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**UTBash** · 08-19-2013, 09:52 PM

CCD2 - Game 1 vs Worcs

After much deliberation and a tedious selection process, I came to a decision on the XI I wanted to field for the first game. The likes of Hogg and Chapple are left to prove themselves in the 2nd team, along with youngster Wright.

Lancashire: Horton, Moore, Katich, Prince, Croft, Proctor, Smith, Cross, Ali, Anderson, Kerrigan.

Worcestershire: Mitchell, Pardoe, Samaraweera, Ali, Kervezee, Clissitt (Debut), Johnson, Andrew, Lucas, Jones, Richardson.

We lost the toss and were put in to bat.

Day 1
Despite a rain affected first session and the loss of two early wickets, Simon Katich took the game to the Worcestershire bowling from early on, reaching his 50 in as many balls. Ashwell Prince was playing a very good supporting role before he ran himself out, but Katich was still going as we were 122-3. Croft got himself set before ICC threw a real wildcard into the mix. Youth regen opening batsman, Clissitt, came on and with his first right arm fast medium ball, took his first ever first class wicket, before he'd even scored a run! After the 86 overs of play, we were 285-7 with Katich still unbeaten on 129.

Day 2
We picked up our 3rd batting point before Katich ran out of partners. Our first breakthrough was made by Kerrigan who had Mitchell caught in slip for 53. Pardoe also passed 50 before being dismissed by Smith. We were in trouble when Worcestershire were 145-2. Anderson took two quick and important wickets of Ali and Samaraweera to reduce them to 158-4 and bringing the debutant to the crease. He managed 21 and a late in the day collapse left them trailing by 69, with just 2 wickets remaining.

Day 3
Proctor and Anderson opened up the day's bowling. 20 minutes later, we had them all out, with Proctor's late wickets leaving him with the best figures. Our opening pair put on 55 at a good rate before Moore fell for 31, Horton followed 2 balls later. This meant Prince and Katich were now at the crease. Katich continued his form, scoring runs at will while Prince played the supporting role like he did in the first innings. Coming into the final session, we had a lead of 225 and I felt it was our best opportunity to score quick runs and get a lead of 350-400 before declaring. However, without going too aggressive, we found ourselves losing 4 wickets for 8 runs! We fell before the close to make a lead of 286 and the game was finely balanced. We took their first wicket in the final over of the day.

Day 4
They require 237, with 9 wickets remaining. We were confident after Kerrigan and Ali bowled in tandem, taking 4 quick wickets together. All doubt was gone from this stage as we bowled them out with them falling 62 short after a wag of the tail. Kerrigan and Ali bowled excellently in this innings.

Points Gained: 22 Points.

MVP Points
5 - Simon Katich.
3 - Ashwell Prince.
1 - Kabir Ali.

I have moved away from the old Batting and Bowling Awards and introduced a points system for the top 3 players of the game. The points will be accumulated for the Player of the Season award at the end of the season.

Next up: Kent in CCD2. Kent lost their first game to Leicestershire, who got hammered in their first game.

**UTBash** · 08-19-2013, 11:06 PM

CCD2 - Game 2 vs Kent

We make no changes on a seamer friendly deck. This could be an interesting affair.

Lancashire: Horton, Moore, Katich, Prince, Croft, Proctor, Smith, Cross, Ali, Anderson, Kerrigan.

Kent: Key, Northeast, Nash, Powell, Stevens, Jones, Harmison, Coles, Tredwell, Davies, Shreck.

Kent won the toss and batted.

Day 1
Kent reached 64 before we broke their dangerous opening partnership, with Key being caught and bowled by Smith. Nash followed shortly after to Proctor but Northeast and Powell began to put the pressure on. Northeast ran Powell out for 46 though and I could sense an opportunity for more wickets at 196-3. Despite Northeast's second century in 2 games, we started to get through the other batsmen and when it was time to take the new ball they were 242-6. Tredwell began to support Northeast well as they finished the day 297-7 with the opener unbeaten on 146!

Day 2
Kabir Ali pulled through to finish the tail off after Anderson and Smith failed to in the earliest overs of the day. We picked up the 2 bowling points as they ended 345 all out. Horton and Moore made a good opening stand of 79 from 19 overs before Horton went for 42. Moore also missed out on a 50, falling 10 short. The Katich/Prince combo wasn't to be but it was the South African who finished the day unbeaten on 70 and we were 231-4.

Day 3
Ashwell Prince scored his first century of the season and was well supported by Tom Smith who hit 50 after the departure of Proctor for 30. Once again we managed 3 batting bonus points as we built a small lead with half a day to go. Northeast and Key put on 97 before Key fell to Anderson. Northeast's form continued as he finished the day unbeaten on 54 as the draw looked ever more likely.

