Conway burst sets up final day run chase for Northants against Lancashire

Bowling aggressively and finding plenty of bounce and movement, the tall Australian’s initial burst either side of lunch helped reduce Lancashire to 18 for four and while Luke Wells made 40, no top-order batter looked comfortable, leg-spinner Calvin Harrison also claiming four for 55.

But with batting growing far easier against the older ball, Ajeet Singh Dale (44 not out) and Tom Bailey (35) put on 69 for the ninth wicket as Lancashire closed on 194, setting Northamptonshire 321 to win.

With four overs to face before stumps, Northamptonshire quickly lost Ricardo Vasconcelos, caught behind off Jimmy Anderson, but closed on nine for one, needing another 312 to win.

Earlier Lewis McManus ended unbeaten after his battling 75 helped the hosts avoid the follow-on and secure a precious batting point. McManus and Conway extended their invaluable 10th wicket partnership to 60 before Bailey took the final wicket to finish with four for 51 as Northamptonshire finished 258 all out.

The pair had resumed with the Steelbacks trailing by 169 runs. Conway edged the day’s first boundary, but McManus looked assured with a crisp straight drive off Singh Dale.

Conway saved the follow-on with a flourish, taking two boundaries off George Balderson as runs started to flow. McManus pulled Tom Hartley emphatically for four and Conway clubbed Wells through extra cover before he was trapped lbw with the second new ball.

In an eventful spell prior to lunch, Northants made swift inroads. Ben Sanderson made the first breakthrough, bowling Harry Singh with a nipbacker, before Conway struck twice in two balls thanks to two stunning catches behind the wicket.

Josh Bohannon drove at one that moved away, Louis Kimber taking an outstanding one-handed grab away to his right at third slip. Then Conway had George Bell caught down the legside by a diving McManus.

Lancashire lunched on a precarious 18 for three but their situation soon grew worse. Michael Jones survived the hat-trick ball but fell to Conway’s very next delivery as he nipped one back to hit top of middle-stump.

The Australian struck again when Matty Hurst offered Kimber a regulation slip catch as Lancashire stumbled further to 40 for five.

Wells collected two fortunate boundaries via injudicious shots against Sanderson and did well to sway out of the way of a sharp bouncer from Conway. He put away a half-volley from Luke Procter and swept Harrison to the ropes to take the lead past 200 but fell next ball as he played the leg-spinner off the open face low to Vasconcelos at slip.

Balderson made 30 but never looked settled, particularly during a probing spell from Sanderson. He survived several scares which could have taken his wicket on another day, including a dropped catch at short extra cover.

Harrison was extracting some sharp turn out of the bowlers’ footmarks back into Balderson and got one to hit the top of off-stump. Then, just before tea, in his first over for Northamptonshire, Nathan McSweeney trapped Tom Hartley lbw with a full delivery to leave Lancashire 108 for eight.

Taking the final two wickets proved far more difficult after tea. Singh Dale played some lusty blows against Conway but he settled into a steady groove against the 29.4 overs of spin sent down by Harrison and Saif Zaib bowling in tandem.

Harrison finally broke through, Bailey squeezing a full ball back onto his stumps before Anderson was castled by a nicely-flighted delivery.

As Northants began the run chase, Anderson followed up his first innings fivefer by having Vasconcelos caught behind off a defensive push. Procter and nightwatcher Conway though safely saw out the remaining overs.

Northants all-rounder Harrison feels the final day is now set up beautifully.

“It’s going to be an exciting day, that's for sure,” said the former Nottinghamshire man. “It's right in the balance, but it’s going to be an important first session.

“Get through that new ball, keep batting positively, build our way towards that last session where hopefully we can keep the game open and put ourselves in a really good position to knock off the runs at the back.”

Looking back on day three, he added: “Lew (McManus) batted beautifully in the morning and was well supported by Harry (Conway).

“It was an important phase of the game and just felt really well controlled and just very professionally and smartly played, just to bring us back a little bit of momentum going into our bowling innings. And then Harry led the way with the ball, and got us off to a flyer.

“Once they (Conway and Sanderson) got their tails up, it was difficult to face that new ball.

“Sando bowled beautifully alongside Harry. Harry got the wickets in that second innings, and a couple of nice catches from Louis Kimber.

“But it was a really good partnership (from Conway and Sanderson), and it is important because it's a good batting wicket and once guys get in, it's difficult to find ways to get wickets later on once the ball was getting pretty soft. that first little phase.”

And on his own bowling performance, Harrison added: : “I felt in nice rhythm. It was nice to get a long bowl early season. That's what you want to find some early rhythm. And that's what I found.

“It feels like it's fizzing quite well, getting some nice drift even against some of the winds here. We had some gusty conditions.

“So, it was nice just to feel in pretty good control of it. So, it’s nice to get the overs under the belt and hopefully we can come strong with the bat and finish off a good game.”

By Jeremy Blackmore, ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay