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MATCH REPORT | LANCASHIRE V MIDDLESEX

Match report provided by the ECB Reporters Network.

DAY FOUR

After three days in which they had been outplayed by Lancashire, Middlesex’s batsmen comfortably secured the draw that sustains their hopes of avoiding relegation from the First Division of the LV= Insurance County Championship.

When the players eventually shook hands at 4.50p.m. on the Emirates Old Trafford outfield, the visitors were 160 for three with the highly-rated Jack Davies unbeaten on 65 not out, his maiden first-class fifty and Stevie Eskinazi on 26 not out.

In the first hour of play, Lancashire scored 71 runs for the loss of their last five wickets before being dismissed for 413. The first batsman to go was George Balderson, who was caught behind by John Simpson off Ryan Higgins for 12, but three of the remaining four wickets were taken by the off-spinner Jayant Yadav, who marked his Middlesex debut by taking five for 131 in Lancashire’s second innings.

The only disappointing dismissal from the home perspective was that of George Bell, who was stumped by Simpson off Jayant for a career-best 91, nine short of what would have been his maiden first-class century. Otherwise, the accent was on Lancashire scoring quick runs prior to a declaration and Middlesex picking up two more bowling bonus points to help their battle against relegation.

Left with a first-innings deficit of 219 and 50 minutes to bat before lunch, Middlesex lost Sam Robson in the fifth over of their second innings when the opener failed to cope with Tom Bailey’s bounce and edged a waist-high catch to Will Williams at third slip. Undaunted, Mark Stoneman and Joe Cracknell took their side safely to the first interval.

Within an hour of the resumption, however, both batsmen were dismissed in almost identical fashion – lbw on the front foot to the left-arm spin Tom Hartley – though the left-handed Stoneman may have had more of a case that the ball which dismissed him for 17 struck his pad outside the line of the off stump, a defence that could not be offered for Cracknell, who made 33 in 93 minutes.

The response of Davies and Eskinazi to reverses that left their side on 71 for three was to calmly reset the innings and take Middlesex to 105 for three at tea. Lancashire made limited use of the Luke Wells’ leg-spin and even gave Bailey an over of off-spin before the interval but to no avail.

The cricket after tea was the most desultory of the match. Davies and Eskinazi batted in completely untroubled fashion and it was no surprise when the players shook hands at the earliest opportunity.

DAY THREE

Lancashire’s batsmen maintained their side’s grip on the LV= County Championship Division One match against Middlesex and had built a 136-run first-innings lead by the close of yet another rain-shortened day.

Replying to the visitors’ 194, the home side were 330 for five at stumps with Dane Vilas marking his final month as a Red Rose cricketer by making 124 and Luke Wells adding 97. Lancashire’s powerful position means that Middlesex face a battle to avoid defeat on the final day of the game, thus complicating a relegation battle that already involves Northamptonshire, Kent and Nottinghamshire.

After overnight and morning rain had caused the loss of the first session’s play, Lancashire’s batsmen were clearly determined to build a big lead as quickly as possible.

Both Wells and Vilas took heavy toll of any short-pitched bowling from Josh de Caires and Jayant Yadav, each batsman hitting a six as if to dispel Middlesex’s thoughts that they might seize the initiative with a couple of early wickets. Indeed, the pair had extended their partnership to 128 when Wells came down the wicket to Jayant and was caught by John Simpson for 97, although the wicketkeeper made doubly sure of the dismissal by stumping the batsman

By that stage, however, Lancashire had a lead of 30 and George Bell helped Vilas stretch that advantage to 51 at tea, by which time Lancashire were 245 for four and well-placed for an onslaught in the final session of the day.

At first, it seemed that the home side’s plans would be frustrated by bad light but the weather improved markedly and both Vilas and Bell scored freely against a flagging attack. Vilas reached his tenth first-class century for Lancashire, but his first of the season, with a square-cut off Toby Roland-Jones. He had faced 155 balls and hit eight fours and one six in his 197-minute innings.

Having reached that landmark, however, Vilas and Bell accelerated, presumably with the aim of building an advantage that would permit an early declaration on the final day of this game, thereby giving Lancashire’s bowlers time to dismiss Middlesex.

In the final hour of the day, Bell reached his third fifty of the season off 75 balls with four fours and immediately brought up his hundred partnership for the fifth wicket with Vilas. It was a tough day for the Middlesex bowlers but the visitors made a breakthrough late in the day when Vilas was lbw to Ethan Bamber for 124, thus ending his 106-run partnership with Bell. Bad light then ended play 9.5 overs before the scheduled close.

