Day Four: Lancashire 397-6 drew with Durham 493
Lancashire 11pts, Durham 13pts
Durham end the 2026 Rothesay County Championship season unbeaten following a weather-affected draw at Emirates Old Trafford Cricket Ground where Josh Bohannon made an unbeaten 190.
Resuming on 267 for five, the home side had progressed to 397 for six in the 38 overs that could be fitted in between spells of poor light and rain. And Lancashire’s total was largely the work of Bohannon, whose runs in this innings represent over a third of his aggregate for the season.
The cricket played on this final day did not affect the teams’ league positions in the slightest. Durham took 13 points from the game and have won the division by 47 points from Kent, a margin which reflects their superiority this season.
Bad light and slight drizzle meant that play began 45 minutes late on the final morning of the season at Emirates Old Trafford. And only 6.1 overs were possible in the first session before the gloom returned and an early lunch was taken at 12.15 with Lancashire on 295 for five.
However, the rain stayed away long enough to allow nearly two hours’ play during the afternoon session in which the home side scored 102 runs for the loss of Ben Walkden’s wicket. Bohannon reached 150 for the seventh time in his Lancashire career off 321 balls but he lost his batting partner, Ben Walkden, for a career-best 36 when the Newton-le-Willows all-rounder attempted to pull
Callum Parkinson to leg but only skied a catch to Brydon Carse at backward point.
By that stage, however, Walkden’s sixth-wicket partnership with Bohannon had yielded 83 runs and taken Lancashire to within 14 runs of avoiding the follow-on. That landmark was reached by George Balderson’s unbroken 66-run stand with Bohannon, during which the cricket acquired the gentle aimlessness often associated with end-of-season games when nothing, not even a point, is at stake.
The umpires came off for bad light at 2.35 and an early tea was taken at 2.50. However, the murk continued and a draw was quickly agreed at 3.45.
Day Three: Lancashire 267-5 v Durham 493
Callum Parkinson takes three wickets but Josh Bohannon’s unbeaten 125 stifles Durham on day three against Lancashire in the Rothesay County Championship at Emirates Old Trafford Cricket Ground.
Replying to Durham’s 493, Lancashire ended the evening session on 267 for five with Bohannon unbeaten on 125 after making a century which was testament to his character and determination as well as his skill.
Bohannon and Matthew Hurst put on 161 for the fourth wicket after Lancashire had stumbled in familiar fashion to 87 for four.
Facing a Durham attack led by Callum Parkinson, who finished with three for 63 from 37 overs, the fourth-wicket pair did the heavy lifting needed for Lancashire to collect their first batting bonus point since May.
Resuming on ten without loss, Lancashire scored only 66 runs and lost three wickets in 32 overs during the morning session.
Having made 17 in 110 minutes Keaton Jennings swept Parkinson to Shaf Ghafari at deep square leg; two overs later, fine work by Ben McKinney and Parkinson ran out Michael Jones for 11 after the opener had dithered over a quick single with Bohannon; and a third wicket was wasted when Marcus Harris swung Parkinson to Ghafari at deep midwicket and departed for 11.
A quarter of an hour into the afternoon session, Rocky Flintoff was pinned plumb in front by Brydon Carse for 11 to leave the Red Rose in trouble yet again this season on 87 for four. However, that wicket was the prelude to a couple of the calmest hours’ cricket home spectators at Old Trafford have enjoyed in 2026.
Bohannon was joined by Matty Hurst and the pair had put on an unbroken 78 runs by tea. The afternoon’s cricket was a notable contrast to many of the sessions Lancashire supporters have suffered this year. Bohannon reached his first fifty since April 10 when he took a single off Shaf Ghafari. He had faced 132 balls, hit three fours and batted for 153 minutes.
After tea, Bohannon and Hurst brought up their hundred partnership, which was only Lancashire’s second century stand in Championship cricket since April. Bohannon reached his century with a leg glance off Kasey Aldridge after facing 217 balls and batting 254 minutes. It was his seventh boundary and he raised his bat to all the stands at Old Trafford.
