Bohannon's brilliant 150 sees Lancashire close in on promotion

Josh Bohannon completed his debut first-class century to put Lancashire in pole position to beat Derbyshire and claim promotion back to the top flight of the County Championship.
By ECB Network reporter
Published 11th Sep 2019, 19:15 GMT
Updated 11th Sep 2019, 20:15 GMT
Josh Bohannon completed his first century in first-class cricket to demoralise Derbyshire Picture: GETTY IMAGESJosh Bohannon completed his first century in first-class cricket to demoralise Derbyshire Picture: GETTY IMAGES
Josh Bohannon completed his first century in first-class cricket to demoralise Derbyshire Picture: GETTY IMAGES

Bohannon entered the stage late on day one at the fall of Lancashire’s first wicket and was still there 24 hours later.His brilliant unbeaten 150 dominated a day in which Derbyshire’s lacklustre efforts with the ball yielded just a single wicket.They conceded a first innings lead with none of the fight their skipper Billy Godleman had shown in making a battling century on the first day at Old Trafford, when his side were dismissed for 244.Rain gave the visitors a helping hand but once play started at 1.40pm the Derbyshire bowlers failed to step up as all-rounder Bohannon and opener Keaton Jennings made steady progress throughout the afternoon.Jennings was the only wicket to fall before tea, when he misjudged a sharply spinning delivery from Hamidullah Qadri and saw his off-stump knocked back.Jennings had made 38 and played his part in a second- wicket partnership of 63 with Bohannon, who reached his 50 from 107 balls with seven fours and one six. The introduction of Liam Livingstone upped the pace, with both players on the attack as the 50 partnership was reached in 45 balls, with Bohannon unbeaten on 69 and Livingstone on 22.Bohannon became the main aggressor after the break as the pair reached their century partnership from 120 balls before the 22-year-old reached his own personal ton from 173 balls with 15 fours, two sixes and one giant leap of celebration.If Derbyshire had any fight left it was soon extinguished as former captain Livingstone brought up his own half-century from 68 balls before the pair reached 153, the county’s highest partnership of the season.Barely a half-chance had presented itself all day and at 5.30pm Lancashire moved into the lead, knowing that matching or bettering Glamorgan’s result would mean promotion. They closed on 269-2, with Livingston unbeaten on 70, a lead of 25 and the third-wicket partnership totalling 194.A promotion party on Thursday or Friday now feels like an inevitability. For Bohannon, who reached his 150 just before the close, it would be an achievement to savour.

Related topics:LancashireDerbyshireOld TraffordGlamorganLivingston