Pennington puts Lancashire on brink of ignominious defeat with three second-innings wickets
ECB Reporters Network12-May-2024Haseeb Hameed struck a record-breaking career-best 247 not out as Nottinghamshire took control of their Division One match against Lancashire in the Vitality County Championship at Trent Bridge.The sometime England opener scored almost half his side’s runs as Nottinghamshire, all out for 503, turned an overnight deficit of 52 with seven wickets down into a first-innings lead of 172 before the visitors closed in deep trouble on 100 for 6 in their second innings, still 72 behind.Hameed’s score is the highest by a Nottinghamshire player carrying his bat through an innings in the county’s first-class history, eclipsing the 239 not out made by opener Charlie Harris in 1950 in an all-out score of 401 against Hampshire at Trent Bridge. There have been only 10 higher carried-bat innings in the history of county cricket.Hameed, who is in his first season as Nottinghamshire’s red-ball captain, was at the crease for 10 hours and 21 minutes and found brilliant support from an unlikely source in England fast bowler Olly Stone, his overnight partner, who made a career-best 90 in stand of 163, an eighth-wicket record in matches between these sides.”I wasn’t aware of the record until you told me just now,” Hameed said. “I guess it’s one of those things that maybe I’ll look back on down the line and be proud of the achievement. To break a record that had stood for 74 years is pleasing. And it’s my first double-hundred at first-class level too, so it is nice to get that one ticked off”I know Stoney is a very capable batter. We had a nice little partnership in the same fixture last year. I know he can play having seen him bat in the nets, so it came as no surprise.”Stone’s new-ball partner Dillon Pennington then followed up his three first-innings wickets with three more as Lancashire made a woeful start to their second innings, before Dane Paterson and Lyndon James combined to take another three, with all six casualties caught in the slips or behind the wicket.It was Hameed’s maiden double-hundred, yet Stone’s performance came as the biggest surprise of the day. Prior to this match, the 30-year-old had only once gone past fifty in his whole career, making 60 for Northamptonshire against Kent in 2016.Indeed, as he dusted off a few shots from his batting repertoire at the start of the day, it was easy to imagine that the back end of the Nottinghamshire innings might follow a similar pattern to Lancashire’s 24 hours earlier: a quick dart at an extra batting point or two before the opposing bowlers brought things to a conclusion.Dillon Pennington removed three of the Lancashire top four•Getty Images
But where Lancashire’s tail was done wagging within 26 balls of the restart, with 25 extra runs that gained nothing in terms of points before Stone picked up the last two wickets, a Nottinghamshire game-plan that must have had roughly the same goals turned into the biggest partnership of the match, tipping the balance in the home side’s favour.Indeed, it was Stone who played the lead role. As Hameed, whose fluent striking had taken him to 137 not out on day two, found himself scratching around by comparison, perhaps wary of a deteriorating pitch, Stone played as if big scores were second nature to him.While Hameed was taking 11 overs to find the 13 runs he needed for the second 150 of his career, Stone was profiting so readily from authentic shots across a fast outfield that he clearly felt he may as well see how far it would take him.The answer was undoubtedly much further than he could have imagined. Nottinghamshire increased their batting bonus points tally from one to three and by lunch they were 63 runs in front, Stone having gone past his eight-year-old career-best. Hameed, ever patient, was on 182.Lancashire finally broke through 65 overs into the day as Tom Bailey uprooted Stone’s off stump. As he walked off, Stone must have wondered if such a chance to make a first-class hundred would come his way again but surely allowed himself to enjoy the appreciation of the crowd. He had hit 15 fours, with scarcely a false shot among them.Hameed, meanwhile, was just past his own milestone, a double-hundred of which half the runs had literally been run. It beat his previous best of 196 against Derbyshire in 2022.Remarkably, it is the third double-hundred in consecutive matches by a Nottinghamshire batter following Joe Clarke’s unbeaten 213 against Somerset and Ben Duckett’s 218 versus Warwickshire last month.Even with the eighth-wicket stand broken, Lancashire still needed another 19 overs to finish the job. Pennington was leg before without scoring but Paterson stuck around for almost an hour, finding the boundary four times before he was bowled by leg-spinner Luke Wells for 18.Wells was the first casualty of Lancashire’s second innings, caught at third slip by a diving Will Young off Pennington, who struck again three balls later as Josh Bohannon nicked into the gloves of wicketkeeper Clarke.Pennington struck for a third time when George Bell edged to second slip before Paterson had Lancashire skipper Keaton Jennings caught at first slip, the South African almost grabbing what would have been a brilliant catch off his own bowling when George Balderson was on four.Lyndon James had the visitors in more trouble when New Zealand batter Tom Bruce was caught behind for 15, Paterson further reducing them to 61 for six as Balderson was grabbed at third slip, having not added to his score.