30/07
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Lancashire beat Notts by 31 runs in the second ever game played at Farington yesterday. The Lancashire bowlers utilised the poor, slow pitch to a much better effect than their Notts counterparts. Skipper Hameed got into a bit of a tangle with his bowlers underutilising his spinners after Hayes and debutant Wood bowled poorly.
The fixture was designated a test event and the crowd was restricted to 2000. The ground itself has banking and had excellent viewing for the spectators. The Pavilion was well appointed but it’s seating was restricted to Lancashire members only. The pitch did not play well being far too slow with erratic bounce. The bottom line this will be a good venue but Lancashire were too hasty arranging a first team fixture on the ground this early, they should have waited until 2027.
Notts won the toss and elected to bowl on a cool day on a ground 4 miles south of Preston. The temperatures only reached 18 degrees C. Sam Wood on loan from Leicestershire made his debut replacing the unavailable Pennington. With Joe Pocklington having a stress fracture of the foot, Liam Patterson-White came into the Eleven. He had a good game but unfortunately due to the Sunrisers schedule he will be unavailable for the rest of the Metro Bank group stage.
Hutton (Lostock Hall End) opened up with a maiden. Hayes (Fowler Lane End) started off with a wide and then five wides, but then dismissed Hurst (0) caught by Verreynne, 6 for 1. Another two separate wides followed, 9 off the 2nd over. In the 8th over, Bohannon hit consecutive fours off Hayes. Hayes proved expensive in his opening spell (4 0 33 1) he was replaced by Wood who bowled two long hops which were deposited to the square leg boundary. Lancashire 56 for 1 off 10 overs. Hutton had bowled well, but the bowling from the Fowler Lane End was distinctly average. A good start for the home side.
James replaced Hutton, for the 11th over, who had conceded 15 in his opening spell. In the 19th over, Bohannon (43) was caught on the deep square leg ropes by Munsey, 84 for 2 off the bowlingof James. The second wicket partnership between Jennings and Bohannon was worth 78 runs in 16.5 overs.
Farhan took three wickets in 11 balls to bring Notts back into the contest. Jennings (37), attempting a sweep shot, top edged him to McCann who took the catch running from slip (94 for 3). Next over, Harris (6) was caught and bowled by Farhan diving low down to his right (97 for 4). Rocky Flintoff was bowled by a big turning delivery from Farhan, 98 for 5 after 24 overs. Hutton came back for the 23rd over and bowled a three over spell for nine before being replaced by Wood. Strangely Hutton (8 1 23 0) did not bowl again. On loan Wood (7 0 38 0) selected in favour of Hatton-Lowe bowled poorly throughout which reflected his career bowling record for Leicestershire.
Patterson-White finally came on for the 33rd over but came on so late he could not bowl his full ten overs. Moores (15) holed out to Martindale on the mid-wicket ropes off Patterson-White, 136 for 6 in the 35th over. Notts well placed.
Farhan (10 1 26 3) bowled well and unchanged without conceding a boundary. The best spinner in the contest. Shetty hit Patterson-White for 6 over extra cover in the 39th over. McCann came on for the 40th over and had Balderson (4) caught at mid-wicket by Patterson-White, 155 for 7. McCann (2 0 6 1) was however only given two overs and Hameed made a big mistake and brought back his seamers, this allowed Lancashire to add a further 63 runs in their last 10 overs. Twenty more runs than they should have got.
Shetty reached his 50 off 52 balls with a six over long off off Patterson-White, nine plus a leg bye off the 43rd over. Shetty's (53 off 57 balls, 2x4, 2x6) invaluable innings ended when he was caught at short third man by Hutton off Patterson-White; 183 for 8 in the 45th over. In the 46th over, Blatherwick was dropped on 16 in the covers by Patterson-White, bowler Hayes (6 0 47 1)who also ran for the chance and got in Patterson-White's way. Blatherwick hit James (7 1 33 1) for six over square leg and then Bailey hit him for six, 18 off the 48th over. Bailey (17) was caught by Martindale on the extra cover ropes off Patterson-White (9 0 44 3), 220 for 9 in the 49th over. Blatherwick (31) was the last man out caught in the covers by Hameed off the returning Hayes (6.1 0 47 2). Lancashire 220 all out off 49.1 overs.
Munsey hit the first ball of the innings for four through fine leg. He got a single off the second ball. McCann (0) fell lbw to the sixth delivery of the innings bowled by Bailey (Lostock Hall End), 5 for 1. The ball hitting McCann above the pad. The Lancashire bowling was very accurate on the slow pitch and run scoring proved troublesome. Stanley conceded 10 off the 8th over, boundaries for Martindale and Munsey. Balderson came on for the 10th over. Notts 40 for 1 off 10 overs.
