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Lancashire’s bid to redevelop their crumbling Old Trafford ground could turn into a race to save the county’s future, according to their chief executive, Jim Cumbes

Andrew Miller27-Jan-2011Lancashire’s bid to redevelop their crumbling Old Trafford ground could turn into a race to save the county’s future, according to their chief executive, Jim Cumbes, as the club prepares to post a loss of around £2million for 2010, the worst ever recorded by a county cricket club.The figures, which have yet to be audited but will shortly be revealed to the club’s members, follow on from a loss of £546,000 in 2009, and have been exacerbated by a costly judicial review into the ground’s planning approval which has delayed the £30 million makeover, and the hearing for which been set for February 28 and March 1.The supermarket giant, Tesco, put forward £21 million of the money for the redevelopment, which was approved by Trafford Council in 2010, with a further £5.2 million from the North West Development Agency contingent on work starting before April. However, a rival development, Derwent, who own the nearby White City Retail Park, has attempted to block Tesco’s plans, trapping Lancashire right in the middle of the dispute.”It’s a critical decision for us, because although we aren’t the party being judicially reviewed, clearly we are the ones with the most to lose,” Cumbes told ESPNcricinfo. “We’ve paid out £1.5 million in fees for all the advice on the planning, and the delay by a rival wanting to build another supermarket in the area has delayed all the funding coming down to us. We expected to see that money back in October, but we haven’t yet seen a penny, and that’s hit us pretty hard.”Lancashire’s problems could be exacerbated if they miss their April deadline for redevelopment, because that would effectively end their hopes of securing an Ashes Test for 2013, which as Cumbes conceded, has already been factored into their revenue forecasts for future seasons. “That has been our target from the word go,” he said. “We drew up a business plan on the basis that, having missed an Ashes Test in 2009, we’d be in a stronger position to get one in 2013, because Old Trafford has never missed two Australia matches in its history.”Instead, Old Trafford has been living on scraps in recent seasons, with last summer’s three-day Test against Bangladesh being their only such match since the visit of New Zealand in 2008. “We’ve undertaken our development because we know we weren’t up to scratch,” said Cumbes. “But we’ve not had as many matches as we are used to, and that is critical because a large ground such as this requires maintenance irrespective of whether we get Test matches or not.”A further short-term dent in Lancashire’s balance sheet has been created by The Point, the controversial £12 million conference centre overlooking the ground which was officially opened during the Bangladesh Test in June, and is capable of catering for up to 800 people at a time. Cumbes, however, is confident that the benefits of that particular investment will be reaped in 2011 and beyond.”We wanted to send a message out to people that we were serious about development, and in that respect it is part of our business plan for the future,” he said. “Bookings for the venue have only really got going in the last three or four months, and it’s certainly been very encouraging, but of course when people book events of that size, they book months in advance, not a week ahead. We always knew that the benefits of that investment would come later rather than sooner.”However, the club knows it cannot afford to rest easy for the coming months. “We are not ringing alarm bells yet, but with the amount of debt that all category A grounds are getting at the moment, someone somewhere is going to run into trouble before long,” said Cumbes. “At the moment the club isn’t going under, but if we didn’t get the go-ahead for redevelopment, didn’t get Tests and weren’t recognised as a category A ground, then clearly the club would be in some sort of trouble. Whether that trouble is just remaining as a small county club or not existing at all is open to debate.”

