Lancashire Vitality County Championship Div 1 at Trafalgar Road, Southport Draw 11 pts (net 10)

 

Day 4

PATIENT CENTURION CLARKE SALVAGES DRAW FOR NOTTS

Patience, James and a little bit of rain help too

Notts were indebted to the Lancashire weather and a 38.2 over rearguard between Joe Clarke and Lyndon James who added an unbroken 136 runs for the 5th wicket with their game at Southport ending as a draw.

It rained for much of the night in Southport but most of it was light so there was never any danger of the match not starting on time this morning.

Anderson (Harrod Drive End) and Bailey opened up and in the 51st over Young (17) edged Anderson to Hurst behind the stumps; 91 for 3. Lyon replaced Bailey for the 54th over and a single for Clarke brought up the Notts 100. Clarke looking comfortable. Batting appearing relatively comfortable against the older ball. It was just a matter of playing with a straight bat.

Jennings rang the changes. Bailey replacing Anderson for the 59th over and Green taking over from Lyon in the 62nd over. In the 63rd over, Haynes hit Bailey for six over square leg and onto the Railway line, the first sign of aggression of the day. In the 64th over, Haynes (21) was caught behind by Hurst off Green, 134 for 4 and still trailing by 93 runs. Lancashire still in the ascendancy.

James joined Clarke and crucially saw out the remaining 15 overs of the session. Lyon replaced Bailey in the 65th over. Clarke hit Lyon for six onto the train tracks at square leg in the 67th over. The ball having to be replaced for the second time in four overs. Clarke got to his 50 off 107 balls with a single off Green in the 72nd over. Wells came on from the Harrod Drive End in the 73rd over. Notts 164 for 4 after 78 overs at lunch with Clarke on 54 and James on 8. They had lost just 2 wickets in the session in 32 overs whilst advancing their score by 80 runs.

Dark clouds started to form to the west during lunch and the morning sunshine had been replaced by heavy cloud cover.

In the 80th over, a legside boundary by James off Green was the first four off Green in his 14th over. The new ball was taken by Anderson and Bailey with Notts 170 for 4 off 80 overs but unlike the previous two occasions with a new ball in hand, Anderson was much less threatening. Balderson replaced Bailey for the 88th over. Rain stopped play at 14:24 with Notts on 191 for 4 off 89 overs with Clarke on 63 and James on 24. The stoppage was lengthy one with tea taken early at 15:10.

Play resumed at 16:00 with 20 overs lost and 33 overs remaining. The stoppage along with the easing pitch had taken much of the sting out of the game. Anderson never bowling after the resumption. The draw look favourite now.

Williams in the 91st over had James dropped on 24 by Bell at first slip. The edge went to the ropes which saw Notts past the 200. Notts took the lead with a single by James off Williams in the 95th over. From this point onwards Notts accelerated. Lyon returned for the 96th over. Clarke took two boundaries off Williams in the 97th over. A four through backward point off Wells saw Clarke to his ton off 185 runs in the 99th over. It was his fourth rearguard ton (two converted to double 100s) in a just over a year from Clarke following similar efforts against Warwickshire at Trent Bridge and at Canterbury and Taunton.

A extra cover drive for four followed next ball. Clarke hit a boundaries in the next three overs. At 16:51 with 20 overs still remaining, with Notts now leading by 43 runs they declared on 270 for 4 with Clarke on 115 (off 193 balls, 14x4, 1x6) and James on 47 (off 122 balls, 7x4). Lancashire agreed not to chase the runs and the draw was confirmed. Lancashire took 14 points from the fixture and Notts 10 points.  Notts lost one point for slow over rate during the Lancashire innings. The loss of Mondays play was crucial in Lancashire not winning the game, but all credit to Clarke and James for digging in and saving the game after all appeared lost yesterday morning with Notts 40 for 6 in their first innings. MAG

Day 3

MR ANDERSON GIVES NOTTS A MASTERCLASS

After Monday's washout, Lancashire made up for lost time as they continued to dominate this match. After making Notts follow on, a miserable 227 runs behind, Notts stood at 84 for 2 second time around still 143 runs adrift. Star of the show was Jimmy Anderson in his first appearance of the season  for Lancashire and quite probably his last ever appearance for the Red Rose. He bowled line and length and took the first six wickets to fall all in successive overs as Ben Slater apart Notts had no answer to him. Anderson later returned to remove his possible England team mate for next week Dillon Pennington.