Shetty came on for the 13th over and continued to have a large influence on the game. During his second over he removed Martindale (23) lbw, 57 for 2 in the 15th over. Hameed (6) was bowled by a Balderson delivery that kept low; 64 for 3 off 16 overs. Munsey (37), attempting a reverse sweep, was bowled by Shetty, 72 for 4 in the 19th over. Blatherwick replaced Balderson for the 22nd over and removed James (2) with his first delivery caught at backward point by Bohannon, 77 for 5. Notts in deep trouble had lost 4 wickets for 20 runs in 7 overs.
Verreynne and Patterson-White defiantly added 66 in 15.3 overs but both found the pitch extremely hard in terms of timing the ball and could in the main only accumulate in singles. The Lancashire bowlers, Stanley apart, much more accurate than Notts.
Stanley returned for the 25th over. A single for Verreynne off Stanley took Notts to 100 in the 27th over. Patterson-White hooked Stanley for six over long leg and two balls later hit him for four through mid-wicket. Patterson-White hit the last delivery for four through backward point, 14 off the 31st over. The only really poor over of the entire Notts innings.
Shetty returned for the 33rd over and proved impossible to get away. Balderson returned for the 36th over and bowled a maiden. Patterson-White (39) going for a legside heave was bowled by a Shetty (10 0 35 3) delivery that kept low, 143 for 6 in the 37th over. The off spinner who had earlier scored a List A best having the game of his life. Unless Lancashire bowled complete dross the game was now effectively over with Notts possessing a very long tail.
Verreynne hit Balderson for four through mid-off his first boundary of his innings after 59 balls. Farhan (4) was bowled by Bailey (9-0-33-2), 154 for 7 off 40 overs. Balderson (10 1 33 1) returned for the 41st over. Wood was dropped on 2 by Blatherwick off Bailey in the 42nd over. Stanley (10-0-57-0) returned for the 45th over with Verreynne reaching his 50 off 77 balls with a single. He then hit him for a lofted straight four, nine off the over. Notts 183 for 7 off 45 overs. Wood (11) tamely hit the ball back to bowler Blatherwick, 186 for 8 in the 46th over. Hutton was bowled by Blatherwick for a golden duck (186 for 9). Verreynne (61 off 87 balls, 2x4, 39 dots), very much standing alone on the burning deck, finally fell with 17 balls remaining. He played a Blatherwick (8.1-0-30-4) delivery onto his foot and then it ricocheted onto his wicket. Notts 189 all out off 47.1 overs with Hayes 0*.
The very fact that an international batsman could barely time the ball throughout his innings summed up how poor the batting surface was – six Notts batsman were bowled and two were out lbw. If both teams would have had their full first team bowling line up out the match would have been exceedingly low scoring. The pitch needed road testing before men’s first team cricket was allowed to play. Verreynne’s innings at least made a game of it.
Lancashire deserved their convincing victory as they collectively bowled much better than Notts who had a threadbare seam attack out. The severity of the loss meant that Lancashire now top the group over Notts on net run rate. Notts though have done well to win three out of four given the strength of their line-up.
Notts travel to Kent on Sunday with an even more threadbare eleven likely to be on show with no Munsey or Patterson-White available for the rest of the group stage of the tournament. Beckenham is renowned for its excellent batting surface something that is likely to enhance the home teams chances of winning the contest – McCann the sole player that Notts possess who can score at a rapid tempo. MAG
It's a sell out crowd, as the new ground near Preston goes through its trial period.
Tickets are rare then, as are spare, fit Outlaws at the moment with hero of Tuesday, Joe Pocklington the latest casualty, Liam Patterson-White being helicoptered back as a replacement.
Haseeb Hameed c
Freddie McCann
Lancashire quickly abandoned their LancsTV subscription channel, but the now two tier service can't have seen vast numbers migrate to watching the stream via the Lancs website, the audience appearing to largely view via Youtube. Those numbers were up to 12k at times, with 4.5k minimum throughout yesterday, despite the almost static coverage, partly obscured by a QR code for the "premium coverage" and the constant Ad breaks. The irony that Notts final wicket fell during an Ad break, was not lost.
ReplyDeleteStewarding seemed to be a problem at Farington, judging by the number of hold-ups owing to spectators walking/moving/standing behind the bowlers arm. The threat to suspend play by the announcer didn't even regain much control of the feral audience.
ReplyDeleteGTW
ReplyDeleteCONTEXT ALERT SAM WOOD COULDNT GET INTO A WEAK FOXES ELEVEN
HES NOT GONNA IMPROVE THROUGH WORKING WITH SHINY FOR ONLY 2 WEEKS
LONGER TERM PERHAPS BUT THATLL BE TO LATE FOR NOTTS IN THIS COMP