Latest news with #LancashireCricket
The Guardian
21 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
County cricket: Lancashire, Sussex and Somerset lead way in T20 Blast
When the Nationwide Building Society sponsored the three tiers below the Premier League from 1996 to 2004, research showed strong name recognition from football fans. However, further research showed that people believed 'nationwide' referred to the fact that the clubs were drawn from all over the country and were unaware of the provider of loans to the bright-eyed twentysomethings still 10 years away from hearing the dreaded phrase 'credit crunch'. The Vitality Blast invites a similar misapprehension. Launched just as England gets its international season underway, with an England Lions match and the never-ending IPL also claiming players, who could deny that the county game needs a blast of vitality? Vitality is not just a (very welcome) sponsor. It is also a call to arms for a competition that is critical to county cricket yet is seemingly shunted into whatever gaps are left when the ECB's circus music stops. Lancashire spent the first eight weeks of the season racking up more club statements than wins, last week's offering opening starkly: 'Lancashire Cricket can confirm that Dale Benkenstein has left his position as Men's Head Coach by mutual consent.' Steven Croft has assumed the position of head coach and set about a re-building job, with ex-Championship captain Keaton Jennings leading on the field. It's not as radical a change as some Lanky fans would have wanted, but they are top of the North Group with three wins from three. Jennings has led from the front with scores of 66, 95 and 24 and he was able to watch his coach's old mate, James Anderson, knock the top off Durham's innings with a spell of 3 for 17 in his four overs, which went a long way to rounding off the hat-trick. It's early days, but the clouds around Manchester are lifting. Northamptonshire are the other county in the North Group with a 100% record after wins over Yorkshire and Leicestershire. If 35-year-old captain David Willey (54 off 27 and 3 for 42), was the key figure in the first win, delivering the almost cliched strong performance on returning to an old club, it was a fellow member of the 'Anderson Brigade' who got Northants over the line in the low-scoring second match of the campaign. The 40-year-old Ravi Bopara conceded 16 runs in his three overs and then compiled 46 across 15 overs batting to take the score from 25 for 2 in the fifth to 123 for 5 in the 20th. I guess you learn that sort of nous in the course of 480 T20 matches. Sussex and Somerset top the nascent South Group, having won both of their opening fixtures, with the former nudging ahead on net run rate. Writing this column necessitates quite a lot of the eyeing of scorecards which, in turn, lends itself to certain names hoving into view more often than others. Harry Brook's avalanche of runs just before his selection for England was a case in point, as was Dan Worrall's relentless wicket-taking for Surrey. But the names that crop up most often are the players who make things happen and find ways to affect the game. They can be patronised by some but I've always liked so-called 'bits and pieces merchants'. That's what growing up on a diet of Barry Wood, David Hughes and Flat Jack does for you. That phrase would be damning Sussex's James Coles with the faintest of praise though, because the 21-year-old is enjoying a marvellous season. In at No 4 in the Blast, he opened the campaign with 77 not out and three overs for 21 against Middlesex and backed it up with 43 and 2 for 26 against Gloucestershire. Hard-hitting middle-order bats who can be relied upon for some useful slow left arm after the powerplay is done are extremely valuable assets in white-ball cricket. Coles can expect a lot of work and a lot of mentions this season. On paper, where nothing is won and only fools are made, opening fixtures against Surrey and Essex looked like a rude awakening for Somerset's T20 outfit. No matter – both were won in some comfort. Only Jason Roy, with a remarkable 92 from 146 for 9, was able to resist the Antipodean stranglehold exerted by the Kiwi, Matt Henry (3-21), and the Aussie, Riley Meredith (3-26), as Surrey went down at Taunton. Chelmsford was an illustration of how Twenty20 is played in the 2020s. There was a time when a middling target of 149 would be chased with a middling strategy – attack in the powerplay, then accumulate and accelerate towards the back end with wickets in hand. Not for Will Smeed and the Tom-Tom-Tom club of Lammonby, Kohler-Cadmore and Abell at the other end, who went off hard and kept going, the runs hammered out with 20% of the available deliveries in hand. Somerset won all four of their matches in May and have started June in the same vein. Next up? Sussex on Friday night. Blast games can come thick and fast with little time available to pull yourself out of a bad trot. Take the Birmingham Bears. On Friday night, they were ambushed at Trent Bridge by a superb Nottinghamshire chase that took down 227 with five balls in hand, Joe Clarke and Jack Haynes making 147 off 64 balls between them. A few hours later, they were back at Edgbaston and 4 for 3 against Durham's canny Callum Parkinson and pacy Zakary Foulkes – there was no coming back from there. I can raise an eyebrow (like most of us who remember the days of a Championship match starting on a Saturday, with a John Player Sunday League game in the middle and a Gillette Cup match on the end) when today's players complain of workloads. Nevertheless, scheduling those two matches to be played out in less than 24 hours on two different grounds – no doubt at the behest of TV – is unfair to players and fans. This article is from The 99.94 Cricket Blog
BBC News
5 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Lancs make operating profit of £4.7m during 2024
Lancashire made an operating profit of £4.7m for the year 2024 - a club record for a non-Ashes addition to the profit - down from £5.3 in 2023 - the County Championship club also reported a turnover of £34.1 million, compared with £36.5m the year match receipts dropped by nearly £3m from £8.3m in 2023 to £5.4m in 2023, Old Trafford hosted two sell-out England men's internationals - an Ashes Test and a T20 match against New Zealand - but have had a men's T20 match against Australia and a Roses T20 international rained off over the past 12 club's chief financial officer Angela Lowes said: "The weather disruptions to the Men's IT20 and Roses T20 significantly affected our cricket income." Old Trafford was set to host the third T20 international between England and Australia in September but it was rained off without a ball being rain also affected Lancashire Lightning's T20 Blast match against Yorkshire Vikings, which was also abandoned with no play for the second year on-site hotel recorded revenues of £8.6m, a 31% increase from the previous year, while the conference and events business had a slight increase to £ figures do not include Lancashire's deal to sell part of its share in Manchester Originals to IPL side Lucknow Super Giants. Lowes added that the deal will allow the club "to reduce debt to a sustainable level and invest further into the cricket department, member facilities, and infrastructure projects".The venue also hosted three concerts last summer, with US rock bands Green Day and Foo Fighters attracting a total of 150,000 music fans to Old Trafford.
