Essex 139 for 5 (Browne 78*, Faulkner 3-28) trail Lancashire 402 for 8 dec (Croft 122, Faulkner 68) by 263 runs
Scorecard
Toby Lester was not the most famous left-arm new-ball bowler playing first-class cricket in England on Wednesday afternoon. At Cardiff the Mitchells, Starc and Johnson, were firing the opening shots in an Ashes battle which will be waged for six weeks; at Edgbaston Ryan Sidebottom was collecting match figures of 11-76 as Yorkshire took another stride towards retaining the County Championship.
By contrast, unless you were a cricket fan from Blackpool or followed Second XI games closely, you may not have been too sure who Lester was until Monday morning. It was then that he was named in Lancashire's side to play Essex at Emirates Old Trafford. And by the third evening of the game both Jaik Mickleburgh and Liam Dawson were acquainted with him. For he had castled them both with his swing to give Lancashire a strong sniff of victory in a Division Two game which had been cursed by rain for its first seven sessions.
By close of play that sniff had been encouraged by, what for Lancashire followers, had been the delicious aroma of collapse after James Faulkner, a cricketer as well known in Brisbane as Bispham, had removed three key members of Essex's middle order as the visitors displayed all the carelessness Lancashire's batsmen had most diligently eschewed.
Ravi Bopara edged a flat-footed slash to wicketkeeper Alex Davies; Jesse Ryder's irresponsible cut found only the safe hands of Arron Lilley at backward point; and Ryan ten Doeschate was lbw on the back foot to his second ball when Faulkner brought one back off the seam. None of the trio reached double figures.
Ten Doeschate's wicket left Essex perilously placed on 81 for five with over 22 overs left in what was a remarkable day's cricket, and had it not been for the good sense of James Foster and opener Nick Browne, whose unbroken sixth-wicket stand was worth 58 by close of play Essex would have been in very deep trouble indeed. Browne ended the day unbeaten on 78 and he and Foster will be key men again on the final morning, especially since the pitch is offering assistance to Lilley's off-spin.
Even on the third evening, though, it still seems more likely that the game will end in a draw but the outcome is nothing like as certain as it appeared when Lancashire declared on 402 for 8 in mid-afternoon. Croft's players can go into the last day very encouraged by the way in which they have approached a match which will be remembered, in part, for its grey skies and frequent showers.
"Manchester on a rainy day," wrote RC Robertson-Glasgow, "is the nearest thing I know to an academic speech on Free Trade." Perhaps so, but Croft's batsmen never let the gloom infect their approach to matters. Instead, they played with resolution and enterprise, no one more so than the skipper himself, who reached his second century of the championship season off 210 balls and added 144 with Faulkner, who put a tricky few days behind him to concentrate on his cricket skills.
Reece Topley accounted for Croft, Faukner and Jordan Clark during a penetrative spell with the second new ball early in the afternoon session but the skipper's 122 and the all-rounder's 68 had changed the temper of the contest. Lancashire's dominance was reinforced when Lilley's breezy 40 off 31 balls helped the home side to their fifth bonus point and Croft beckoned his men off the field as soon as it was reached.
