Karl Brown’s polished 96 ensured Lancashire achieved a position of considerable strength at the halfway stage of their match against Leicestershire at Old Trafford, but the opener will no doubt reflect on what might have been after missing out on his first Championship century since the opening week of 2011, the year his county lifted the Division One title.
The 27-year-old, who hit 14 fours and a six in 231 balls, has been in and out of Lancashire’s four-day team during the last four and a bit years, having looked more at home against the white ball. But even though a dominant day two against Leicestershire failed to deliver the ultimate reward, he can take solace from the fact that his third successive fifty has helped him secure a prolonged spell of Championship cricket.
After starting the season in the seconds Brown was promoted for the corresponding fixture at Grace Road last month following a broken hand for Luis Reece, who came off worse in a fight with a dressing-room wall after a cheap dismissal during the defeat against Gloucestershire here. A poor start to the season had put question marks against his position in the side anyway.
It is likely that, if Brown was given the full choice of batting positions, opening would not be top of the list. But he has impressed in the role during the last 10 days, with two fifties in last week’s win over Gloucestershire at Bristol. He shared in half-century stands for the first three wickets with Paul Horton (54), Alviro Petersen (46) and Ashwell Prince, who finished unbeaten on 74, against a Leicestershire attack who started tidily but struggled to maintain the pressure.
Prince was later involved in an altercation with the Leicestershire bowler Charlie Shreck.
The off-spinner Jigar Naik and new ball pair Ben Raine and Atif Sheikh shared five successive maidens in the early stages of play but the visitors managed only one wicket in each of the first two sessions and two in the last. Rob Taylor had Horton caught brilliantly at second slip in the final over before lunch, Naik had Petersen lbw playing to leg deep into the afternoon before Raine trapped Brown lbw as he played back to a ball which kept low.
Naik then had Steven Croft, who shared 55 for the fourth wicket with Prince, caught at mid-off later in the evening. Lancashire, meanwhile, say that approximately 50 spectators took advantage of the reduced admission fee beyond 4pm to watch the final session.