Play got on way on time in an extended day of 104 overs. Nathan Lyon (8) cover drove James (Grosvenor Road End) off the opening ball, a dot ball followed and then he departed lbw, 348 for 9. Anderson got a leg bye off the fifth ball then Jennings (187 not out) hit a four to third man and Lancashire immediately declared at 353 for 9 off 97 overs, James 4 for 61. Notts minus one on the over rate. The total seemed way over par and Anderson was to prove this emphatically finding the pitch,  that had no doubt sweated under cover, and Notts' brittle batting an ideal warm up for his farewell test.

Anderson (Harrod Drive End) and Bailey shared the new ball. In the second over, Hameed was badly dropped on 2 at mid wicket by Chris Green at mid wicket off Bailey. Not an expensive miss as Anderson soon roared into action. In the 7th over, Hameed (6) played on to him, 10 for 1. In his following over Anderson had Young (2) caught behind by Hurst, 12 for 2. Clarke (0), who failed to get his foot across, was caught at second slip by Jennings off Anderson;  22 for 3 in the 11th over. Haynes (1) was caught at short leg by Bohannon off Anderson a delivery which reared up;  28 for 4 in the 13th over. James (5) was caught by Williams in the gully, fending off another lifting delivery from Anderson: 34 for 5 in the 15th over. James so bemused he had no idea that the ball had gently ballooned to gully. Williams replaced Bailey in the 16th over. The leaden footed Patterson-White (4) was caught by Williams at third slip off Anderson; 40 for 6 off 18th over. Anderson finally took his sweater with figures of 10 2 19 6 in his opening spell and was replaced by Balderson. The Notts 50 came up in the 24th over with a single for Harrison off Williams. Harrison was dropped on 5 by Hurst behind the wicket off Balderson. Lyon came on for the 26th over. Notts 74 for 6 off 28 overs at lunch with on Slater on 42 and Harrison on 6. There was much talk of the game finishing today.

Anderson and Bailey returned after lunch and in the 32nd over Bailey had Harrison (12) caught behind. The seventh wicket stand had raised 41 in 15 overs. Stone departed for a golden duck caught by Jennings at 2nd slip off Bailey, another batsman who had failed to move his feet; 81 for 8. Pennington (3) was caught by Bell at first slip off Anderson,  84 for 9 in the 33rd over. Paterson joined Slater and they put on the largest partnership of the innings when adding 42 in 11 overs. Lyon replaced Bailey for the 38th over. Slater got to his 50 off 110 balls with a four through backward point off Anderson. Balderson came back for the 41st over. The Notts 100 came up with a straight six into the Tennis courts at the Grosvenor Road End by Paterson off Lyon. Slater hit two offside fours off Balderson in the 43rd over. Paterson then hit Lyon for 4 through extra cover. Paterson hit Balderson for six over long on into the Gardens on Harrod Drive. Off the fourth delivery of a Balderson over, Paterson (19) going for a quick and somewhat suicidal single to Lyon at mid wicket who ran him out with only stump to aim at. Notts 126 all out off 44.4 overs with Slater, the one bright spot of the day from a Notts perspective carrying his bat on for a battling 64 (off 126 balls, 9×4). Anderson superb with figures of 16 3 35 7. He just kept it simple letting the pitch help him. Notts bowling so wayward on Sunday.

Notts followed on with Anderson and Bailey sharing the new ball once more. With the surface easing they batted much better second time around. With Notts on 15 for 0 off 6 overs, Williams replaced Anderson from the Harrod Drive End. Notts got to tea on 34 for 0 off 12 overs with Hameed on 13 and Slater on 17.

Bailey and Lyon bowled in tandem after tea and Lyon took a wicket in his first over having Slater lbw on the back foot for 17; 40 for 1 in the 14th over. Lyon's 800th first class wicket. Williams replaced Bailey for the 23rd over. After a four over spell he was replaced by Anderson. Hameed (41) got a nick to Lyon and keeper Hurst took the catch, 71 for 2 in the 32nd over. With the light deteriorating somewhat,  Lancashire were forced to take Anderson off after a single over and bring on off spinner Green. At 1755 bad light stopped play with Notts on 76 for 2 of 38 overs with Young on 10 and Clarke on 4. Play resumed at 1825 with 8 overs left and Notts knocked off eight runs off the deficit. Balderson replaced Green for the 41st over. Wells came on for the 44th over in order for Lyon to change in ends. Stumps were drawn at 1853 with Notts on 84 for 2 off 46 overs with Young on 11 and Clarke on 11.