Paul Harris tried to stem the run flow by adopting a leg-stump line. It didn’t work and he was often called wide by umpire Ian Gould

N Hunter15-Feb-2010Paul Harris was a completely different bowler today. In Nagpur his sole aim, especially in the second innings, was to clamp down on India’s batsmen. He went about doing so by pitching consistently on leg stump or outside and turning the ball into the right-handers from the rough. The Indian batsmen played him conservatively from the crease. They played into Harris’s hands and he succeeded in stemming the run flow. His attempt today had drastically different results.On a harder pitch, which didn’t take much turn from the rough, Harris tried to apply the same leg-side suffocation but was punished by Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, as well as umpire Ian Gould.Umpires have taken flak for not taking a firmer stand on the indiscretions of the players but Gould exercised his power and penalised Harris each time he bowled a straighter delivery behind the batsman’s legs. Harris, however, refused to change his line and forced Gould into calling the ball wide on 12 occasions.Corrie van Zyl, the South African coach, accepted Gould’s decision but said his spinner suffered only because the ball was not turning. “You can see it as a negative line and the umpire did think so, too, and obviously those were called wides,” he said.About five years ago, the standard playing regulations for Test matches were amended in an effort to prevent negative leg-side bowling. Law 25.1 – Judging a Wide – states: “For bowlers whom umpires consider to be bowling down the leg side as a negative tactic, the strict limited-over wide interpretation shall be applied.”An ICC spokesperson admitted that in order to prevent bowlers from easily adopting leg-theory to stem the run-flow, the law needed to be updated. “Some bowlers like Shane Warne used leg-side bowling as an attacking option, while some have used it negatively to frustrate batsmen and stem scoring-rates. It’s usually pretty obvious when it is attacking because there is a short-leg in place and the ball is turning, so it becomes difficult for batsmen to survive, let alone score runs.”Another factor that thwarted Harris’ plan was the way Sehwag and Tendulkar dealt with him. They were happy to deflect him to the on side whenever there was no fielder at short leg. Otherwise they let the straighter ones go, confident the ball would not turn. Sehwag even slog-swept for a six over deep midwicket and then reverse swept when Harris tried to cram him.van Zyl said Harris could have been more diligent in his approach. “Some of them did turn out of the rough and some of them didn’t. But Harry [Harris] did a good job for the team, but it was a lot tougher than it was in Nagpur, where there was some assistance.”

Cameron Green says he could play Shield cricket instead of ODIs and T20Is in the lead-up to the Ashes to build his bowling loads on return from his back injury

Alex Malcolm21-Aug-2025Australia allrounder Cameron Green is unsure if he will bat at No. 3 in the upcoming Ashes series, but confirmed his return to bowling is likely to come in Sheffield Shield cricket in the lead-in rather than at the ODI or T20I series against India that comes before into the Test summer.Green, 26, has been Australia’s No. 3 in each of their last four Test matches across the World Test Championship final and the three-Test tour of the Caribbean, which he played as a batter-only as he continues his rehabilitation from back surgery in October last year.He looked increasingly assured in the No. 3 role after a very difficult start, making scores of 4, 0, 3, 15, 26, 52, 46 and 42. While the overall returns appear lean, the last four innings were highly valued within the Australia camp, especially the 46 and 42 in Kingston, which were the second- and third-highest scores in a game where there were only four individual scores higher than 24.Related

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But speaking in Mackay on Thursday ahead of the second ODI against South Africa, Green said he was unsure if he would continue at No. 3 for the first Ashes Test in Perth in November as the make-up of Australia’s top three remained uncertain.”You never know,” Green said. “I think there’s certainly a lot of guys that can fill that role. I’m really proud that I was able to do a role up there. But, yeah, wait and see.”If he does not bat No. 3 in the Ashes, it would completely change the dynamic of Australia’s top six.With Steven Smith and Travis Head locked in at four and five, allrounder Beau Webster has noted that his spot at No. 6 would come under pressure when Green’s is back to bowling. Usman Khawaja appears certain to open in the Ashes but Sam Konstas knows his place is far from guaranteed with Tasmania opener Jake Weatherald “in the mix” according to chairman of selectors George Bailey, while all eyes are on Marnus Labuschagne to see if he can regain to some form ahead of the Ashes.The scrutiny on Konstas has come following a torrid tour of the Caribbean, but Green said there wasn’t a lot to glean from the West Indies series given the nature of the pitches.”It was such tough wickets, especially for the batters, so to try and get out the series unscathed I think was a good effort,” Green said. “There wasn’t much to take away from that. I think it was just trying to survive, really, and find a way to score some runs. Yeah, I don’t think we’ll be playing on many wickets quite like that.”Green is set to be available to bowl in the Ashes. He has slowly been building his bowling loads back up at training since June after having not been allowed to bowl following his back surgery.He has not been available to bowl in either of the T20I series against West Indies or South Africa, and is also playing as a batter-only in the current three-match ODI series.Australia’s next international assignment after the third ODI on Sunday is not until October 1 when they will play a three-match T20I series in four days in New Zealand. Thereafter, Australia play three ODIs against India at home from October 19 to 25 before starting a five-match T20I series against India that runs from October 29 to November 8 with the Ashes starts on November 21.Green said it was more likely that he would focus on red-ball cricket in the lead-up to the Ashes series with Western Australia set to play three Sheffield Shield matches starting on October 4 against New South Wales at the WACA Ground, October 15 against Tasmania at Bellerive Oval, and October 28 against South Australia.Cameron Green has not bowled since injuring his back on the ODI tour of England in 2024•Getty Images

