Lancashire: 344-8 (Jennings 183*; James 3-53, Pennington 2-70)
Nottinghamshire: Yet to bat
Lancashire 2 pts, Nottinghamshire 2 pts
Keaton Jennings hit his fourth century of the season to steer Lancashire to 344-8 on day one of their County Championship match against Nottinghamshire at Southport. It was a masterful unbeaten 183 off 258 balls, including 26 fours and four sixes, by the Red Rose captain, holding the Lancashire innings together after the visitors had threatened to take charge after lunch.
A sell-out crowd had turned up hoping to see James Anderson in action for Lancashire one more time, but had to settle for watching one of Anderson’s potential England successors instead. Notts paceman Dillon Pennington, selected for the first time alongside Anderson in the England squad announced earlier in the day, picked up 2-70 from 23 overs across five separate spells.
Dane Paterson struck first, nipping one back to bowl Luke Wells. Jennings and Josh Bohannon then steered Lancashire to 59-1 in a slightly abbreviated morning session, but the visitors fought back strongly with three wickets in the afternoon.
Wicketkeeper Joe Clarke dropped an edge by Bohannon (25) off Olly Stone but redeemed himself by holding onto a near-identical chance off the very next ball. Pennington had George Bell caught at second slip after an uncomfortable 39-ball stay, and Matty Hurst tamely chipped Lyndon James to Stone at midwicket to leave Lancashire at 120-4.
Jennings held the innings together with a mixture of calculated attack and strong defence. The left-hander deposited Paterson over square leg for six while his 16th four brought up a 179-ball hundred. George Balderson made 41 and lofted consecutive Liam Patterson-White deliveries into the Harrod Drive gardens overlooking the ground in an 88-run partnership.
In a lengthy 41-over 194-run final session, Chris Green and Tom Bailey (20) were both lbw to James (3-53) while Will Williams edged Pennington behind for a duck. Jennings opened up as he started to run out of partners, taking 47 balls to go from his hundred to 150 as he deposited Stone for six onto the adjacent railway line and ramped Paterson over long-leg for six more.
The captain was dropped three times during the evening as Lancashire built a strong total that they will look to bolster on Monday when Anderson is likely to both bat and bowl.