DAY TWO

Middlesex spinners, Josh de Caires and Jayant Yadav shared three wickets to check Lancashire’s progress on the second afternoon of the LV= County Championship Division One match at Emirates Old Trafford but Luke Wells’ unbeaten 65 means that the home side remain in a dominant position.

Replying to the visitors’ 194 all out, a total in which Sam Robson made a fine 86, Lancashire were 132 for three after bad light and rain had wiped out all but seven overs of the evening session but the loss of three prime wickets for 16 runs at least gave Toby Roland-Jones’ players some hope as they battle to avoid relegation.

In the first 90 minutes of the day, Middlesex added 62 runs to their overnight score of 132 for eight. Roland-Jones hit five fours in his 26 and put on 44 with Robson before he hooked Luke Wood straight to Luke Wells at fine leg.

Robson went on to make a superbly determined 86 before he played on to a leg-spinner from Wells, thereby just failing to bat through a Middlesex innings for the second time in his career. His 341-minute innings, in which he faced 235 balls, had ensured that the visitors’ first innings total retained a degree of respectability.

Lancashire’s openers, Wells and Keaton Jennings, began their side’s reply with a flurry of boundaries, some of them fortuitous, but they had seen off the new ball by mid-afternoon, by which time the score was 80 without loss and home supporters could be fairly optimistic that their batsmen might build the sort of lead that would shape the remainder of the match.

However, Middlesex made their first breakthrough in the 24th over when Jennings came forward to de Caires’ first ball of the day and was lbw for 29. Josh Bohannon tried to seize back the initiative by hitting the young spinner for a six over long-on but Lancashire’s No3 then made a fatal error when he made room to force a sharply spinning off-spinner from Jayant and was bowled for seven.

In the next over de Caires took his second wicket when Phil Salt played a shade inside a well-flighted delivery and was bowled first ball. Having seen their side lose three wickets in little more than four overs, Wells and Dane Vilas set about rebuilding the innings and the pair took their side safely to 114 for three at tea.

At lunchtime, Stevie Eskinazi had been named as a concussion substitute, replacing Max Holden, who had been hit on the head during the morning warm-ups.

Photo credit: Barry Mitchell

DAY ONE

Middlesex’s Sam Robson batted over four hours for an unbeaten 56 but could not prevent Lancashire having by far the best of the first day of the LV= County Championship Division One match at Emirates Old Trafford.

By the time a combination of rain and bad light had shortened play by 38 overs, Robson’s relegation-threatened side had struggled to 132 for eight and their problems were in sharp contrast to the prosperity Kent were enjoying at Canterbury, where Zak Crawley’s century had helped Kent make up three of the seven points between the sides at the bottom of Division One.

However, Middlesex supporters could be grateful their plight was not worse. Their close of play position represented a recovery from 19 for five, the score when Ryan Higgins joined Robson to put on 64, the only substantial partnership of the innings to date.

Lancashire’s bowlers, on the other hand enjoyed a fine day. As though keen to capitalise on their opponents’ decision to bat first under cloudy skies, Tom Bailey took three for 24 from 16 overs, and both Will Williams and Luke Wood picked up two wickets.

Predictably, perhaps, Middlesex’s innings began dreadfully. Mark Stoneman was out for nought in the third over when he edged Bailey to the safe hands of Tom Hartley at fourth slip and nine balls later Joe Cracknell was bowled for one when Williams brought one back from outside off stump to defeat his loose drive.

Robson and Jack Davies then defied the Lancashire seamers for 45 minutes but that was merely the prelude to the fall of three wickets in 16 balls. Davies was caught by Phil Salt off Wood for four when he gloved an attempted pull down the leg side; Max Holden was out first ball when his hesitant push to a good ball from Wood merely edged a catch to George Bell at first slip; and then, having made just a single, the normally reliable John Simpson nicked a George Balderson delivery to Salt.

Ryan Higgins joined Robson and the sixth-wicket pair effected modest repairs either side of lunch with Higgins’ committed strokeplay a refreshing change from the indecision that had gone before. Seven overs after the resumption, though, he was bowled by Williams for a 50-ball 41 and by the time rain arrived to interrupt play for 90 minutes Josh de Caires had also departed, caught at first slip by Bell off Bailey for 14.

Play resumed under cloudy skies and with five slips posted but the next wicket fell in unconventional fashion when Jayant Yadav marked his Middlesex debut by pulling Bailey straight to Luke Wells at slip and departing for four.

The visitors’ hopes of making a competitive first-innings total now rest on Robson, the only batter to have made a first-class century this season for a team that has gained just two batting bonus points in 12 innings.