“In the past, it’s worked really well when I focused on Shield cricket,” Green said. “So I think that potentially might be the way to go down, especially with working my way back with bowling. Potentially get a few more overs over a few more days might be the best way to go about it.”I’m not quite certain on what match [I’ll return to bowling], but I’m feeling really good, in a really good spot. It’s exciting being back bowling at a reasonable intensity.”It’s been a long road back.”WA host Queensland in a fourth Shield game on November 11 but it is unlikely Green would play that close to the start of the Ashes. Green had success in 2024 when he was held out of a T20I series in New Zealand ahead of the Test series in order to remain in Australia to play Shield cricket. He scored a century for WA against Tasmania in a game that coincided with Australia’s three T20Is in New Zealand before making his highest Test score of 174 not out in the first Test in Wellington.Meantime, Green and Australia’s batting are searching for some runs ahead of the second ODI in Mackay on Friday. Green was one of five Australia batters spun out by Keshav Maharaj in game one in Cairns. But Green said the team had not dwelt on the dismal batting display.”Obviously Maharaj bowled beautifully, a couple of their batters batted really well,” Green said. “We didn’t want to debrief it too much. I think we know we’re a good team. We’ve had a lot of success the last few months. So to deep dive into it is probably not the right way to go about it. There’s certainly things we need to improve on. I think we just had a reasonable off day, but there’s plenty of one-day cricket coming up, so hopefully we can turn that around.”

“To be able to play cricket again after everything I’ve been through is nothing short of a miracle,” says Capitals wicketkeeper

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Mar-2024Rishabh Pant feels like he is making his debut all over again as he gears up for a comeback to competitive cricket after 14 months. On Tuesday, he was declared fit by the National Cricket Academy (NCA) after undergoing an extensive rehabilitation process following a serious car crash in December 2022.”I’m excited and nervous at the same time. It feels like I’m going to make my debut again,” Pant was quoted as saying in a media release issued by the IPL team that he captains, the Delhi Capitals. The India wicketkeeper is currently part of their pre-season training camp in Visakhapatnam, where they will also play two home games during the first two weeks of the tournament.”To be able to play cricket again after everything I’ve been through is nothing short of a miracle,” Pant said. “I’m grateful to all my well-wishers and fans, and most importantly, the BCCI and staff at NCA. All their love and support continue to give me immense strength.”Related