Day 4
The game was put back into the balance early on as we took quite a few quick wickets. This left them 159-5. Ben Harmison was their light in the middle to lower order with 35 before he fell late on to Ali. It was Ali, along with Smith, who worked some magic, to reduce them from 240-6 to 240 all out! This now leaves us needing 188 from just over a session, and we're not going to hold back. We lost so many wickets early in the innings and it was down to Anderson and Cross to save the game with a 44 partnership. Yes, Anderson top scored.

Points Gained: 9 Points. This leaves us on 31.

MVP Points
5 - Kabir Ali
3 - Ashwell Prince
1 - Tom Smith

Next up: Glamorgan in CCD2. Big blow for us as Kerrigan is out for 3 weeks.

**UTBash** · 08-19-2013, 11:35 PM

CCD2 - Game 3 vs Glamorgan

Chapple comes in for Kerrigan with our spin options being Katich and Croft.

Lancashire: Horton, Moore, Katich, Prince, Croft, Proctor, Smith, Cross, Chapple, Ali, Anderson.

Glamorgan: Walters, Rees, North, Allenby, James, Goodwin, Wallace, Wright, Hogan, Waters, Jones.

We won the toss and batted.

Day 1
Our opening partnership struggled and Horton fell early for just 5. Moore followed him shortly after as Hogan and Waters got stuck into us. Katich went for 4 and we were in real trouble, it was time for Croft to step up (which he didn't!). 107-4 wasn't the best, but the positives were our depth and the fact Prince was going well. Prince and Proctor patched the innings up before Prince went for 88. Young Luke took over, finishing the day 71 not out with Cross attacking well finishing 42 not out.

Day 2
We picked up the 3rd batting point again but I wanted to have a go at the 4th! It wasn't to be as we fell just short of the 350 mark but the conditions seemed to be turning. Special mention for Cross scoring 70 from 89. Anderson made an early impact for us, reducing them to 46-2. He continued this into the 2nd session as he took our first 4 wickets. The dangerman Jim Allenby was still going for the Welsh though and they were 106-4. Despite Allenby going well on 65, we had them 138-6, positives! Hogan and Wright supported Allenby to his century and they finished the day 245-8!

Day 3
We got Allenby in the first. Only for them to put on over 50 for the 10th wicket, GRR! We bowled them out and they fell 33 short. Horton's golden duck set the tone for our 2nd innings however, as we made only 131 all out, leaving them to chase 164 to win. We needed something special. Proctor took two wickets but the game wasn't looking too good for us.

Day 4
Allenby and Rees applied themselves well before a couple of quick wickets left them 129-4, requiring 36 to win. Murray Goodwin was the man to see Glamorgan home in a disappointing loss for us.

Points Gained: 6 Points.

MVP Points
5 - Ashwell Prince.
3 - Luke Proctor.
1 - James Anderson.

Next up: We begin our challenge trophy campaign, first up, Durham.

**UTBash** · 08-19-2013, 11:59 PM

Challenge Trophy - Game 1 vs Durham

We make a few changes for this 40 over game.

Lancashire: Smith, Brown, Katich, Prince, Croft, Agathangelou, Proctor, Cross, Lilley, Chapple, Anderson.

Durham: Stoneman, Jennings, Cooper, Benkenstein, Muchall, Stokes, Richardson, Onions, Rushworth, Thorp, Wood.

Durham won the toss and batted.

After tight spells from Smith and Anderson, Proctor came on and cleaned up Jennings and Stoneman in the 11th over. They were 42-2. Benkenstein was Proctor's next victim two overs later as we began to turn the screw! Stokes and Cooper rebuilt their innings and picked the rate up. It took a bowling change up of Croft to pick up the wicket of Stokes in a wicket maiden. However, Cooper's 91 from as many balls took them up to a good total. Croft and Proctor shared the wickets.

Our chase never got any rhythm and regular wickets saw us fall well short. They bowled very disciplined and we just never got going. I'm still learning in the 40 over game though.

MVP Points
5 - Luke Proctor
3 - Steve Croft
1 - Gareth Cross

Next up: Back in CCD2 action vs Essex!

**UTBash** · 08-20-2013, 10:14 PM

CCD2 - Game 4 vs Essex

Chris Wright, our youth player, comes in to replace Croft who is out of form with the bat. Agathangelou also comes in to replace Paul Horton. A slight order reshuffle also comes with this change.

Lancashire: Procter, Moore, Katich, Agathangelou, Prince, Wright, Smith, Cross, Chapple, Ali, Anderson.

Essex: Cook, Quiney, Bopara, Foster, Pettini, Shafayat, Westley, Smith, Masters, Craddock, Topley.

Essex win the toss and bat first.

