Poor shots cost Lancaster
Poor shot selection leaves Lancaster with too little to defend
Another foolhardy batting display came to hurt Lancaster once again on Saturday.
Ill-judged strokes brought about a below par total before the Leyland pair of Richard Frenz and Henry Thompson knocked off the score with ease.
The seeds of Lancaster’s downfall were sown early on. Jamie Heywood fell early for a duck playing across Lancashire man Luis Reece – a leading edge carrying to cover to make it 9 for 1.
Alex Metcalfe looked in good touch at the other end before giving his wicket away with an unsightly mow off the tall Andrew Jacques for an unfulfilled 17.
Pro Rameez Raja was joined by Charlie Swarbrick and the pair rebuilt. The Lune Road pitch was arguably the best batting surface of the year and Raja made the most of it, hitting his stride to put the pressure back on the visitors.
Swarbrick, like Metcalfe, looked in fine touch. He fired a warning salvo for the visitors by striking Jacques for a lofted maximum over extra-cover but there was to be no encore. Swarbrick became Reece’s second as Swarbrick’s attempt at another drive spooned to mid-off to see the right-hander return only 17 – 60 for 3.
Raja kept the scoreboard moving with Moorby as the pair put together a valuable 56 partnership. Moorby played the ideal foil to Raja who began to pick off the Leyland back-up bowling with ease.
When Raja passed 50 it looked like Lancaster were set for 200 plus but the nagging medium pace of Nathan McDonnell proved the hosts’ undoing.
Fourth change McDonnell removed Raja at a crucial time. The Pakistani international played into defensively into his pad only for the ball to trickle back onto his stumps, Raja gone for 59.
From here Lancaster’s innings stalled. Kieran Moffat could not get any sort of batting rhythm at the crease and he joined the procession of poor shots miscuing a McDonnell slower ball to cover to make it 128 for 5.
And number 7 Iain Perrieman became McDonnell’s third soon after when he was castled hacking across a straight delivery.
Moorby had kept the innings alive at the other end with his 33 but he too joined McDonnell’s wicket roster edging a wide ball to Chris Parkinson at backward point as Lancaster stumbled to 140 for 7.
Dan Chambers played some same eye-catching strokes in his unbeaten 16 but Reece returned to mop up any hope of a lower-order fightback.
The innings folded in quick time as first Simm was adjudged LBW for 2, before Lee Sparks was bowled second ball following a familiar hoick.
Liam Moffat was the last man to go, caught brilliantly by the outstretched left hand of Parkinson at backward point – Lancaster registering a below par 153.
It could have been a different story for Lancaster had their good start with the ball continued.
First Iain Perrieman picked up Parkinson chasing a wide delivery and edging to Moorby before Liam Moffat put the hosts in the hunt bowling Luis Reece neck and crop for just 5.
This was as good as it would get for the hosts as Leyland set about their recovery. Richard Frenz and Henry Thompson began slowly but eventually found their timing threading many boundaries through the off-side.
Liam Moffat looked to rotate his bowlers but it was to no avail as familiar fielding troubles began to slip back into Lancaster’s game.
Ben Simm struggled to find any rhythm going for 31 from his three overs as Leyland looked to kill the game quickly.
Both visiting batsmen brought up their fifties as the chase became little more than a formality.
Leyland eventually cruised home by eight wickets in just the 29th over posing Lancaster many questions to answer over their recent league form.
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