206 for three, leading by 230, but they lost six for 69 to force a declaration following Norwell’s injury earlier in the match.

Lancashire’s hopes were boosted with two wickets inside the day’s first three overs.

Peter Handscomb was run out for 76 following a mix-up with Hamish Marshall, ending their fourth-wicket partnership of 134, before Jones was caught at mid-off off Kerrigan’s left-arm spin.

Siddle struck twice to finish with four for 39 in his final appearance as the Red Rose’s overseas player.

Marshall fell eight short of his hundred when he was bowled by a Kyle Jarvis delivery which kept low.

Gloucestershire coach Richard Dawson said: "Everyone in our team performed over the four days. From a collective point of view, it was very pleasing. Me and Ian Harvey have been saying we've been playing good cricket for four games. We've had chances in each game, and the last two, we've taken those and driven the game.

"We had a chance against Northants, but dropped a catch which turned the game. We dropped Martin Guptill against Derbyshire. I think we've been playing good cricket, it's just the two matches in the previous two weeks, we've been more consistent.

"We made a few errors this morning, and our game plan went out of the window. But we fought back very well and showed a lot of character.

"It wasn't a surprise them coming at us and having a crack. That was part of the declaration. It was going to be tough for both sides, but we needed to have enough overs to give it a fair crack."

Lancashire cricket director and head coach Ashley Giles said: "It was a hard-fought game, and I thought Gloucestershire played very well. They look an organised side and played some good cricket.

"If we had gone into tea with Alex and Alviro there, Gloucester would have been worried. But good on them, they bowled at us consistently.

 

Day 3

An unbroken 130-run partnership between fourth-wicket pair Peter Handscomb and Hamish Marshall after tea on day three ensured Gloucestershire have high hopes of an LV= County Championship win over Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford.

After gaining a lead of 24 on first innings on the stroke of lunch during today’s third day, the visitors built on that second time around to close on 206 for three from 63 overs, a lead of 230.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYB2YP3q2zg&feature=youtu.be

Lancashire were bowled out for 364 in reply to 388, with Paul Horton completing a 298-ball innings of 168 - his fifth score above 150 in 12 years of Championship cricket.

When fledgling Australian Handscomb and veteran New Zealander Marshall came together in the early stages of the evening, Gloucestershire were 76 for three in the 27th over with a lead of 100 and the contest in the balance.

Peter Siddle struck twice with the new ball inside the first eleven overs as Gloucestershire’s slipped to 30 for two, with first-innings centurion Chris Dent one of his scalps.

Dent lost his off-stump as he offered no shot before Gareth Roderick, late on one which nipped back appreciably, was trapped lbw.

Nathan Buck later picked up his first Red Rose wicket as Will Tavare played on for 34, and Lancashire had their tails up.

But Handscomb and Marshall regained the momentum during their 36.5 overs together in what remain decent batting conditions.

Both players brought up their fifties inside the last hour of play, with Handscomb’s coming off 99 balls and Marshall’s second of the match coming off 83. They will begin day four on 74 and 71 not out respectively.

Not only do Lancashire have to work out a way of bowling Gloucestershire out, they also have to keep an eye on their over-rate as they ended the day at minus two.

Earlier, Liam Norwell took two of the four Lancashire wickets to fall for 17 runs to finish with four for 95.

Horton fell five short of his best score in county cricket - 173 against Somerset at Taunton in 2009 - having shared an 82-run partnership inside 28 overs for the seventh wicket with Siddle.

Their stand started during the latter stages of day two, and they took Lancashire to within 41 of Gloucestershire’s total before Siddle was trapped lbw by Norwell for 40, leaving the score at 347 for seven in the 104th over of the innings.

Horton was caught behind in Norwell’s next over with 350 on the board before Craig Miles had Buck caught at second slip and Tom Smith’s left-arm spin accounted for Kyle Jarvis, caught by Norwell running from cover towards point.

Gloucestershire batsman Hamish Marshall said: "It's nice to have finished the day well. Three down for a 230 lead is a position we'd have liked to have been in at the start of the day. We've got that. We've now got to work out how we can get ourselves in a position to put pressure on Lancashire and win the game.

"Siddle and Jarvis are quality bowlers, and they asked a lot of questions in the first innings. In this innings, they got some early poles. It was nice to get a partnership going and put them under pressure.

"If we can give ourselves some overs with runs on the board, we'll have a crack at trying to win the game."

 

Day 2

Gloucestershire took four wickets after tea to damage Lancashire’s first-innings response to 388 during day two of their LV= County Championship match at Emirates Old Trafford.

Paul Horton’s 15th Championship century had helped the Division Two leaders into a position of strength at 207 for two in the 52nd over of their reply, shortly after tea.

Horton shared 134 inside 28 overs for the third wicket with Ashwell Prince either side of tea, but Prince’s departure for 57 was the first of four wickets to fall for 58 as Lancashire slipped to 265 for six in the 76th over.

They closed on 276 for six from 81 with Horton unbeaten on 134 from 242 balls.

Gloucestershire started the day by advancing their first innings from 322 for seven, with Kyle Jarvis taking two of the three wickets to fall to finish with four for 121 from 31 overs.

Opening batsman Horton and in-form Prince then prospered in good batting conditions through the majority of the afternoon, with Prince going beyond 430 runs for the season.

Craig Miles, Kieron Noema-Barnett and Liam Norwell picked up a wicket apiece after tea.

Earlier, Norwell and Miles struck either side of lunch to get rid of Luis Reece and Alviro Petersen cheaply to boost the Nevil Road county, but Horton and Prince were rarely troubled until the latter drove loosely at Miles and was caught behind.

Norwell had Reece caught behind off a bottom edge as he attempted to pull in the 12th over, with the score on 27, before Petersen chopped on to Miles as Lancashire slipped to 73 for two after 24.

Horton and Prince built their partnership at a healthy rate of 4.84 runs per over before the latter fell in the third over after tea.

Prince is the division’s leading run-scorer at present, while Horton also went beyond 300 runs for the campaign.

The 32-year-old finished last season with high hopes of being named Lancashire’s new captain in place of Glen Chapple, and there were concerns that his disappointment at missing out may affect his form.

But he has responded in the best way possible, adding his first Championship century in 12 innings to scores of 71 and 67 not out in a recent win against Kent on this ground and 49 in last week’s draw at Northamptonshire.

He reached his century off 150 balls in the closing stages of the afternoon.

Horton and stand-in captain Steven Croft later shared 40 for the fourth wicket before Croft and Alex Davies fell in successive balls in the 68th over, leaving the score at 247 for five.

Noema-Barnett’s medium pace trapped Croft lbw before Davies was run out from point by a Will Tavare throw to the striker’s end.

Norwell ensured Gloucestershire ended the day on a high by trapping Jordan Clark lbw as he offered no shot.

Gloucestershire captain Geraint Jones said: "The initial bit where we got beyond 350 was what we wanted to do. We were probably a bit disappointed with that middle session. The partnership between Ashwell and Horts was a good one, so fair play to them. But we had a good chat at tea about the discipline side of things, how we needed to tighten our bowling up and make it hard for them to score. That's what we did.

"We got Ashwell flashing outside off stump and we picked up a few wickets. A run out always helps. At this stage, to have a 100-run lead with only four wickets left and a new ball in our hands in the morning, it's a good position to be in."

 

Day 1

Chris Dent’s second LV= County Championship hundred of the season ensured Gloucestershire had just the better of day one against Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford.

Dent added 116 off 247 balls to his opening round 104 not out against Northamptonshire by batting through almost 86 overs of a day which started with Geraint Jones electing to bat.

The 24-year-old left-hander shared in half-century partnerships for the first four wickets as the Nevil Road county closed on 322 for seven from 95.4 overs.

He shared 81 inside 24 overs with opening partner Will Tavare, 78 inside 28 either side of lunch with Gareth Roderick, 58 inside 16 with Peter Handscomb either side of tea and 81 inside 20 with Hamish Marshall.

Tavare and Marshall added 53 and 58 apiece, while Dent and Roderick (31) went beyond 4,000 and 2,000 first-class career runs during their innings - played on a pitch with few demons.

Lancashire’s new ball pair Kyle Jarvis and Peter Siddle built pressure, asked questions at either end of the day and were the pick of the bowlers.

Australian Siddle only conceded ten runs in his first seven overs, and both seamers equally shared four wickets inside the last eleven overs of the day, including one for Siddle with the fourth ball of the day’s final over.

The Division Two leaders generally bowled too short or too full, with Dent’s cut and drive shot proving particularly prolific.

Left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan took two of the seven wickets to fall as the hosts struck once in each of the first two sessions and five times after tea.

Before lunch, Jordan Clark had Tavare caught behind to end Gloucestershire’s third successive opening partnership above 50.

Dent and Roderick took their side beyond 150 midway through the afternoon before the latter was trapped lbw playing back to Kerrigan’s tenth ball, leaving the score at 159 for two in the 51st over.

Kerrigan’s second wicket came in the third over of the evening, the 67th of the innings, when Handscomb miscued an attempted lofted drive, only to see Ashwell Prince complete a superb diving catch running towards long-on from mid-off. That left the visitors at 217 for three.

Bristol-born Dent reached his seventh first-class century off 199 balls shortly afterwards, with this innings his fifth score of 50 or more in first-class cricket this season.

Dent and Marshall, in particular, upped the ante during their fourth-wicket stand.

Marshall’s fifty came off 56 balls with ten fours, but both fell against the second new ball as the score slipped to 298 for five in the 87th over.

Dent was caught behind off Siddle in the 86th before Marshall fell the same way to Jarvis, who also bowled skipper Jones in the 93rd - 313 for six.

Siddle then trapped Tom Smith lbw as Lancashire ended the day on a high.

Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson said: "We've had a good day. I've just said to the lads, don't be disheartened. We did a lot of very good things there. They bowled well in the last hour, which was tough. They got three or four in the last hour. As a general rule, we fought hard there.

"We need to add to that score in the morning. We've just spoken about getting as many as we can first innings and then we'll see. History suggests it spins here later in the game, so there should be a bit there for Tom."

Gloucestershire opener Chris Dent said: "It was one of my best hundreds. We had to fight out the first 45 minutes because it was excellent bowling from Siddle and Jarvis. I had great support from my team-mates."