4 Day Friendlies.

[Graham]

LANCASHIRE at GLAMORGAN.

Glamorgan batted first and made a solid start in going through to 134/3 led by K.Newell(40), A.Dale(48) and M.Maynard(55).
But a middle order collapse saw the home side plummet to 187/8 and it was left to a ninth wicket partnership of 55 between S.James(35) and D.Harrison(30no) to add some respectability to the score as the innings ended at 252.
The Lancashire pacemen all performed well - M.Smethurst(15-2-60-3), K.Hogg(14-7-32-2), J.Wood(15-4-42-1) and J.Anderson(20-5-81-4).

The Lancashire innings followed a similar course as after a good start at 133/3, wickets fell regularly. With no fight from their tail, the visitors were dismissed for 216, conceding a first innings lead of 36.
A.Swann(80) and W.Hegg(32) were the main contributors with W.Akram(18-3-43-4) and D.Cosker(15-4-39-4) the destroyers.

The home side again made a solid start to their innings in going through to 143/2, but again the innings collapsed after the top was knocked off the batting. Glamorgan were dismissed for 231 leaving Lancashire the imposing task of scoring 267 to get to win.
K.Newell(64) and A.Dale(45) again impressed with the bat for the home side and the Lancashire trio of M.Smethurst(17-4-59-3), J.Wood(11-4-35-3) and J.Anderson(11-2-47-3) continued their fine form of the first innings.

G.Lloyd(83) and A.Swann(97) gave Lancashire a dream start in their quest for victory, putting on 152 for the opening stand. Wickets fell regularly once these two were gone, but the foundation had been laid and Lancashire finally reached the victory target of 267 with three wickets to spare.
W.Akram(21-5-61-3) and D.Cosker(17-2-68-3) toiled manfully at the bowling crease for their side.

So a win for 1st Division Lancashire over 2nd Division Glamorgan by a slender margin of 3 wickets.

Other Lancashire match reports to follow.

 

[Graham]

LANCASHIRE travel to SURREY.

Lancashire batted first and compiled an impressive 351 with R.Dravid(149no), M.Chilton(62) and A.Swann(40) leading the way.
S.Mushtaq(19-5-52-4) was the pick of the home bowlers.

The Surrey reply was a massive 495 with M.Ramprakash(120), J.Ratcliffe(86), G.Thorpe(78), I.Ward(51) and S.Newman(34) all batting well.
J.Anderson(35-8-110-4), M.Smethurst(25-7-87-3) and J.Wood(37-6-105-3) bowled well as they had in the previous match. Only one or two of these bowlers will make the end of season cut and there is healthy competition between them at present as they try to impress manager GrahamB.

Facing a first innings deficit of 144, the Lancashire batsmen crumbled under the pressure in their second turn at the crease. The total of 264 left the home side chasing just 121 runs for victory.
R.Dravid(113) with his second century of the match, A.Flintoff(42) and M.Chilton(41no) were the only batsmen to impress.
S.Mushtaq(25-8-60-5) completed a fine game with good support from T.Murtagh(21-2-75-3).

M.Ramprakash(77no) and A.Stewart(43no) took Surrey through to a 10 wicket victory with an unbeaten opening partnership of 121.

Surrey are going to a big threat in Season Two!

 

[Graham]

LANCASHIRE host WA.

Lancashire batted first and put together a total of 276 thanks to a last wicket stand of 52 runs between C.Schofield(65no) and M.Smethurst. R.Dravid(64) again showed his class, but there was little from the other Lancashire batsmen.
K.Harvey(21-8-60-3) and B.Williams(22-3-62-3) were the most successful of the WA bowlers.

WA's response was to rack up a first innings total of 403 to take a handy 127 run lead.
S.Katich(171) led the way with a magnificent knock. D.Martyn(54), M.Goodwin(53) and R.Campbell(39) also contributed heavily.
Of the home bowlers M.Smethurst(34-8-88-3) and C.Schofield(15-4-38-2) were the best performers.

The Lancashire batsmen again crumbled under pressure in their second innings as they lost wickets early and never recovered. The disappointing total of 218 meant that visiting WA would only require 92 for victory.
A.Flintoff(57) was the only home batsmen to put up good resistance as B.Williams(23-6-64-5) and J.Angel(18-5-68-4) wreaked havoc with the ball.

To their credit the Lancashire bowlers bowled as if their lives depended on it and managed to take 4 WA wickets as the visitors struggled through to victory at 92/4.
R.Campbell(34) held things together for WA while C.Schofield(6-3-11-2), G.Chapple(4-2-13-1) and M.Smethurst(8-2-24-1) reaped some reward for their efforts.

So a win to WA by 6 wickets. Could Lancashire square the ledger by winning their one remaining friendly away to Hampshire? The report on that game to follow soon!

Meanwhile, the continued poor form of Lancashire allrounder A.Flintoff must be causing real concern for his new manager next season (Slats at QLD).

[Edited on 9/6/02 by Graham]

 

[Graham]

LANCASHIRE visit HAMPSHIRE.

The home side did a good job in restricting Lancashire to a first innings total of 253.
R.Dravid(76) continued his excellent form and G.Lloyd(70) also played a fine knock.
C.Tremlett(18-4-60-3), A.Morris(19-4-65-3) and N.Johnson(3-1-4-2) bowled superbly for Hampshire.

In what was proving to be an even tussle, Hampshire struggled to 232 all out in reply.
J.Francis(71) and stalwart J.Crawley(60) both impressed.
M.Smethurst(14-3-52-5) and J.Anderson(18-3-72-4) bowled with accuracy and vigour and must surely have cemented their places in the Lancashire squad for next season.

Lancashire made a poor start to their second innings with both openers back in the pavilion at 40/2, both falling to A.Morris.
But R.Dravid(145) with his third century in four matches got good support from J.Anderson(42no), A.Flintoff(37) and T.Roberts(35) as the visitors stacked up 355 in the second innings. The home side would require an imposing 377 runs in the fourth innings to take the win.
N.Johnson(14-4-63-3), C.Tremlett(23-7-70-3) and A.Morris(24-5-66-2) acquitted themselves well under the circumstances.

After slumping to 41/3 Hampshire were in all reality doomed. Retiring opener R.Smith gave the home supporters an innings to remember him by though as he outdid R.Dravid by putting together an innings of 169. However he failed to get support from the other home batsmen and when the last wicket fell at 260, the match was over and visiting Lancashire had secured a win by 116 runs.
J.Wood(14-2-57-4) and M.Smethurst(19-5-42-3) did most of the damage with the ball.

A win to Lancashire then by 116 runs.

With 24 FC wickets at an average of 24 (rpo-3.3) J.Wood is sure to be attracting some attention from other clubs as he seems unlikely to retain a spot in Lancashire's squad for next season!