Notts Trent Brdge 10/5/24 4 days

[exile]

Chilton would just stare at the questioner in complete bemusement.  He was a mediocre opening batsman and a stooge captain with neither authority nor tactical awareness and he quit professional cricket to become a coach at a private school.  The hierarchy at Lancs, true to the club's traditions, quickly realised that in Chilton there lay a wealth of unrealised talent and that he was just the right man to take the club forward.  Who is he to dispute their judgement?  As Chilton himself said of disastrous overseas recruit Colin de Grandhomme, "He has a terrific attitude."  It takes one to know one and and "terrific attitude" is what you need to get on at Lancs (except on the field of play).

[John W]

May 12, 2024 17:11:21 GMT anyportinastorm said:

Scott Read will be tearing in to the management coaches and players post match.Not. Can someone flat out ask Chilton how he is still in a job.

Talking of 'safe hands' Scott, here hidden away on Radio Lancashire is Mr Read grilling the Head Coach about today's quite pitiful performance.

[anyportinastorm]

Listening to that it sounds like Bailey Williams and Mahmood on a farewell tour this season. Not quick enough on decks where you have to bang it in.

[Admin]

Vitality County Championship Division One, Trent Bridge (day three)

Lancashire 331: Jennings 91, Bruce 73; Stone 3-56 & 100-6: Pennington 3-25

Nottinghamshire 503: Hameed 247*, Stone 90; Balderson 4-102

Lancashire (4pts) trail (Nottinghamshire (6 pts) by 72 runs

Haseeb Hameed struck a record-breaking career-best 247 not out as Nottinghamshire took control of their Division One match against Lancashire in the Vitality County Championship at Trent Bridge.
The sometime England opener scored almost half his side’s runs as Nottinghamshire, all out for 501, turned an overnight deficit of 52 with seven wickets down into a first-innings lead of 172 before the visitors closed on 100 for six in their second innings, still 72 behind.

Bolton-born Hameed, who is in his first season as Nottinghamshire’s red-ball captain, was at the crease for 10 hours and 21 minutes and found brilliant support from an unlikely source in England fast bowler Olly Stone, his overnight partner, who made a career-best 90 in stand of 163, an eighth-wicket record in matches between these sides.

Stone’s new-ball partner Dillon Pennington then followed up his three first-innings wickets with three more as Lancashire made a woeful start to their second innings, before Dane Paterson and Lyndon James combined to take another three, with all six casualties caught in the slips or behind the wicket.



It was Hameed’s maiden double-hundred, yet Stone’s performance came as the biggest surprise of the day. Prior to this match, the 30-year-old had only once gone past fifty in his whole career, making 60 for Northamptonshire against Kent in 2016.

Indeed, as he dusted off a few shots from his batting repertoire at the start of the day, it was easy to imagine that the back end of the Nottinghamshire innings might follow a similar pattern to Lancashire’s 24 hours earlier: a quick dart at an extra batting point or two before the opposing bowlers brought things to a conclusion.

Indeed, it was Stone who played the lead role. As Hameed, whose fluent striking had taken him to 137 not out on day two, found himself scratching around by comparison, perhaps wary of a deteriorating pitch, Stone played as if big scores were second nature to him.

While Hameed was taking 11 overs to find the 13 runs he needed for the second 150 of his career, Stone was profiting so readily from authentic shots across a fast outfield that he clearly felt he may as well see how far it would take him.



The answer was undoubtedly much further than he could have imagined. Nottinghamshire increased their batting bonus points tally from one to three and by lunch they were 63 runs in front, Stone having gone past his eight-year-old career-best. Hameed, ever patient, was on 182.

Lancashire finally broke through 65 overs into the day as Tom Bailey uprooted Stone’s off-stump. As he walked off, Stone must have wondered if such a chance to make a first-class hundred would come his way again but surely allowed himself to enjoy the appreciation of the crowd. He had hit 15 fours, with scarcely a false shot among them.

Hameed, meanwhile, was just past his own milestone, a double hundred of which half the runs had literally been run. It beat his previous best of 196 against Derbyshire in 2022.

Remarkably, it is the third double hundred in consecutive matches by a Nottinghamshire batter following Joe Clarke’s unbeaten 213 against Somerset and Ben Duckett’s 218 versus Warwickshire last month.



Even with the eighth-wicket stand broken, Lancashire still needed another 19 overs to finish the job. Pennington was leg before without scoring but Dane Paterson stuck around for almost an hour, finding the boundary four times before he was bowled by leg-spinner Luke Wells for 18.

Wells was the first casualty of Lancashire’s second innings, caught at third slip by a diving Will Young off Pennington, who struck again three balls later as Josh Bohannon nicked into the gloves of wicketkeeper Clarke.