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Over the past two months, Pant has built up his workload and has played a series of practice games organised by the NCA in Bengaluru to get into the rigours of competitive cricket. While there were question marks over his involvement as both a wicketkeeper and batter until late last month, the NCA has given him a full fitness clearance.The option of using Pant as an Impact Player this season made Capitals pick two other wicketkeepers in their squad. Abishek Porel, who was signed as Pant’s replacement last year was retained, while they splurged INR 7.2 crore to acquire Jharkhand gloveman Kumar Kushagra.”I’m excited to return to Delhi Capitals & the IPL – a tournament I enjoy so much,” Pant said. “Our team owners and support staff have been by my side throughout with their full support, guidance and co-operation at every step, for which I am deeply grateful. I can’t wait to reunite with my DC family and play in front of the fans again.”On Monday evening, BCCI secretary Jay Shah revealed Pant had been “batting and keeping well” and could be in contention to return to the India squad for the T20 World Cup in June. “If he can play the T20 World Cup for us, that will be a big thing for us. He is a big asset for us,” Shah said. “If he can keep, he can play the World Cup. Let’s see how he does in the IPL.”With BCCI’s clearance, Pant might return to action as early as March 23, when Capitals open their season with an away fixture against Punjab Kings.”We’re delighted to welcome Rishabh back to the Delhi Capitals family,” co-owner Parth Jindal said. “The kind of grit and resilience he has displayed in overcoming challenges is inspirational, to say the least. We’re humbled to have been a part of his journey to recovery, which has been exceptional. Rishabh’s return is one of the most highly anticipated ones in recent times, and I can’t wait to see him compete again.”

Lizaad Williams comes in as a replacement, after Stuurman picks up abdominal strain during domestic game

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Nov-2022Pace bowler Glenton Stuurman is out of South Africa’s upcoming Test series against Australia with an abdominal muscle strain. He will be replaced by Lizaad Williams in the squad.Stuurman, who has played two Tests for South Africa, away in New Zealand in February and at home against Bangladesh as a Covid-sub in April this year, picked up the injury during a domestic first-class game for Warriors over the weekend. It will keep him sidelined for six weeks.Williams has also played two Tests for South Africa, both against Bangladesh this year, picking up three wickets. In the domestic first-class competition, where he plays for Titans, Williams picked up six wickets to bowl his side to an innings win against Knights last week. Over the English summer, he had played for county Northamptonshire. He was also part of the South Africa white-ball squad that played in England in July, though he didn’t get a game.All South Africa’s Test players, with the exception of Temba Bavuma, Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje will play at least one red-ball domestic match before the series in Australia. Bavuma has been given time off following a torrid T20 World Cup campaign, Rabada’s workload is being managed, and Nortje was given a No-Objection Certificate to participate in the Abu Dhabi T10 competition which runs from November 23 to December 4.South Africa play a tour game in Australia, against a Cricket Australia XI in Brisbane, from December 9 to 12. The first Test kicks off at the Gabba on December 17, before the Boxing Day and New Year Tests in Melbourne and Sydney respectively. The series is key to South Africa’s hopes of making the next World Test Championship final.Updated South Africa squad: Dean Elgar (capt), Temba Bavuma, Gerald Coetzee, Theunis de Bruyn, Sarel Erwee, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Lizaad Williams, Khaya Zondo.

The Bangladesh head coach is also pleased with the “good energy and attitude” brought by the returning Shakib Al Hasan

Mohammad Isam05-Jul-2021Tamim Iqbal is doubtful for the one-off Test against Zimbabwe that starts on Wednesday. According to coach Russell Domingo, the opener is yet to recover fully from a knee injury that he picked up during the Dhaka Premier League last month. Domingo, however, had better news about Mushfiqur Rahim’s recovery from the finger injury.”We are still not 100% sure about Tamim,” Domingo said. “There’s still a lot of doubt regarding him. I think a decision will be made in the near future. Mushfiq is pretty confident that he will be fit to play. He has done his rehab really well. Everything seems to be on track. I am pretty confident that he will play.”Domingo was pleased to see the renewed energy and focus of Shakib Al Hasan too, who returned to the Test side having missed the Sri Lanka Test series in April.”Shakib looks really hungry to play Tests again,” he said. “The thing that’s always the key with big players is their desire and attitude when they come into a Test series. It is great to have him back. He balances the side really well.”He bats in the top six, and he is a frontline bowler. He is what every international team is looking for, so it is really pleasing to have him back. He has brought really good energy and attitude on this tour as well.”Related

