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Tom Bruce was able to get into the runs for Lancashire in the latest round of the County Championship over in England, but it wasn’t enough for his side to gain victory.
It was the battle of two longtime Central Districts teammates with Lancashire facing off against Nottinghamshire, who have Will Young on their side.
Lancashire had a great start with the bat as opener and captain Keaton Jennings made 91 opening the batting before Bruce came out and put on 73 runs at number five.
South African international, Dane Paterson ended up bowling Bruce and Lancashire finished on 331 all out. Young got one catch in the first innings, that of Matthew Hurst for a duck.
Young couldn’t quite match the efforts of Tom Bruce with the bat, only making 27 from 40 before being bowled by former Canterbury representative Will Williams. However, it was Nottinghamshire’s captain Haseeb Hameed who showed true value with the bat as he made his highest first-class score of 247*. This propelled Notts to 503, with assistance from Olly Stone who contributed 90.
Trailing by just over 170 runs Lancashire found themselves in real trouble at 33/3 and then 37/4. Bruce could only add 15 runs to the total before edging behind to Joe Clarke off Lyndon James’ bowling. They did manage to make their way to a lead of over 80 runs with a maiden century from Hurst and a 50 from English international Tom Hartley.
Saqid Mahmood did get one wicket in Nottinghamshire’s chase of 81, allowing Will Young to spend some time in the middle. He made 22* from 32 helping guide Nottinghamshire to a nine-wicket win.
On his return to the Worcestershire side, Nathan Smith didn’t get the same success that he had earlier in the season. Following the passing of spinner Josh Baker earlier this month, Worcestershire wanted to try their best to dedicate the game to the young spinner and did just that, piling on their highest first-class total in 18 years.
Centuries to opener Gareth Roderick (117), Jason Holder (123*), and Matthew Waite (100*) were supported by Adam Hose’s 90 and Kashif Ali’s 72.
Smith didn’t even get a chance to bat with Worcestershire declaring at 618/7.
Whilst he didn’t find success early on with the new ball, Smith did manage one wicket in Kent’s first innings with Joey Evison falling victim to the Wellington all-rounder.
Worcestershire enforced the follow-on as they hunted for victory on the final day. Smith contributed to the early success of the bowling with the wicket of Joe Denly for 10 and having Kent three wickets down early on.
The bowling attack could only manage one more wicket, that of Daniel Bell-Drummond. Both captains shook hands with Kent at 146/4.
Nathan Smith will be looking forward to Worcestershire’s next challenge as they face Divison One leaders, Surrey in their next match at The Oval. Lancashire will be looking to get into winning form against Durham at Blackpool. Nottinghamshire host Hampshire in Nottingham, with a chance to carry on their winning form. Blair Tickner and Derbyshire resume their season against Northamptonshire at home in Derby.
County Championship Stats (End of Round 6):
BATTING (runs, average, 50s, 100s, fours, sixes):
Will Young: 255 runs @85.00 | 0 50s | 1 100 | 27 4s | 2 6s
Nathan Smith: 152 runs @50.67 | 2 50s | 0 100s | 16 4s | 2 6s
Tom Bruce: 148 runs @18.50 | 1 50 | 0 100s | 19 4s | 2 6s
Blair Tickner: 62 runs @20.67| 0 50s | 0 100s | 8 4s | 0 6s
BOWLING (wickets, average, 3 wicket hauls, 4 wicket hauls, 5 wicket hauls):
Nathan Smith: 15 wickets @23.40 | 2 3w | 1 4w | 0 5w
Blair Tickner: 6 wickets @58.00 | 0 3w | 0 4w | 0 5w
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