6. Botham, Ahmed, Hartley, Stokes …
It’s been a good week for all-rounders, with Tom Hartley the star as Lancashire continued to improve on their early season form.
First a word for Australian journeyman Chris Green, who came to the crease at 209 for six and made 160. He has averaged more than 100 in his three matches wearing the Red Rose and nipped in with a couple of wickets in each of Gloucestershire’s innings while going at less than 2.3 an over. Money well spent on that contract.
Hartley, in at No 10, cruised in Green’s slipstream to register a debut first-class ton, last man out for 130. It wasn’t long before Jimmy Anderson asked him to bowl and his six for 116 was crucial in allowing the follow-on to be enforced. Hartley’s second-innings five for 99 was instrumental in ensuring that there was time, just, for Keaton Jennings and Josh Bohannon to knock off the 110 runs for the win.
Green and Hartley’s numbers have grabbed the headlines, of course, but it’s worth noting that they batted for around eight hours between them and bowled 34 overs each to give their captain the option. I’m sure Anderson will have asked them about the follow-on and I’m sure they said they were raring to go, but it’s quite the feat of physical and mental resilience to bowl 27 and 28 overs, respectively, second time round.
This article is from The 99.94 Cricket Blog