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The Harare pitch is generally on the slower side. Keeping that in mind, Domingo expected his players to remain patient and play “hard, attritional cricket”.”I think when playing in Harare, patience is very important with bat and ball,” Domingo said. “I have been here a few times and scoring rates haven’t been very high. You have to maintain pressure for long periods of time before getting wickets. It is definitely not a venue where you run through a batting line-up or score 350 runs in a day. It is hard, attritional cricket. They play smart cricket here. We will have our task cut out in the next few days.”That also means Bangladesh will have to be on their toes in the field all the time; their catching hasn’t been up to the mark in the last six months.”We have to be patient, disciplined and hold on to the chances, which might not come around often. When they do come, we have to be mentally ready to take those chances.”Bangladesh are yet to have a look at the pitch, though. “Unfortunately, the groundsman hasn’t allowed us to look at the pitches,” Domingo said. “So once we have had a good look at the pitch, either later today or tomorrow, we will have more ideas about what sort of bowling attack we will be looking at.”

Club consider life-membership scheme to ensure smooth progress of redevelopment work at Lord’s

ESPNcricinfo staff06-May-2020Kumar Sangakkara will be invited to serve a second term as MCC president, in light of the current postponement of the club’s activities.Sangakkara, the first overseas president of MCC, took office on October 1 last year, and recently participated in a successful club tour of Pakistan, his first return to the country since the terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in March 2009.Presidents of MCC have traditionally only served 12-month terms, although during the First and Second World Wars, Lord Hawke (1914-18) and Stanley Christopherson (1939-45) both served for longer periods.The proposal will be voted on at the club’s AGM on June 24, where the club will also consider raising funds through a new life membership scheme, in order to keep the redevelopment of the Compton and Edrich Stands on course during the Covid-19 pandemic.In a letter to its membership, Guy Lavender, the secretary and chief executive, insisted that MCC – which is currently debt-free – was “not in crisis, or dire financial jeopardy”, but warned that “proactive and early decision-making is required” to respond to the implications of the virus.Lord’s had been due to host two Tests this summer, against West Indies and Pakistan, in addition to a number of other high-profile contests including the final of the inaugural season of the Hundred, which has now been postponed until 2021.ALSO READ: Lahore attack taught me a lot about values: SangakkaraHowever, with all cricket postponed until July 1 at the earliest, and given the current focus on playing behind closed doors in bio-secure environments, it seems unlikely that Lord’s, with its central-London location and no on-site accommodation, will be able to host any major matches this year.With its losses expected to run into tens of millions of pounds, MCC is determined to avoid a situation that impacts on the £50 million redevelopment work that got underway last year, and when completed will increase capacity at Lord’s by 2500 seats to 31,000.The life-membership scheme has previously been adopted in 1926 and 1996 to fund the redevelopments of Lord’s Grandstand, and is expected to cost between £7,000 and £80,000, depending on age of the applicant.MCC also confirmed that they will not be refunding annual subscription fees to its existing membership, which comprises 18,000 full members and 5,000 associates, who pay up to £600 for full access to Lord’s facilities, having waited in most cases for close to three decades for the privilege.In his letter, Lavender confirmed that the committee had taken the decision reluctantly, adding: “subscriptions are the bedrock of the Club’s finances, critical to ensuring we weather the current storm. Ultimately, you own the Club and I hope that in that context you will be understanding of the position the Committee has felt it needed to take.”

