Openers pave way for march to Trophy win
AN opening stand of 138 by Alex Davies and Keaton Jennings allowed Lancashire to take control of this last Bob Willis Trophy group game.
The Red Rose openers dominated the afternoon at Aigburth, reaching their century partnership in the 20th over of the second innings when Jennings lofted a six over Matt Critchley’s head.
Davies was the main aggressor, hitting four boundaries off one Dustin Melton over, before driving straight to Anuj Dal off Critchley for 86.
Jennings eased his way to his own half-century off 102 balls and he and Josh Bohannon had taken Lancashire beyond 200 when the England opener toe-ended a reverse sweep straight to Billy Godleman at midwicket for 81.
But the real drama of the day occurred in the morning session as Derbyshire staged a dramatic recovery in their quest to make 200 and gain a batting bonus point.
At 17-4 and 61-7 it looked an unlikely prospect, until a brilliant eighth-wicket stand of 102 between Harvey Hosein and Mattie McKiernen took the visitors to 163.
It was not to be. McKiernen fell lbw to George Burrows for 31, before the heroic Hosein became teenage spinner Jack Morley’s maiden first-class victim when he feathered one behind for an outstanding 84 off 226 balls.
That bought the last pair of Sam Conners and Dustin
Melton to the crease with a huge six from the latter off Danny Lamb raising hopes that the impossible was possible.
A precious 17 runs were compiled for the 10th wicket with the score on 195 when Melton went for one shot too many and was bowled by Lamb, who finished with 4-60.
Lancashire’s batsmen looked to score quick runs before the close with varying degrees of success.
Rob Jones was caught at first slip by Madsen off Critchley for five, followed by Bohannon who edged to the same fielder off Luis Reece for 35.
When Dane Vilas drove Critchley to Reece at mid-on for 10, to hand the spinner his fourth wicket of the innings, Lancashire had suddenly lost three wickets for 16 runs and Derbyshire’s faint hopes of victory remained.
There was still time for debutant George Lavelle to be trapped in front by Reece for seven but teenager George Balderson (56no) scored a maiden half-century and Lamb (16no) taking Lancashire to a lead of 336 by the close.
“It was nice to get to the end of the day and see that the team is in a good position where we can hopefully go and win the game,” said Balderson. “To get 50 as well on a personal note it’s a proud moment. I’m really happy to show some improvement at this level because I haven’t really had the success with the bat yet that I was hoping for.”