Match report provided by ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay.
DAY FOUR
Josh Bohannon made a superb 87 and both Seb Morgan and Arav Shetty took their maiden first-class wickets on an eventful last day of the first-class season at Emirates Old Trafford but the Rothesay County Championship match between Lancashire and Middlesex ended in a draw.
Replying to Glamorgan’s 211, Lancashire batsmen went on the attack in the first half of the day, scoring 270 runs in 44 overs before declaring on 375 for five an hour after lunch.
However, their imaginative attempt to conjure a victory was thwarted, not without the odd alarm, by Middlesex’s top-order batsmen and the game ended with the visitors on 99 for four.
The result ensures that Glamorgan will finish second in Division Two, although whether that means they will be promoted to Division One or one of the proposed conferences has yet to be decided.
The morning had begun on a positive note for Middlesex when Luke Wells was bowled by Toby Roland-Jones for 62 in the third over of the day. But the session was dominated by the batting of Bohannon whose 69-ball 87 included 14 fours and two sixes, the latter off Henry Brookes and Zafar Gohar. Lancashire’s No3 scored 74 of the first hundred runs in his 113-run stand with Jennings and looked set for a very quick hundred before he was bowled by Roland-Jones when hitting across the line.
Jennings had been completely overshadowed by his batting partner but he was dismissed for 61 two balls after Bohannon when he played all around a ball from Seb Morgan and lost his leg stump. That gave 18-year-old Morgan his maiden first-class wicket on the ground where his 61 runs had been instrumental in Middlesex’s memorable one-wicket Metro Bank Cup victory back in August.
Lancashire came into lunch on 239 for three, giving them a lead of 28, but they lost George Bell in the third over of the afternoon session when he was leg before wicket to Higgins for 17. By then, though, Hurst had hit the first of his four sixes, two of the maximums coming off Gohar, and Lancashire’s rapid progress was not slowed by the dismissal of Michael Jones, caught at deep point off Morgan, for 33. When the declaration was made, Hurst was 67 not out off 68 balls and Lancashire had scored 270 runs off 44 overs in the day’s play.
Lancashire’s hopes of achieving an unlikely victory were given an immediate fillip when Josh de Caires was leg before wicket to Tom Bailey in the ninth over of the innings. That gave Bailey his 500th wicket in all formats for Lancashire and Middlesex came into tea on 26 for one.
On the resumption, Sam Robson and Luke Hollman coped reasonably easily with Lancashire’s seam attack but after the light had worsened and stand-in captain Bohannon was compelled to bowl his slow bowlers if the game was to continue, Robson fell to Bailey’s first off-spinner when he was caught at short leg by George Bell for 21. Arav Shetty then took his maiden first-class wicket on debut when he bowled Leus du Plooy for five and Middlesex’s anxieties were increased three overs into the last hour when Bailey bowled Luke Hollman for 33.
To their evident relief, though, the visitors lost no more wickets and were 99 for four with Higgins on 14 not out and Ben Geddes unbeaten on one when the players shook hands. Bailey finished with three for 47 from 17.5 overs.
DAY THREE
Luke Wells and Keaton Jennings enriched the penultimate evening of the season at Emirates Old Trafford with an unbroken opening stand of 105 but Lancashire’s Rothesay County Championship match against Middlesex looks certain to end in the draw that would almost certainly end the visitors’ chances of promotion.
Replying to Middlesex’s 211, a first innings in which Tom Aspinwall and Tom Bailey both took four wickets, Lancashire ended another day shortened by rain and bad light on 105 without loss, with Jennings on 36 not out and Wells unbeaten on 60. However, only 31.4 overs were possible in Manchester on Wednesday and neither side appears to have a credible chance of forcing a win, even if Thursday’s weather permits a full 96 overs’ play. So far 210 overs have been lost in this match.
Heavy rain overnight and throughout the morning left the Emirates Old Trafford outfield saturated but after two inspections play got under way at three o’clock and Lancashire’s bowlers took only 6.4 overs to take the two wickets they needed to end Middlesex’s first innings.
Tom Aspinwall had Zafar Gohar caught at long leg by substitute fielder Will Williams for 25 and then Henry Brookes followed for two in Aspinwall’s next over when he edged a cut to Matty Hurst behind the stumps. That left Aspinwall with figures of four for 62 while Tom Bailey finished with four for 68.
Left with a possible 34 overs in which to bat this evening, Jennings and Wells quickly settled into their work. Wells pulled Toby Roland-Jones towards the party stand for six and Lancashire were 44 without loss at tea.