The reigning champions shot out Kerala for 91 as the semi-final ended in just over four sessions

The Report by Saurabh Somani25-Jan-2019
Umesh Yadav took his best-ever match figures as Vidarbha stormed into the Ranji Trophy 2018-19 final, one step away from the defending the title they won last seasonUmesh took 5 for 31 in the second innings as Kerala hurtled to 91 all out at the Krishnagiri Stadium in Wayanad, losing by an innings and 11 runs shortly after lunch on the second day. Umesh had taken a career best 7 for 48 in the first innings, and ended with match figures of 12 for 79. It was Umesh’s second consecutive Man-of-the-Match performance, having taken nine wickets in the quarter-final against Uttarakhand, which was also the first game he had played in the tournament.Kerala had a good opening hour on Friday, with Sandeep Warrier taking 5 for 57 as Vidarbha were bowled out for 208 after being 170 for 2 at one stage. Then, the rejigged batting order of KB Arun Karthik and Jalaj Saxena as openers, and Vishnu Vinod at No.3, took them 59 for 1 in the second innings.But that was as good as things got for Kerala, with Umesh bursting through to inflict a spectacular collapse. Kerala lost nine wickets in just 12.3 overs either side of lunch. Yash Thakur, the 19-year-old right-arm seamer playing only his third first-class match, took 4 for 28, also a personal best.On the morning of the second day, Vidarbha had resumed on 171 for 5, but couldn’t add too many runs. Warrier and Basil Thampi combined to bring a swift end to the innings, though not before Umesh had fun with the bat in hand too, hitting two sixes off Thampi to take Vidarbha’s lead to 102.It was still a sizeable advantage, but a lot less than they looked like getting when they were 170 for 2 with Faiz Fazal batting on 75.For a while, it looked like Kerala would fight back in the second innings, but they crumbled. The dominance of Vidarbha’s pacers was illustrated by their highest wicket-taker this season – left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate – not bowling a single over all through the match.

Marco Marais earned himself a slice of cricketing history at East London last week, by crashing his way to the fastest first-class triple-century

Firdose Moonda01-Dec-2017Border batsman Marco Marais earned himself a slice of cricketing history at East London last week, by crashing his way to the fastest first-class triple-century, for Border against Eastern Province.”I don’t think anyone actually thinks they are going to get 300,” Marais told after making an unbeaten 300 off 191 balls. “Before the season started I was targeting over 500 first-class runs and I have already passed that, so now I am going to have to make new goals for myself for the rest of the season.”Not only did Marais achieve a career-first triple-century but he broke a record that has stood for 96 years. Australia’s Charles Macartney’s triple-hundred came off 221 balls against Nottinghamshire in 1921. He went on to finish on 345.Marais may well have surpassed Macartney’s score at Buffalo Park but Border called time on his innings as soon he reached the triple-century. They declared on 512 for 4, bowled their provincial rivals Eastern Province out for 212 and were 66 for 2 in response.Though the match was not won, Marais will claim a personal victory after an innings which featured 35 fours and 13 sixes and featured a record fifth-wicket stand of 428. He hopes the innings can provide a stepping stone to break into the Warriors franchise side.
“I really hope someone sits up and takes notice. I think every semi-pro player dreams of playing at the next level, which is franchise cricket, and I would love to play in it,” Marais said.The franchise are currently engaged in the Ram Slam 20-over tournament, where they sit at the bottom of the table with only one win from six matches. Their woes would well call for someone with Marais’ confidence, especially as his approach appears to be based on self-belief.”I was striking the ball so well,” he said. “I decided that I was just going to go hard at them and it came off in the end.”Marais’ coach Frank Plaatjes said he had “never seen anything,” like the innings before and believes there is more to come from the 24-year old. “I have always said Marco is a special player, I knew something was on the cards because he has been playing so well, but we didn’t expect 300 to be honest,” Plaatjes said.Marais is currently in action for Border against Northern Cape in Kimberley, where they are struggling. Border were bowled out for 115 in their first innings and Marais made just 5. He currently sits second on the three-day cup run charts.

