Heartbreak for Red Rose as they fall short in run chase
LANCASHIRE fell an agonising 32 runs short of victory at Essex - and have now lost both of their opening matches in the Specsavers County Championship.
Chasing a victory target of 320, Alex Davies made 71 and Jordan Clark 59 as the Red Rose slowly closed in on victory.
However, they were losing wickets throughout yesterday’s third day and when Graham Onions was caught behind off Simon Harmer to leave Lancashire 246-9, defeat looked imminent.
However, Joe Mennie and Matthew Parkinson continued to frustrate the home side, putting on a 42-run stand.
But Red Rose thoughts of what would have been a stunning victory ended when Mennie was bowled by Jamie Porter for 56 to secure a win for the defending champions.
“If you are leaving it to the 10th wicket to chase 70 runs down, you are asking quite a lot,” said Lancashire assistant head coach Mark Chilton.
“We’ve lost two games but that shows what a competitive league this is.
“We just have to regroup. We know we’ve got a lot of good players in our side, it’s just trying to bring the unit together to try and identify areas in our game where we can be a little more clinical.”
Things don’t get any easier for Lancashire as they host Surrey next, starting at Emirates Old Trafford on Friday.
“When we get together for practice later in the week we’ll discuss areas where we’d hope to improve our play and try and get a win against Surrey,” added Chilton.