In the evening session, Wells played with even greater fluency levying maximums off both Seb Morgan and Zafar Gohar, reaching his fifty off 71 balls and ending the day just 25 runs of a thousand in first-class cricket this season. Jennings requires another 67 runs to reach the same mark but it is also a reflection of Lancashire’s recent problems that this was only the county’s second century partnership for the first wicket in the last 47 innings, a record stretching back to the end of 2023.
Middlesex came into this match lying fourth in the table, 30 points behind second-placed Glamorgan. However, their hopes are almost certain to be scuppered if they fail to win this game and Glamorgan avoid defeat against Derbyshire.
DAY TWO
Tom Bailey took four wickets to ensure Lancashire reduced Middlesex’s already slim promotion hopes still further on a rain-affected second day of the Rothesay County Championship match at Emirates Old Trafford.
After the first day of the game had been wiped out by rain, only 44 overs’ play was possible between the heavy showers on the second but the visitors ended a long and mostly sunlit evening session on 189 for eight after Ben Geddes had been dismissed for 52 four overs before the close and Seb Morgan had fallen lbw to Bailey’s last ball of a truncated day.
Having been asked to bat first in bowler-friendly conditions, the visitors were also indebted to opener Josh de Caires, who made 52 runs, many of them against the new ball at a time when the players were regularly forced off the field by rain.
The match began at noon but barely 20 minutes’ play was possible before a heavy shower forced the players from the field. In that time, however, Middlesex lost two wickets in five overs, Sam Robson being caught at second slip by Keaton Jennings off Bailey for nine, and the left-handed Luke Hollman being taken at first slip by Michael Jones for a four-ball nought when James Anderson slanted a ball across him and induced the edge.
Two balls later – and probably to Hollman’s intense irritation – more showers blew in on the westerly wind and prevented play resuming for over two hours. An early lunch was taken and Middlesex resumed their innings on 13 for two.
On the bright side, the visitors then added 48 runs in six overs, Josh de Caires hitting three successive fours off Tom Aspinwall and the visitors bringing up their fifty in the tenth over. However, only seven more balls were possible, though, before yet more heavy rain arrived from the direction of the Party Stand with Middlesex on 61 for two.
Play resumed at four o’clock and Middlesex immediately lost two wickets to successive deliveries from Aspinwall. Having put on 54 with de Caires, Leus du Plooy was caught behind for 22 when attempting to drive and Ryan Higgins departed first ball when he appeared surprised by Aspinwall’s pace and edged a catch to Jones at first slip.
Geddes joined de Caires and the pair put on another 54 runs during the course of which the Middlesex opener was dropped by Bailey off his own bowling when on 46. De Caires reached his fifty off 65 balls when he nicked Bailey past third slip and to the boundary but the opener was caught behind for 52 three balls later when driving ambitiously at the same bowler.
Josh Bohannon was introduced into the attack from the Statham End and struck with his first ball when he bowled Joe Cracknell for six. By the close, however, Middlesex had recovered to near parity in the conditions with Geddes having reached his 50 off 80 balls with five fours and three sixes, all of the latter having been whacked over the short boundary on the Party Stand side of the ground.
Nine balls after reaching that personal landmark, Geddes nicked Bailey high to Jennings’ left at second slip and the former Lancashire skipper took a fine two-handed catch. At the close, Zafar Gohar was 16 not out. Bailey finished the day with figures of four for 60 and Aspinwall with two for 48.
DAY ONE
A combination of high winds and frequent heavy showers ensured that no play was possible on the first day of the Division Two Rothesay County Championship match between Lancashire and Middlesex at Emirates Old Trafford.
Ground safety regulations meant that the covers could not be removed before play was due to begin when there was no rain falling early in the day but the heavy downpour that began about half-past ten, the scheduled start-time, would have made that a fruitless exercise in any event.
Umpires Richard Illingworth and Chris Watts conducted an inspection during a dry interval at 1.30 but the rain had returned by 2.30, when they were due to take a second look and it was no surprise that play was finally abandoned at 2.35.
Middlesex come into the match lying fourth in the table, 30 points behind second-placed Glamorgan. They therefore have an arithmetical chance of winning promotion to whatever division or conferences are in place for the 2026 season. However, their chances are likely to be scuppered if this game is badly affected by the weather.
Lancashire, rather by contrast, are sixth and will finish among the bottom six counties whatever system is established next April and whether or not this game is wrecked by rain.
Lancashire Men
Middlesex Men