Warwickshire’s lead of 67 on first innings should give them a better than even chance of winning, which they must do if they are to be sure of avoiding relegation for the first time since 2007. For Lancashire the news is not so good

Jon Culley at Edgbaston21-Sep-2016
ScorecardKeith Barker made early inroads for Warwickshire•Getty Images

On what is likely to be a pitch of diminishing returns, you would expect Warwickshire’s lead of 67 on first innings to have given them a better than even chance of winning, which they must do if they are to be sure of avoiding relegation for the first time since 2007.The news for Lancashire is not so good. Lose here and a Hampshire win would send them down.Intriguingly, Warwickshire were relegated that year at Old Trafford, beaten by nine wickets in what would be Mark Greatbatch’s last match as coach. They bounced straight back, winning the Division Two title under Greatbatch’s successor, Ashley Giles.Giles, now Lancashire’s coach, will be reasonably confident that his new side will be capable of something similar should they go down, although he has been having trouble convincing some disgruntled Lancastrians that they should share his optimism and enthusiasm.Three wins in the first five Championship matches led some of them to believe there was a serious chance they could be going toe-to-toe with their rivals from across the Pennines, so no wins in 10 subsequently has come as something of a let-down.Yet by other measures, Giles can claim an outstanding season, given that his brief was to dismantle an ageing team and restock it with vibrant youth. This season, three of the four young players to whom he has given first-class debuts – Liam Livingstone, Rob Jones, Matthew Parkinson and Saqib Mahmood – have made a first-class century or taken five wickets in an innings. And Haseeb Hameed, introduced only in August last year, is already on the brink of a Test call-up.A draw here would quieten the natives in any event, guaranteeing that Lancashire finish ahead of Warwickshire and therefore not in the bottom two, even if Hampshire win. It is going to take some getting, though.Dismissing Warwickshire for 219 did not look a bad effort but, after reaching 134 for 5 midway through the afternoon session, Lancashire’s reply fell away rapidly as the combination of Keith Barker and Jeetan Patel claimed the last five wickets with only 18 added to the total.Lancashire supporters began to feel twitchy in the 10th over of the day after the introduction of Rikki Clarke in the first change of the morning drew a quick dividend for Warwickshire, the big one as far as they were concerned, when Hameed was leg before trying to flick one off his legs.In the blink of an eye 35 for 1 became 37 for 4, Chris Wright striking in consecutive overs to remove Jones and Karl Brown with a couple more lbws. On a hazy morning with still plenty of cloud there was clearly something in the conditions for Warwickshire’s bowlers to exploit and when Lancashire lost Luke Procter, the left-hander succumbing to a beautiful outswinger from Barker that drew him into the drive and took the edge, they had lost four wickets for four runs in 35 deliveries.This was followed by a recovery of sorts engineered by Steven Croft and Livingstone, who have both looked to be aggressive. Yet that recovery was punctured in the last over of the morning when Livingstone whipped one off his pads against Oliver Hannon-Dalby only to plonk it straight into the hands of Barker at shortish midwicket, leaving Lancashire to take lunch contemplating where they might go from 79 for 5.In the event they rebuilt promisingly, Croft and Jordan Clark continuing to push the score along and adding 55 in 18 overs before Barker, coming round the wicket, bowled Croft with one came back as he shaped to play him off the back foot. Croft’s 45, the second highest innings of the match so far, was a good innings in the circumstances, a positive counter-attacking effort that made the scorecard look somewhat healthier.But this breakthrough gave Patel his first sight of a long Lancashire tail and there are few spin bowlers more adept at cleaning up when conditions are in his favour, the New Zealand off-spinner bamboozling Arron Lilley before having Tom Bailey caught sharply at leg slip by Ian Bell.Barker then claimed a give-away wicket when Clark swung at him with more hope than control and finished by uprooting Kyle Jarvis’s off-stump to finish with 4 for 30, taking his haul for the season to 58 in Division One, eight behind Patel, who leads the field with 66.It is the quality, variety and experience that makes up the Warwickshire attack that will probably see them across the line, although there is no escaping the more sobering statistic of their season, which is that they have won only two matches, the same number as Hampshire and one fewer than Lancashire. If they did go down, it would hardly be an injustice.Warwickshire had added 12 to their lead without loss when bad light, quickly followed by rain, prevented further play.