Although heavy rain is forecast for the early hours, the locals told me that as the ground is sand based so it dries very quickly. Lancashire should win the game easily. Notts will be looking to at least make them bat again and get the over rate back to zero. I get the feeling though Mr Anderson will dominate once more tomorrow.

MAG

MAG has shared some statistics to ponder:

Keaton Jennings verses Nottinghamshire (he's played for both Durham and Lancashire)

First-class

14 matches 1120 runs @58.94

List A

7 matches 289 runs @ 57.80

T20

12 matches 322 runs @35.77

Day 2

DAY 2 WASHED OUT

It was interesting to hear on Lancs TV on day 1 that Ben Duckett will be playing for Notts Outlaws against the Foxes on Friday, acording to a source in the hospitality tent via David Bumble Lloyd.

Day 1

KEATON JENNINGS, A THORN IN NOTTS SIDE AGAIN

A superb unbeaten 183 (off 258 balls, 16x6, 4x6) from Keaton Jennings was the cornerstone of Lancashire's over par 344 for 8 on the opening day at Trafalgar Road, Southport.

Good sized crowd was in attendance with Notts winning the toss and electing to bowl. The day started cool and dank with a strong North westerly blowing. Common sense prevailed with Patterson-White coming into eleven in place of Moores. Clarke took over as keeper. The home team had both Jimmy Anderson and Nathan Lyon in their eleven.

Stone (Grosvenor Road End) and Pennington (Harrod Drive End) shared the new ball. Pennington was celebrating his Test call up and ended up with analysis of 2 for 70 in his 23 overs. Stone (1 for 93 off 20 overs) sadly bowled poorly all day erring with his line and length. The pitch, on the slow side, necessitated bowling with discipline; Paterson (2 for 53) and James (3 for 53) being far the best on show.

Paterson replaced Stone in the 7th over and took a wicket in his 3rd over, trimming Wells' (7) off bail, 26 for 1 in the 11th over. Pennington after bowling 6 4 3 0 in his opening spell was replaced by Stone. Rain stopped play at 1203 with Lancashire 29 for 1 off 14.4 overs with Jennings on 19 and Bohannon on 2. Play resumed at 1226. Lancashire reached 50 in the 20th over with two for Bohannon off Stone. Pennington switched to Grosvenor Road End for the 21st over. James came on the following over. Lancashire 59 for 1 off 23 overs at lunch with Jennings on 26 and Bohannon on 19. An even, truncated first session.

Stone (Harrod Drive End) had Bohannon dropped behind the wicket by Clarke when on 25, but he nicked the very next ball with Clarke this time accepting the chance, 67 for 2 in the 26th over. In the 33rd over, Jennings hit Paterson for six over square leg. Jennings got to his 50 off 93 balls with a single off Stone in the 34th over. The Lancashire 100 came via a leg bye off Pennington in the 36th over. In the 40th over, the struggling Bell (8) was caught at second slip by Harrison off Pennington; 111 for 3. James replaced Paterson from the 43rd over from the Grosvenor Road End. Hameed turned to spin with Harrison appearing from the Harrod Drive End for the 46th over. Hurst (2) was caught at square leg by Stone off James; 120 for 4 after 47 overs. Tea was taken at 1554 with Lancashire 150 for 4 off 55 overs with Jennings on 71 and Balderson on 20.

The last session was a long one but Lancashire, or more Jennings in particular, inflicted great damage. Jennings scoring a further 112 and Lancashire 194 as Notts ground fielding became somewhat shoddy. Patterson-White and Stone were bowling together straight after tea. Balderson hit Patterson-White for consecutive straight sixes in the 64th over. Notts made a double bowling change bringing on Paterson and Pennington. A boundary for Jennings off Paterson brought up the Lancashire 200 in the 67th over. Jennings hit a boundary through point off Pennington to reach his ton of 179 balls in the 68th over. Balderson (41) was well caught by Harrison diving to his right at second slip off Paterson, 208 for 5 in the 69th over. James came on in the 72nd over but he only bowled a solitary over before immediately changing ends with Harrison replacing him. James had Green (9) lbw on his back leg, 228 for 6 in the 75th over. Notts took the new ball immediately with Lancashire 237 for 6 off 80 overs. In a retrospect a bad move as Lancashire accelerated scoring 107 runs in 16 overs.

