Northamptonshire v Lancashire, Rothesay CC, Wantage Road - Days 1-4

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Day Four: Lancashire 384 & 194 Northamptonshire 258 & 213-9 (100 overs) George Bartlett 95 not out, Sir James Anderson 3-45.
Match Drawn - Northamptonshire 12 points, Lancashire 14 points.

George Bartlett defied a vintage bowling performance from Lancashire captain Sir James Anderson (3-45) to secure an unlikely, but hard-earned draw for Northamptonshire with a valiant, rearguard 95 (197 balls, 12 fours) on day four of this Rothesay County Championship match at Wantage Road.

In a tense final session with a packed infield, Anderson claimed his 400th first-class wicket for the Red Rose as Northamptonshire slumped to 181 for nine chasing a notional 321 to win.

But Bartlett, who showed great composure in steering his side from a precarious 63 for six at lunch, held his nerve. With Ben Sanderson (4 not out, 35 balls) keeping him company in a tense, unbroken last-wicket partnership of 32 across 15.3 overs, the pair saw their side to safety at 213 for nine, Lancashire left to rue dropping Sanderson in the slips early in his innings.

Bartlett was well supported earlier in his innings in a stand of 72 for the seventh wicket with James Sales (24), and 57 for the eighth with Lewis McManus (27) in 32 overs.

Lancashire head coach Steven Croft said: “I’m pleased with the efforts, with the skill on show. Obviously, with the overall result, I'm disappointed not to get the win and get over the line. But yeah, from where we're at, no overseas with us at the minute, nine local lads, a little bit of inexperience in the batting department, I think we’re obviously a little bit disappointed not to get the win, but happy with the cricket we played.

“I think today we exhausted all avenues today. If you look back over the first three days, there's little bits we could have done better with the bat, with the ball, in the field, like most games. But I think today, the lads were faultless from their efforts and what they put out on the line. It was a tough pitch to force something on. It was quite placid at times. Obviously, a little assistance with the new ball, which is pretty clear to see. But yeah, it was a great effort on day four.

“It was a great effort today, obviously, led by Jimmy. And then Bails [Tom Bailey] showed his experience as well. George Balderson does as he has done for the last few years, and looks tight and then looks threatening. Tommy [Hartley] did a great job today for the team as well. And AJ [Ajeet Singh Dale] on debut showed his skillset off, nearly got us over the line at the end. A tight decision, and created some chances out of nothing, really. So, yeah, the bowling unit left it all out there. And it was great to see, really.”

Day Three: Lancashire 384 & 194 (Ajeet Singh Dale 44 not out, Luke Wells 30, Harry Conway 4-38) Northamptonshire 258 & 9-1. Northamptonshire require a further 312 runs to win.

Northamptonshire’s Australian quick bowler Harry Conway claimed four wickets for 38, including three in one over, on a dramatic third day of this Rothesay County Championship match against Lancashire at Wantage Road.

Bowling aggressively and finding plenty of bounce and movement, the tall Australian’s initial burst either side of lunch helped reduce Lancashire to 18 for four and while Luke Wells made 40, no top-order batter looked comfortable, leg-spinner Calvin Harrison also claiming 4 for 55.

But with batting growing far easier against the older ball, Ajeet Singh Dale (44 not out) and Tom Bailey (35) put on 80 for the ninth wicket as Lancashire closed on 194, setting Northamptonshire 321 to win.

With four overs to face before stumps, Northamptonshire quickly lost Ricardo Vasconcelos, caught behind off Jimmy Anderson, but closed on 9 for one, needing another 312 to win.

Ajeet Singh Dale said: “It's been a game of two halves today. They obviously did well this morning, but we really fancy ourselves going into tomorrow. Anytime chasing over 300 fourth innings, you'd back yourself as the bowling side, and with the attack we've got, we're really excited for tomorrow.

“Well, the first three days probably suggest it’s a new ball wicket. But we're not going to get bored of hitting our lengths. If it doesn't happen in the first hour, it will come second hour, third hour, and so on. So, really excited for that first bit of the new ball tomorrow morning. But we won't stop running in and we really fancy ourselves.

“It was great fun batting with Bails [Tom Bailey] and just building a partnership in tough conditions. You just want to do well for your team, as long as you're putting your team in a better position from the start to end of your innings, then happy days. So I'm just really happy that I've given my team a chance with Bails to get up to a competitive score, to really go for it tomorrow.

