http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lancashire-c806 – County Championship Division One – Middlesex confirm Lancashire’s fall from grace
Lancashire will compete in Division Two next season, only 12 months after winning the Division One title, following a 127-run defeat at the hands of Middlesex at Lord’s, September 7, 2012.
With both sides scoring over 400 runs in their respective first innings, draw remained the likely result, especially after Middlesex resumed the final day at 129 for 2. They ended up making 305, which meant that the Men from Manchester needed to chase 304
runs in 39 overs.
Despite threatening for a while, their innings tailed away substantially as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Steven-Paul-Crook-c91337 shared nine scalps to halt the tourists on 194.
The relegation had been on the cards for quite a while following a poor start to the campaign, where their first and only win in the Division came in their eighth attempt, against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Durham-c782. With rain becoming a nuisance, and draws a norm, Lancashire’s fate
firmly rested on the final two games.
However, a defeat against Middlesex in the penultimate match left fellow strugglers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Surrey-c851 safe, whom Lancashire will face from September 11th.
The final day at Lord’s was dominated by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Glen-Chapple-c60141, who picked up his second-fiver of the match.
The reply began purposefully with the top four – http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Huzefa-Mohammed-Patel-c63657 and
Crook, with the latter picking up 5 for 48.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Peter-Moores-c81848, the Lancashire coach, was devastated with the outcome but has shown faith in the youngsters to help the team get back where they belong.
"We went in with the purpose of defending our title, but we were behind the eight-ball after two games," he told ESPNcricinfo. "We didn't pick up any momentum at all until our win against Durham but we just couldn't kick on."
"We made a strong call to play local lads, push them through and challenge them. With young players you get a bit of inconsistency, but you've got to take that on the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/GP-Swann-c1501. They'll be disappointed, but they need to deal with the elation of a Championship
win and sadness of relegation in the same manner.”
Tags: