Edwards on Northamptonshire defeat

“Outskilled” repeated Josh Bohannon on Sunday afternoon.   

Yes, absolutely. 

By Monday morning Cricket Archive had already placed Lancashire’s 316-run hammering by Northamptonshire neatly between the 321-run stuffing by Kent at Tunbridge Wells in 1910 and the 302-run shellacking by Essex at Clacton in 1937. In other words, this latest loss is the Red Rose’s second-worst-ever in terms of runs to another county. 

On Sunday evening, the tide of contributions below the line on the BBC website had already begun to lap the shoreline. The following day the place was awash. 

Perhaps the grimmest aspect of all this is that the defeat completed 35 minutes after lunch on Sunday merely continued a trend that was begun with the home defeat to Middlesex in May and was maintained with the losses to Kent and Derbyshire in June. (As it stands, the only counties in Division Two not to have beaten Lancashire are Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. In a few weeks, that might have changed).   

If those four losses don’t prompt some serious reflection about policy and priorities among the top brass at Emirates Old Trafford, I’m not sure anything will. 

It is not easy to write these things. Lanky Lanky has always been broadly positive towards Lancashire County Cricket Club – I’m giving the place its proper and suddenly rarely used title – and we are particularly supportive of the players. We will remain so. Both Graham and I want Lancashire to do well. Being allowed to write for a living is a privilege and, like many journalists dismissed as “keyboard warriors”, we have responsibilities and feelings. We know that Josh Bohannon and his team hated losing in the manner they did on Sunday and that defeat will still hurt them. 

But we would not expect people to subscribe to the website if we glossed over the bad days and spewed out propaganda. There are tough days when all you can do is tell it like you see it.  

And in the context of the Northamptonshire defeat, “outskilled” was something of a euphemism.

Lancashire were outbowled, outbatted, outfielded and outfought. To judge from the Tudor Rose displayed below the Point, they might have been outsupported as well. 

What can be offered in mitigation? Well, at the risk of causing some readers to throw their phones or laptops at the wall, let it be said that Lancashire continue to be more badly affected than other counties by injuries. Put it this way: how many readers believe Northamptonshire would have strolled to victory in the manner they did had Luke Wells, Ajeet Singh Dale, James Anderson and Paul Coughlin been available? And it could even be argued that Lancashire’s strategy for the season was badly affected by the withdrawal of Mitch Perry before an electrolyte had been consumed in anger. 

But I won’t strain your patience any further. There were other Lancashire cricketers at Emirates Old Trafford over the past four days and their presence also prompted some very sharp questions.  Glen Chapple was in the visitors’ changing room and his influence on Northamptonshire’s attack was plain. Dane Vilas attended Saturday’s team talk on the outfield; Mal Loye did a Q&A on the first day followed by Kyle Hogg on the last. All those cricketers played in losing teams but never in sides that lost by 316 runs to a county that had only tasted victory at Old Trafford on four previous occasions. 

Were there any good things about Lancashire’s performance? Yes, there were. I thought Ben Walkden was the best bowler in Northamptonshire’s first innings and the best batsman in Lancashire’s second. He plainly has a simple repeatable bowling action and the guts to battle back after a first-ball nought. Given his chance in the middle order, Arav Shetty batted positively for his 37 runs and clearly has something about him.

That apart, I’m sorry but I’m struggling. 

Most spectators at Championship games watch both sides, so there was tremendous pleasure to be taken from Northamptonshire’s cricket. Darren Lehmann has developed a formidable squad and it will be interesting to see how they fare should they win promotion from a tough, competitive division.

But playing top-tier cricket is really not Lancashire’s concern at the moment. Bohannon’s team is 55 points shy of second place and their chances of going up are purely arithmetical. The challenge facing the cricketers wearing the Red Rose at New Road on Thursday morning will be to dig very deep and remind their supporters of the truth that they are better players than they showed against Northamptonshire last week. Lanky Lanky wishes them every success.