Lancashire Lapse Opens the Door for Hampshire

Today could be pivotal in Lancashire's Championship season. Having appeared to be in control of this match midway through the morning session, they allowed Hampshire not only to wriggle their way out of the stranglehold, but to gradually get on top. A lead of just 190 with only three wickets remaining is not what the home crowd expected, and every run Lancashire can scrape together this morning could be vital on a wicket that, while increasingly receptive to spin, remains relatively unresponsive to the seamers.

It was a day notable for two bowling performances. Thrown the ball first thing to use up the overs remaining before a new one could be taken, Dominic Cork reacted to such ignominious treatment with characteristic bravura. Michael Brown had added only a single when he pushed forward at a delivery which moved just enough to take a thin edge and was caught behind and, three balls later, Nic Pothas went in similar fashion, though in his case the edge ballooned off his pad to second slip. With the left-arm spinner Gary Keedy persuading Chris Benham to drive at a wide half-volley and edge a catch to Stuart Law at first slip, Hampshire had subsided to 194-6.

When Cork, having taken two wickets for three runs in seven overs, then threw himself forward to catch Chris Tremlett's drive at Keedy an inch above the ground, Hampshire were still eight short of avoiding the follow-on, but the captain Dimitri Mascarenhas and David Balcombe had taken the score past 250, and Lancashire had finally taken the new ball, when Balcombe was leg before to Glenn Chapple.

Watched by the England selector James Whitaker, Sajid Mahmood took Hampshire's final two wickets but, having bowled with impressive accuracy on Wednesday, there were too many wild deliveries yesterday.

The first-innings lead of 69 could yet be crucial. Balcombe got one to bounce and find Vincent's edge, Tremlett removed Iain Sutcliffe's off-bail with one that swung back as the batsman shouldered arms, and shortly before tea Imran Tahir picked up the wickets of Law, with a googly which took the glove, and Paul Horton, bottom-edging a pull on to his off-stump.

There was worse to come. Francois du Plessis chipped a return catch, Balcombe bowled Steven Croft with a nip-backer as he played no shot, and shortly before the close Tahir bowled Chapple with a ball that hurried on. Given he was Tahir's ninth victim of the game, the remaining Lancashire batsmen might remember that what looks like a short ball could be the Pakistani leggie's top-spinner.