However, Hurst was bowled for 57 by a ball from Parkinson that turned prodigiously from outside leg stump before hitting the top of off. But Walkden joined Bohannon and ensured the home side would suffer no further losses in the day.
Day Two: Lancashire 10-0 v Durham 493
Ollie Robinson and Brydon Carse both pass fifty on the second day of the Rothesay County Championship match against Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford Cricket Ground as Durham compile a formidable 493 in the first innings.
Rain and bad light allowed only 58.3 overs to be bowled on Friday but both Ollie Robinson and Brydon Carse made 58, the latter undefeated, as Durham built a total that might mean they only have to bat once in this game. Lancashire’s Noman Ali took six for 166.
Lancashire were ten without loss after nine overs in their reply when the Mancunian weather closed in at 4.15 and did not relent.
In a shortened morning session – play did not begin until 11,15 – Durham scored 80 runs for the loss of three wickets. The overnight batsmen, Ollie Robinson and Kasey Aldridge, were both leg-before to Noman, Robinson for his third half-century of the season, and Aldridge for 24.
The first of those wickets gave Lancashire their second bowling point but Durham collected four for batting and reached lunch on 435 for eight. The other batsman dismissed was Callum Parkinson, who became Noman’s third leg-before victim of the day, thereby giving the Pakistani spinner his first five-wicket haul for Lancashire in his fifth match.
In the afternoon session, the dismissal of Shafiqullah Ghafari, stumped by Hurst off Noman for six, was offset by the batting of Brydon Carse, who reached his fifty off 114 balls with a six over midwicket off Tom Bailey. Carse was unbeaten on 58 when Duanne Olivier pulled Mitch Stanley to Rocky Flintoff at midwicket, thus ending the innings on 493.
Keaton Jennings and Michael Jones proceeded cautiously to ten without loss either side of tea but the light closed in to prevent them making further progress.
Day One: Durham 355-5 v Lancashire
Emilio Gay made 141 as Durham dominated the first day of the Rothesay County Championship match against Lancashire, the visitors ending on 355 for five.
Gay’s high-class century at Emirates Old Trafford Cricket Ground was his fourth in ten Championship innings this season and it helped his side make good on their pledge not to take it easy even though the Division Two title is won.
Gay put on 114 with Ben McKinney, who made 70 and reached a thousand County Championship runs for the season in the process. He then added 168 with Mayank Agarwal before being caught at a precisely placed second slip off Ben Walkden when his side were eight runs short of a second batting point.
A tough few hours for Lancashire’s bowlers was eased a little when they took three wickets in the evening session.
The shape of the day was already clear by lunch, when the visitors were 112 for one with McKinney unbeaten on 64. Alex Lees was caught behind off Tom Bailey for three in the third over of the morning but McKinney and Gay had put on an unbroken 102 by the first interval, hitting 17 fours on a pitch that justified Lees’s decision to bat first.
The afternoon began badly for Durham when McKinney played a flat-footed drive to a ball from Bailey and was caught behind by Hurst for 71. That wicket fell in the fourth over of the session and ended a 114-run stand for the second wicket but, as was the case in the morning’s play, an early wicket was a prelude to Durham’s domination.
Gay was joined by Mayank Agarwal, who announced himself by pulling Mitch Stanley for a four and a six off successive balls. Gay reached his century off 156 balls when he stroked Noman Ali through midwicket and collected his fourteenth boundary four. Agarwal brought up his fifty off 101 balls just before tea by which time Durham were 247 for two and the third-wicket pair had nearly doubled the score and put on 123.
The batters continued to bat serenely in the evening session and it was a surprise when Gay guided Walkden straight to Harris. But that wicket began a fine spell for Lancashire, whose left-arm spinner, Noman Ali, took the next two wickets. Hassan Adnad judged that Colin Ackermann had edged a catch to Matty Hurst on six but there was no doubt about the skyer to Josh Bohannon at cover that saw the departure of Agarwal for 66.
Those wickets left Durham on 306 for five but Ollie Robinson and Kasey Aldridge had steered their side to a third bonus point at the close. Noman finished the day with figures of two for 110 at the close.