A cover driven boundary by Jennings off Stone saw Lancashire to their first batting point in the 83rd over. In the 84th over, Jennings was dropped on 132 by James performing ballet on the long leg ropes off Pennington, James not being able to catch his own parry. In the following over, Jennings hit Stone for six over square leg over the hedge near the railway line. A replacement ball was required. After three expensive overs with the new ball Stone was replaced by James who removed Bailey leg before for 20; 292 for 7 in the 87th over. In the following over Williams departed for a duck caught behind by Clarke off Pennington; 293 for 8. Lyon came in and the field was spread long and distant and Jennings dipped his bread. Jennings got to his 150 with rasping straight drive of Pennington later in the same over. The Lancashire 300 was achieved in the 89th over with a single by Jennings off James. With most of the fielders on the ropes, Jennings scooped Pennington for 6 over fine leg and two balls later smashed him to the mid wicket ropes. Jennings hit James for a straight six and later in the over guided the ball down to the third man boundary. Paterson replaced Pennington for the 92nd over and Jennings was dropped on 173 by Pennington a difficult chance on the long on ropes. Another two fours flowed off Jennings bat in the following over bowled by James. Stumps were drawn at 1900 with Lancashire on a commanding 344 for 8 off 96 overs with Jennings on 183 and Lyon on 8.

Rain is forecast for tomorrow. MAG

...............................................................

Following a pitch inspection, the covers are coming off and the player warm-ups can commence. 

News from the ground is that Joe Clarke will keep wicket and that Liam Patterson-White makes the eleven. Tom Moores has actually met his Waterloo at Trafalgar Road apparently. 

29/06 

In addition to Tom Moores, twelve other players complete the Notts travelling party, including Liam Patterson-White.

Haseeb Hameed

Ben Slater

Will Young

Joe Clarke

Jack Haynes

Tom Moores

Lyndon James

Liam Patterson-White

Calvin Harrison

Olly Stone

Dillon Pennington

Dane Paterson

Toby Pettman

28/06
WILL TRAFALGAR ROAD BE MOORES' WATERLOO?

Venue: Home of Southport and Birkdale CC, a ground of limited capacity, an outground and historically a result wicket, Notts having won at the venue three times out their six visits with only one game ending drawn. Notts last played there, and won in 2011, the year Lancashire won the championship for the first time in generations.

Article on Southport from the Notts Annual 2024

Day 1, on Sunday coincides with County Cricket Day and is already sold out - the small capacity and the inclusion of Jimmy Anderson in the Lancashire side potentially, putting bums on seats, putting pressure on availability.

Ticket prices for other days is £15 for a whole day or for a post-lunch ticket the cost is a tenner. Full details here

Team News: there isn't any but we all know who should be included and who shouldn't be included in the travelling party.

Overseas player, Will Young, will be grateful for the gentle net that Somerset offered him on Wednesday but since April he's looked completely out of sorts, not the same player that we saw in 2023.

Tom Moores who made his first class debut at this ground as a loanee in 2016, could only dream of repeating his scores in that game (25 and 35), having only amassed 30 runs in total, in his 8 innings since his return from Trent Rocket duty in August 2023.

Peter Moores on Southport: “Southport is a good ground, it’s normally a result pitch, and as an English outground you feel close to the crowd.

“It’ll be a different experience for the lads if they haven’t played there, so it’s set fair to a really good game of cricket.”

[Is he in a back-handed way highlighting that his son does have experience of playing at Southport and Birkdale and so is the second name on the team sheet after the captain as always?]

Whilst the jury is still out on the ultimate level that Dane Schadendorf could rise to, but we do know what level 27 year old Tom Moores has plateaued at [given the amount of world class coaching he has been exposed to in the past 25 years, the chances that he's been given since 2016 and the confidence and trust that's been put in him with team selection security] and it's not good enough for division one county championship cricket, so would it not make sense to give young Dane a chance to prove, or disprove himself for the rest of the season, Notts have nothing to lose!

This game is likely to see Lancashire select two spinners, so will Notts do likewise? The multi-facetted Calvin Harrison plus either Matt Montgomery or Liam Patterson-White [who has a batting average of 20.4 for Northants in his six innings on loan and 13 wickets]. The attacking option would be to give the gloves to Clarke and bring LPW in for hapless Tom, but...