Day 1
So, I anticipate this day to be a hard one, especially with the likes of Cook and Bopara at the top of their order. Cook's partner Quiney however fell early for just 7 as Anderson had him caught behind. Two balls later, the huge wicket of Bopara came, LBW! Cook and Foster rebuilt, putting on just over 100 before Foster nicked off to Smith. The massive wicket of Cook for 81 came as they fell to 163-4 and we were in a good position half way through the day. Shafayat and Pettini showed that batting was easy on this track as they both made 50's before Pettini fell just before the close.

Day 2
A chain of 5 middle to lower order scores of over 30, with 4 of those past 50, took Essex over 500 and gave us a big task. Proctor and Moore both fell early, characteristically for our openers. Katich and Agathangelou looked to be rebuilding until the latter fell in the last over to bring in Prince. Day 3 will be a tough one.

Day 3
Prince's aggressive approach ran out in the first session as he was caught for 43 from 47 balls as Katich continued to bat on at the other end. In came debutant Wright, who couldn't battle his nerves, going for 1 from 19 balls, ouch!! It got worse when Katich followed, leaving us 180-6. We soon fell to 200-8 before a 73 partnership between Ali and Cross took us to 273-9 and Anderson just got us over the 300 mark to pick up a vital bonus point before we were forced to follow on, trailing by 208. Moore and Procter started the 2nd innings well before Moore stupidly ran himself out for 30 (off 17 balls I must add). The day was cut short by 19 minutes with us 139-2.

Day 4
Time for us to dig in! Katich and Aggers fell pretty early in the day and we were still 30 behind. A solid stand between Prince and Wright saw us go past their score by 38 in the second session and the game could go either way from here, either a draw, or an Essex win. Prince was going to be vital. A gritty 12 and 20 from Ali and Anderson late on saw us fall at the end of the second session with a lead of 125. I don't think we can save it somehow. We gave it a good go, but we just weren't good enough, another 50 would have saved the game and we might have bowled them out, with a bit more time of course.

Points gained: 4, we need to get out of the slump quickly!

MVP Points
5 - James Anderson.
3 - Ashwell Prince.
1 - Simon Katich.

Next up: We travel to Derbyshire for the Challenge Trophy.

**UTBash** · 08-20-2013, 10:40 PM

Challenge Trophy - Game 2 vs Derbyshire

We make a few changes, bringing in Kabir Ali and Kyle Hogg to replace Arron Lilley and James Anderson (International Duty).

Lancashire: Smith, Brown, Katich, Prince, Croft, Agathangelou, Procter, Cross, Hogg, Chapple, Ali.

Derbyshire: Durston, Borrington, Chanderpaul, Madsen, Burgoyne, Clare, Wainwright, Groenewald, Poynton, Turner, Palladino.

We won the toss and batted to see if we could create some scoreboard pressure.

Brown and Smith started us off well with a 59 partnership of which Brown scored 41 before falling to Clare. I felt we were labouring a bit and decided to up the tempo, and despite seeing wickets fall, it worked to a certain degree. Although, if i'm impressed with 206-9, there's definitely room for improvement, don't you think?

Smith and Proctor bowled well in the powerplay without too much success. The main result was the pressure (I think) we have built. Chapple came on as Durston and Chanderpaul were building a good partnership and bowled his 8 overs straight through, taking 3 wickets. With 13 overs left, they needed, 64, with 5 wickets left. Chanderpaul decided enough was enough and took on Ali, only for us to drop him in an over that went for 18!! The game took a dramatic turn as they fell from 199-5 to 202-8 before they hit a 6 to finish the game, the slump continues!

MVP Points
5 - Kyle Hogg
3 - Tom Smith
1 - Karl Brown

Next up: We welcome Surrey to Old Trafford in hope of our first CT win.

**UTBash** · 08-20-2013, 11:06 PM

Challenge Trophy - Game 3 vs Surrey

We make no changes in a contrast in team balance. They are top heavy whereas we can bat through (hopefully!).

Lancashire: Smith, Brown, Katich, Prince, Croft, Agathangelou, Procter, Cross, Hogg, Chapple, Ali.

Surrey: Smith, Davies, De Bruyn, Burns, Solanki, Wilson, Tremlett, Meaker, Lewis, Dernbach, Keedy.

They won the toss and batted.

There isn't much to say, we bowled excellently from the outset with constant pressure on their top order. Only Smith was their light in the low scoring innings and they could be made to pay for their selection.

Everyone who batted chipped in in a simple enough chase. Our best batsman was Prince with 41 from 41 balls as we get our first points on the board!

MVP Points
5 - Kabir Ali
3 - Tom Smith
1 - Ashwell Prince

Next up: Hampshire in the CT!

**Ash2134** · 08-21-2013, 05:37 PM

Good story and I really like your mvp point system!

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The Lancashire Revival - A Story by UTBash

The Lancashire Revival - A Story by UTBash

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