Roman Walker column - dominant victory up at Lancashire

Coughlin, Carey, Cullen and Cooke leaders in conclusive win inside 3 days! Roman Walker reports in his regular column

Following our opening victory against Somerset, we travelled to Northern Cricket Club in Crosby, Liverpool, to face a strong Lancashire 2nd XI side. The weather couldn’t have been more different from the weather we had down in Somerset, with temperatures reaching nearly 20 degrees (which the boys were very happy about!).

After a long drive north on Sunday night we were greeted by a beautiful sunny day in Greater Crosby. On the morning of the game I joined coach Adrian Shaw and experienced all-rounder Andrew Salter in a conversation about the pitch: it was one of those pitches that seemed to be a 50/50 call on the toss whether to bat or bowl. We noticed some small cracks on what seemed to be a dry pitch under a thin layer of green grass, leading us to believe it may nibble around early in the day with pace and then spin on day three and four. At the toss the decision was taken out of captain Tom Cullen’s hands as Lancashire won the toss and elected to bat.

They got off to a flying start at 59/0 from 10 overs but we were able to claw them back with two wickets from ex-Durham seamer Josh Coughlin. From this point onwards, the run rate plummeted, with Lancashire struggling to score any quicker than two runs per over. The pressure proved to be too much for ex-Sussex batsman Luke Wells who fell to Lukas Carey for 25. Carey then picked up another wicket shortly after, bringing in their number six, George Bell (editors note - scored a century against Alex Horton's side in an England Young Lions North v South game), who after a long hard fought day of batting eventually battled to 58 from 198 balls. 

We had Lancashire eight wickets down heading into day two  and I managed to pick up both wickets quite quickly with Lancashire all out for 250 from 107 overs. The slow scoring rate was a testament to our bowlers who managed to cut off almost all scoring shots with tight and disciplined bowling. Lukas Carey was in my opinion the pick of our bowlers, taking 3-53 from 31 overs! Following him with three wickets apiece were myself and Coughlin, with Sam Jardine picking up the other wicket thanks to a spectacular one-handed reaction catch in the slips from Joe Cooke.

The chat on the morning of day two was pretty much reflecting on how well we bowled and why we bowled so well. There was of course a little bit in the pitch but in my opinion (which I made heard) I believed the pitch wasn't as bad as they seemed to make it look - it was still a pitch where we could play our shots and I believed there were a lot more runs to be had.

To a degree, I was right: our openers Joe Cooke and Steve Reingold managed to get us off to a golden start putting on a 100 partnership before Reingold was trapped LBW for 44. With another wicket being lost the next ball, the momentum seemed to be shifting Lancashire’s way as we slipped ever so slightly to 108/2. From this point the pitch seemed to be opening up more opportunities to the bowlers and scoring became more difficult. Salter struggled to find his natural flowing run scoring game as he was next out.

Amongst the difficult period where good bowling controlled the game and the scoreboard Cooke notched up his first ton of the season: a great knock given the quick change of momentum in the middle of his innings. Cooke was the next man to go and the game was once more in the balance, but as always our captain Tom Cullen grinded his way through and batted very well to get the team to a stable overnight score. Cullen carried on his form in the morning and took himself to his second fifty in two innings this season. He would end up not out on 68 as we were dismissed for 306 and a lead of 56.

Now, this is where the fun started. We had three overs to bowl before lunch and Lukas Carey managed to take a wicket in the last of them to give us a big advantage going into the second session. The next session was one of the best two hours I have ever watched, with Coughlin, Carey, Salter and Gorvin all picking up wickets in a session that saw Lancashire bowled out for 64 with Coughlin and Salter picking up three wickets each. At this point I was pretty much speechless after what I had just seen: how many times do you see a team losing nine wickets in a session? 

It left us requiring just nine runs to win, which our openers knocked off in two overs. Callum Nicholls, our 16-year-old replacement opener for Joe Cooke hitting the winning runs on his second team debut.  

With two wins from two for the seconds to start the season, it proved we as a team are capable of playing some seriously good cricket. Two brilliant team performances it was a pleasure to be a part of. Usually I would like to give my opinion on a game, but I think this result speaks for itself and we truly deserved the win.

From a personal perspective, I had a decent game picking up another three wickets with the ball. It did take me a little bit of time to find my feet but once I did I felt comfortable and in control. I scored six from 48 balls with the bat and the Lancashire bowlers didn’t bowl me many bad balls but my main aim was to try and stick with Tom Cullen whilst he was finding it a little easier. However, I felt solid again with the bat and I'm looking forward to getting back out there and getting some sort of rhythm going for the season.

I was called up to the first team squad after the second team win was completed. Joe Cooke joined me as he got his first call-up of the season after that fantastic innings as we drove down from Liverpool to Northampton. Although neither of us played, this game gave us a lot to look and learn as we put together a brilliant first three days with Kiran Carlson carrying on his form and Chris Cooke notching up his second century of the season. The game didn’t turn out as we would have liked in the end but there were still some great individual performances to take confidence from.

The last couple of weeks have been really busy but invaluable to me and I feel that I’ve learnt a lot in a small time. Seeing the grit and determination in my teammates has been a real eye opener, as has how different players go about tackling difficult conditions with both bat and ball.