Fairbrother keeps Lancashire in game with determined century

A brilliant Neil Fairbrother century helped launch a quickfire Lancashire recovery after Glamorgan had reduced them to 9 for 3 on the second day of their CricInfo County Championship Division One clash at Colwyn Bay.

By the close Lancashire had reached 259-7 off just 52 overs, still needing 71 to avoid the follow-on with Fairbrother unbeaten on 110 after rain had forced the players off the field 20 minutes early.

At the start of their reply to Glamorgan's 479 all out Lancashire found themselves in desperate trouble within five overs.

Mark Chilton mis-pulled Simon Jones to mid-on, John Crawley edged a good ball from Steve Watkin to first slip and Dean Cosker had Ryan Driver caught at silly point as the follow-on target of 330 looked way beyond them.

But after lunch Andrew Flintoff and Fairbrother plundered 79 runs in only 15 overs. The partnership flourished either side of a rain break that saw 19 overs lost.

Flintoff looked well set to score his first championship half-century before mis-cuing a drive to extra cover where Keith Newell took a smart catch at the second attempt.

After Flintoff's departure Fairbrother completed his 50 off just 44 balls with nine fours as Lancashire reached 129-4 at tea - still 350 adrift of Glamorgan's 479 all out.

With fine support from Joe Scuderi and then Chris Schofield, 37-year-old Fairbrother went on to record his 45th first-class century from just 102 balls.

Glamorgan had resumed this morning on 388-7 with skipper Adrian Dale completing his century during a 95-run partnership with Dean Cosker.