County Championship: Alex Davies ton gives Warwickshire edge over Lancashire

An unbeaten century from Warwickshire skipper Alex Davies helped his side reach 284 against Lancashire on the second day of the County Championship Division One game at Emirates Old Trafford.

Davies’ 127 off a mammoth 296 balls saw the opener carry his bat against his former county and while Warwickshire were reluctant to score quickly on a used pitch, their total could yet prove a useful one after Lancashire slipped to 66-3.

Dan Mousley edged George Balderson to Keaton Jennings at slip to leave Warwickshire 93-4 but the middle order came to the rescue, offering support and defiance to Davies.

Jacob Bethell hit 40 before he was trapped in front by the returning Jack Morley and Balderson dismissed Michael Burgess the same way for 24. Even Jake Lintott’s nine ate up 43 balls as Davies nudged his way to a 10th first-class century.

While it was effective there was little for the crowd to savour until Lintott’s dismissal, caught behind reverse-sweeping Nathan Lyon, brought former Lancashire fast bowler Hassan Ali to the crease.

He slog-swept Lyon into The Point stand for six while also hitting four fours before he was acrobatically caught on the boundary by Tom Bruce off Luke Wells, who had earlier dropped a regulation catch at slip to give Lintott a life.

Michael Rae and Olly Hannon-Dalby departed for ducks, lbw to Wells and Morley respectively.

Lancashire lost Wells second ball after he edged Hannon-Dalby to Rob Yates at second slip without scoring.

The usually reliable Josh Bohannon followed soon after in identical fashion for 12 and with Jennings struggling to get off the mark, the Red Rose were suddenly in trouble at 12-2.

It took the Lancashire skipper 32 balls and 45 minutes to finally score a run, by which time George Bell was constructing a lovely knock as the pair rebuilt and passed the half-century partnership for the third wicket.

But Bell swept the first ball of the last over from Lintott to a diving Hannon-Dalby for 40, leaving Jennings unbeaten on 12.