Pennington struck for a third time when George Bell edged to second slip before Paterson had Lancashire skipper Keaton Jennings caught at first slip, the South African almost grabbing what would have been a brilliant catch off his own bowling when George Balderson was on four.



Lyndon James had the visitors in more trouble when New Zealand batter Tom Bruce was caught behind for 15, Paterson further reducing them to 61 for six as Balderson was grabbed at third slip, having not added to his score.

THE SOMETIME TEST OPENER that sounds to me as really tacky and a bit disrespectful

[Dave Towers]

Clearly Mr. Benkenstein thinks that Hurst and Hartley are going to put 250 on tomorrow so we should comfortably draw this match.

[sillypoint]

Whilst I was as underwhelmed as anybody at Benkenstein's appointment, I feel Chilton has to take most of the blame as he has dealt him a very bad hand. Benkenstein is right that quicker bowlers who bang it in were more suited to this pitch as opposed to our medium pacers. A fit and firing Mahmood would have bowled well on it. That doesn't explain some of the poor shots, however.

It was obvious last season that we were very lucky that Bailey and Williams stayed fit and were bowling well. The cupboard was very bare beneath them. Chilton's answer was to sign Mitchell Stanley who's never played a first class game. Whilst nobody could have foreseen Bailey's total loss of form, he could just as easily been injured, which any director of cricket has to plan for.

If we were unable to attract a top class overseas batsman and had to sign an unknown one, it would have been better to sign an unknown seam bowling all-rounder, such as we did with Maharoof, and preferably a left-arm seamer to create some rough for Lyon. For that reason alone I would also have played Boyden ahead of Blatherwick.

It was understandable to bat Balderson at no.6 yesterday, having bowled 30 overs in that heat, but where was our overseas pro putting his hand up to bat at 4. Instead he continues to put his own interests in front of the team's and Bell became the sacrificial lamb. That will not go down well in the dressing room. Steven Croft tried to bat at no. 3 or 4 on numerous occasions but couldn't hack it, yet enjoyed a pretty successful career in the lower middle order. There's a big difference.

On top of all this, perhaps I've underestimated the effect of losing the influence of Chapple, Vilas and Onions from the dressing room in one hit. We know Chilton is hardly an inspiring character, and Benkenstein doesn't come across as one either.

Maybe Benkenstein will be right and our tail will save the day. I'm afraid I don't share his confidence but, as ever, I hope I'm wrong.

[exile]

Naturally, we hope that Hurst and Hartley will bat all day but I'll be surprised if the players are still out there at 12.00.  As I've said earlier, I don't think the problem is that the players aren't good enough (apart from spin bowling, of course) but that good players are playing badly.  More than most team sports, cricket is played in the mind and, collectively, the Lancashire mind gives the impression of being completely scrambled.  Whatever they may say, at some level they must feel that they are not sailing on a well-run ship and this is affecting the quality of split-second decision making that cricket demands.  Jennings, for example, would struggle to explain the two rank bad shots to which he has got out in this match.

[Dave Towers]

This match has some remarkable similarities to the final game of last season at Kent.

In that one we batted first and scored 327, this match 331.

Kent then scored 494, Notts 503.

Lead for Kent 167, lead for Notts 172.

Sadly that’s where the similarity ends.

At Kent in the second innings Jennings and Wells put on 194 for the first wicket and despite a flurry of wickets either side of lunch, Lancashire drew the game comfortably, Bohannon and Bailey supplementing the batting efforts of the openers.

At Notts in the second innings we just collapse in a heap and as Exile suggests, we probably won’t survive till midday.

[exile]

Pleased to be wrong on this occasion.  Approaching 12.30 and scores are level with no wickets lost in this session.  Still heavy odds on losing our third match out of five but at least we haven't surrendered tamely.

[Admin]

12.33 first one goes

[exile]

Yes.  Now effectively 5 for 7 and the door is well ajar.

[Admin]

190-8 there is some rain on the way suspect it won’t save us

[hengog]

Well, having been out all day yesterday, arrived home last night to check on the two sides I follow- Lancs and Glamorgan. Both very surprising, in rather different ways! Cricket eh? I’d been expecting both games to end in draws, though Glammy can generally conjure a spectacular collapse from nowhere. Not what I expect from Lancashire though tbh. Unlike you chaps (from what I’ve read here), I’d been hoping for , even expecting, great things from them - just a few weeks ago. And now I’m comforting myself with the possibility of Colwyn Bay next season!

[Admin]

Hurst career best as for Colwyn Bay would be nice

[MickeyG]

Surprised this is still going.