BBC News
5 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Lancashire batter Harris signs new deal
Lancashire batter Marcus Harris has signed a new deal to remain with the club until the end of the 2027 32-year-old Australia international initially signed as an overseas player for this summer's County Championship and One-Day Cup has had an impressive start to 2025 despite the county's winless season so far and is the leading scorer in the County Championship, with 825 runs and an average of 63."I have loved the start of my time with Lancashire and I am really pleased to extend my contract at Old Trafford by a further two years," he said., external"It was a great honour to be asked to lead the Red Rose in four-day cricket and I hope that I can continue to make positive contributions, both with the bat and as a leader on the field."The start to this season hasn't been what we all would have wanted, but we are determined to put things right in the County Championship when we next take to the field at the end of June."Harris, who has played 14 Tests for Australia, joined having previously played county cricket with Leicestershire and impressive form this term has seen him score three centuries and three half-centuries this season and his contract extension comes after head coach Dale Benkenstein left by mutual consent earlier this week.
Daily Mail
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Inside the turmoil at Lancashire - what's gone wrong, who's to blame and how they fix it, reveals DAVID 'BUMBLE' LLOYD
It has been a tumultuous season so far for my club Lancashire. Last week, we were branded the worst team in England after going bottom of Division Two of the County Championship - and there was a reaction.
The Guardian
18-05-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Lancashire v Derbyshire, Somerset v Sussex and more: county cricket
After a tumultuous few days, Lancashire ground their way past 450 against Derbyshire at Old Trafford. But despite the diligence of the batting, that wasn't why the people came. The only batter to get a standing ovation? Number 11: James Anderson, 309 days since his last Test, 318 days since he did a turn for Lancashire at Southport. The spectators, allowed on the field of play between innings, paused to stare at the heavy roller then drifted over to where Lancashire were warming up, phones pointed at Anderson as he flexed a hip there, shimmied through a rope ladder there. The mechanics all seemed good. Still lean as a race horse. Still wearing the fat white wristbands. Still a sharp haircut. Still immaculately turned out. He took the ball at the Jimmy Anderson End to huge applause. And back the clock wound – puffed cheeked approach, head down unwind. And if he wasn't quite pitch perfect immediately, it only took 18 balls for him to angle in the ripest peach from the peachiest tree and clip the top of Caleb Jewell's off stump. A second followed soon afterwards, David Lloyd, discomforted by a series of bouncers, jagging his head back but gloving behind. Anderson finished with two for 24 from his five overs and Derbyshire, four down at stumps, will see more of him on Sunday. The 22-year-old George Bell, who made a useful 57, was watching closely: 'That was class. I always enjoy it when he's bowling, especially when I'm stood in the slips, something I didn't think I'd ever have the chance to do. A bit of extra bounce, a bit of zip as well, he'll find anything on that pitch that there is to have.' At Chester-le-Street, nightwatchman James Minto, 17, became the youngest Durham player to pass 50, ping-ponging leaders Nottinghamshire for 67. Half centuries for Adam Lyth and Emilio Gay took Durham to within 87 runs of parity. Sussex were made to follow on by Somerset at Hove, after Craig Overton thundered through three wickets and swallowed three slip catches for good measure. After Daniel Hughes and Tom Haines put on 100 second time around, Sussex then lost four for 21. Peter Hanscomb once more waved merrily to his old county Middlesex, hitting 89 to give Leicestershire the upper hand – just – at Lord's. Zafar Gohar grabbed four wickets. Glamorgan piled on the runs at Sophia Gardens, with half centuries for the free-flowing Ben Kellaway, Sam Northeast, Kiran Carlson and Timm van der Gugten, before reducing Northants to 49 for three in their second innings, still 190 behind. Cameron Green rescued Gloucestershire with 102 not out against Kent. Eighties from Ben Foakes and Australian Kurtis Patterson put Surrey in a comfortable position against Yorkshire at the Oval, while Warwickshire were whistled out cheaply by Kyle Abbott, before Fletcha Middleton gave Hampshire a solid lead of 265. Essex were routed for 157 at New Road, Tom Taylor the pick of the bowlers. Worcestershire then collapsed to 58 for five before stumps – but a solid lead of 259 buttressing their back pocket. Share DIVISION ONE Chester-le-Street: Durham 320-4 v Nottinghamshire 407 Taunton: Somerset 338 v Sussex 152 and 127-4 The Oval: Surrey 384-7 v Yorkshire 255 Edgbaston: Warwickshire 194 v Hampshire 300 and 159-6 New Road: Worcestershire 358 and 58-5 v Essex 157 DIVISION TWO Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 424 v Northants 185 and 49-3 Bristol: Gloucestershire 307-4 v Kent 424 Old Trafford: Lancashire 458 v Derbyshire 112-4 Lord's: Middlesex 232 and 10-0 v Leicestershire 274 Share Share
