Disappointment all round as rain finishes Durham game

STAND-IN skipper Steven Croft made his second successive fifty at his home club and 19-year-old George Bell celebrated his first team debut by making 31 but rain had the last word at Blackpool, where Lancashire’s Vitality Blast game against Durham ended in no result.

Croft might have been a shade relieved by this outcome. Lancashire were moderately placed on 133 for six after 17.4 overs when the rain arrived on cue at 6.30.

This result means that the Emirates Old Trafford team need only to beat Derbyshire in Friday’s game at the Incora County Ground to clinch their qualification for the knockout stages of the Blast

The home side’s Powerplay was a quite bizarre affair with a total of nine runs being scored off four of the six overs but 34 coming off the other two. The home side also lost three wickets, Josh Bohannon being bowled for four by Ben Raine in the third over before Liam Trevaskis had Luke Wells caught at mid-on by Scott Borthwick for 21. Two balls later, the slow leftarmer had Rob Jones leg before wicket for nought when reversesweeping.

That brought Tim David to the wicket much sooner than Lancashire fans may have been hoping but the big-hitting Singaporean made only 16 before slicing Nathan Sowter’s first ball to Raine at backward point.

However, Bell and Croft rebuilt the innings with an understandably careful partnership of 55 in 7.1 overs before Bell was caught at deep midwicket off Sowter after a coolly impressive 27-ball innings.

Danny Lamb made five before being AJ Tye had him athletically caught by sub fielder Jon Bushnell who was running back from mid-off.

But it was the Durham spinners who had restricted Lancashire’s batsmen most effectively with Sowter taking two for 17 from his four overs and Trevaskis two for 29 from the same allotment.

Lancashire’s preparations for the game were disrupted when skipper Dane Vilas was suspended for one game following his dissent after his dismissal in the County Championship match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

Keaton Jennings was also ruled out with a calf injury so Bell kept wicket on his first-team debut. Matthew Parkinson was unavailable due to a hand injury but Luke Wood was in Lancashire’s XI, having returned a day early from England’s whiteball tour to the Netherlands in which he didn’t play a game.

Durham lead high-performance coach, James Franklin said it was disappointing because it was shaping up to be a good game.

He said: “Lancashire probably felt that they would have been in the game if they’d scored another 30 runs and 160-165 would have been an interesting game, given the dominance of spin we’d already seen and the number of spinner Lancashire had in their eleven.

“There was some average stuff in the Powerplay and some brilliant stuff in the Powerplay.

“Our spinners bowled pretty well. I thought Liam Trevaskis and Nathan Sowter were outstanding and Scott Borthwick as well.

Lancashire batsman, George Bell, said: “It’s all a bit surreal but I’m very happy. I didn’t expect it at the start of the week, it all came around very quickly and now I’m buzzing.

“I didn’t know I was going to play until I got to the ground today but maybe that was for the best because I was able to play my natural game and that’s what I wanted to do.

“I was trying to enjoy it because I may not get another chance for a few weeks. It was brilliant to bat with Crofty, he’s a Lancashire legend and I’m not sure, but I think he might have played for Lancashire before I was born.

“Everyone’s happy with what I’ve done and I’ve put myself in the shop window. We’ll see what happens from here.”