Lancashire sweat over duo's injuries as Steven Croft pinpoints key to win over Gloucestershire

Head coach Steven Croft felt Lancashire’s bowling on day three was crucial to their four-wicket win over Gloucestershire.

The Red Rose collected 19 points in Bristol with it now two wins and one draw from the first three County Championship fixtures of the season. Lancashire were one wicket away from victory in their draw with Northants, but still sit top of division two at the early juncture.

Keaton Jennings, in his first match of the campaign, scored important runs in both innings against Gloucestershire. With the ball, George Balderson took nine wickets in the match while James Anderson took seven.

"Credit to the lads, they stayed calm throughout," Croft told BBC Lancashire post-match. "For the bowlers to really turn it on (Sunday) afternoon - the last six wickets went for 22 runs - we could've been chasing a lot more of a total there.

“Every credit to the bowlers and the batters who got there in the end. The whole week, really, has been a tough one, mentally and physically, for some of the lads. They kept believing all the way through.”

Lancashire had to come through adversity with opening bowler, Ajeet Singh Dale, injured in his second over of the game. Luke Wells then suffered a nasty shoulder injury on day three, when trying to prevent a boundary.

Croft added: “To lose your opening bowler in his second over and then the opening batter in the second innings... but the lads cracked on and every credit to them. Hopefully, it is going to be speedy recoveries for them but I don't think they are just niggles.

“Ajeet has gone for a scan today and Luke will go for one later in the week but yeah, it will definitely be a few weeks as it stands. We've got a really strong squad and it's one of those things. Most players get their opportunity through something like this, so whoever gets the nod to fill in for those guys can really stake a claim."

Having taken 59 wickets in their first three games of the season, Croft knows the next step for Lancashire is to find greater consistency with the bat. The Red Rose have posted scored of 384, 194, 351, 160, 240 and 203-6 so far.

"Yes, I think the bowlers have done incredibly well as a unit," said Croft. "Everyone has stuck their hand up at some point, especially Balders this game. Now, it's time for the batters as well. We've had some really good individual performances... but as a group and line-up we need to come together a bit more.

“Whether we soak up pressure a bit more, or have a bit more clarity when we do bat to get more of a performance... I felt we left some runs out there and definitely should've posted north of 300. But, credit to the bowlers again, they got us out of it."

Lancashire’s next County Championship encounter comes at Durham, with the away clash getting underway on Friday. The Riverside Ground outfit sit fourth in the table having drawn with Kent in their opener, before winning in Gloucestershire.

In that victory, Ben McKinney scored 244 while Alex Lees and David Bedingham also made hundreds. Durham stormed to victory, winning by an innings and 225 runs.