Young Sharks beaten by Lancashire

All photos: Luke Adams

Danny Lamb’s career best 86 not out from 69 balls helped Lancashire beat a young Sussex side in our opening Royal London Cup match at the picturesque Sedbergh School.

Lancashire, fielding only two List A debutants to our nine in this Group A opener, slipped to 115 for seven chasing 271 before Lamb and Tom Bailey shared a stand of 112 in 18 overs for the eighth wicket to turn the game on its head.

Bailey made 45 off 53 before falling as one of four wickets to leg-spinner Archie Lenham, 17 today, as the score slipped to 227 for eight in the 46th over. But 25-year-old Lamb, guided his side home in front of a captivated crowd.

While Lancashire will breathe a huge sigh of relief as they head home from the Cumbrian countryside, our young Sussex side can leave with a lot of positives to take into our next match against Durham at Hove on Sunday.

Australian Travis Head and wicketkeeper Oli Carter made 56 and 55 respectively as we posted 270 for nine from our 50 overs. While Danial Ibrahim made a similarly measured 46 not out and Will Beer a brisk 40.

Head and captain Tom Haines, who elected to bat and made 38, shared 74 for the third wicket and Ibrahim and Beer shared 72 for the seventh.

We started brightly with the ball reducing Lancashire to 19 for three inside six overs of the chase on a true surface. 

Joe Sarro struck twice with the new ball, including getting Josh Bohannon caught behind with a beauty that nipped away, while Henry Crocombe had former Sussex left-hander Luke Wells caught at slip.

Lancashire fell further into trouble mid-way through their innings as birthday boy Lenham excelled. He had Steven Croft caught at slip and struck twice in the 28th over, his fifth, when he had George Lavelle stumped and Rob Jones lbw for 35.

From there, Lancashire’s task was not quite as tall as the surrounding Howgill Fells, though not far off. However, all-rounder Lamb and seamer Bailey set about a brilliant escape act.

Lenham ended the match with figures of four for 59 and was the pick of our bowlers.

After the match captain Tom Haines spoke to Adrian Harms of BBC Sussex.

“That’s a tough one to take from the position we were in. We expected to win that game. We have to come back on Sunday (against Durham) and realise what we did well. There were little things we could have done better and been clearer with, but batters are allowed to bat well. Danny Lamb played out of his skin. We can’t be too harsh on what was a young bowling attack.”