“I think there were 40 overs in the last session. So, we were just trying to suck up as many overs as possible. We were talking about if we bowl 10, 15 overs tonight, that's not the worst case, but just keep taking over by over. And we did well to get it to just a few overs in the end. Then Jimmy getting a big wicket and Bails started really well, so really exciting times going into tomorrow.

“I've worked hard on my batting in the winter. The coaches here are really hard working. They've put in a lot of time to the lower order batters as well. So, I’m just happy to contribute and put my team in a position to win on day four.”

Day Two: Lancashire 384 (106.3 overs) Josh Bohannon 90, Luke Wells 87, Michael Jones 71, Ben Sanderson 5-79, Harry Conway 2-94. Northamptonshire 215-9 (62 overs) Sir James Anderson 5-64, Tom Bailey 3-46, Lewis McManus 54 not out.

Lancashire captain James Anderson rolled back the years with a five-wicket haul at Wantage Road to put his side firmly in control of their Rothesay County Championship Division Two game against Northamptonshire.

The 43-year-old former Test bowler, appointed as the Red Rose’s permanent skipper this season, took five for 64 to leave Northamptonshire reeling at 41 for five in response to the visitors’ 384.

Anderson was ably backed up by Tom Bailey (three for 46), but the home side fought back courageously, led by an undefeated 54 from Lewis McManus to close on 215 for nine – just 20 runs short of avoiding the follow-on.

It was a productive day for veteran seamers, with Ben Sanderson – six years Anderson’s junior – earlier mopping up the Lancashire tail to finish with five for 79.

Day One: Lancashire 346-7 (96 overs) Josh Bohannon 90, Luke Wells 87, Michael Jones 71, Ben Sanderson 2-55, Harry Conway 2-80.

Josh Bohannon again defied Northamptonshire with a well-crafted 90 (167 balls) as Lancashire made the most of winning the toss, closing on 346 for seven on day one of this Rothesay County Championship against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road.

Bohannon struck 14 boundaries, sharing an untroubled second wicket stand worth 132 with opener Luke Wells who contributed a fine 87 (136 balls, 13 fours). Bohannon’s knock came a year after his valiant 155 to save Lancashire after they followed on at Emirates Old Trafford. Michael Jones also smashed an aggressive 71 (91 balls, 11 fours), although he was fortunate to survive two dropped catches.

The bowlers stuck at their task all day. Australian quick Harry Conway (2-80) and Ben Sanderson (2-55) fought back with three late wickets for 10 runs in five overs with the second new ball to keep the hosts firmly in the game.

With Lancashire electing to bat, Saif Zaib was unable to impress watching England men’s managing director Rob Key with the bat but made the key breakthrough with his left-arm spin when he bowled Bohannon. Leg-spinner Calvin Harrison, who toured with England Lions in the winter, also struck to remove the dangerous Wells.

Josh Bohannon said: “Probably mixed emotions, to be fair. I think if you look back at the first session, we felt like we worked really hard under quite tough conditions to start with. I thought Wellsy and Singhy started off really well. And I thought Northamptonshire started really well with the ball as well.

“And we worked really hard for the best part of two sessions and got ourselves in a really good position and fair play to Northants in that last session there. They bowled really well and probably got their rewards that they feel they deserve. But yeah, we'll naturally feel quite disappointed from where we were.

[On Conway and Sanderson] “They're obviously great bowlers on a pitch that, when they put it in the right areas, there’s enough there. It was always going to be hard work. We knew that. But I think overall, we’ve got to take the positives. You know, first proper run out. And I thought as a whole, we played really well.

“I felt really good for the whole day, really, until the point where I got out. Would I have took that 11am morning? I don't know. I mean, I'm never happy when I’m out, but I felt like I played really well, and I felt like I deserved a 100. Same for Wells as well. I thought he played really well, and obviously incredibly frustrating that none of us carried on really and obviously, we feel the pressure for the situation that we're in now.

“Michael Jones and Matty Hurst are both great players. They both know they're great players. They both like to feel bat on ball. They're quite aggressive, can be hard to bowl at, and it's just nice to see all the work they've done over the winter pay off today. I'm sure they'll both be frustrated that they've not got more than they did. But again, real positive signs.”