Van Beek keeps Foxes flying as Lancashire slump to dismal innings defeat

Leicestershire's remarkable season continued apace with victory over Lancashire by an innings and three runs to further reinforce an already formidable lead in Division Two of the Rothesay County Championship.

With a 251-run advantage on first innings, brought about largely by centuries from Rehan Ahmed and Lewis Hill, they bowled Lancashire out for 248 to complete a fifth win of the season, all of which have been achieved with a day to spare.

Keaton Jennings, who stepped down as captain earlier this month in the light of his side's woeful start to the campaign, gave his side hope of salvaging something from this match with a characterful 112, but no other batter made 26 in another dismal Lancashire performance.

Logan Van Beek was Leicestershire's most successful bowler with four for 61 and there were two wickets each for Josh Hull, Tom Scriven and Rehan Ahmed.

Having watched Leicestershire progress merrily through Saturday at 4.23 runs per over compared with their own 2.65 on day one, Lancashire might have imagined that runs would come more easily to them on day three, yet it took them 29 overs to trim 74 off their deficit in the first session.

What's more, they lost three wickets in doing so, including perhaps critically that of their leading scorer and principal hope of avoiding defeat here, Marcus Harris.

The Australian perished in the penultimate over before lunch as captain Peter Handscomb repeated his first-day tactic of bringing back his new ball bowlers for a pre-interval burst. It brought success then and it did again as Harris flashed at a ball outside off stump to be caught behind for 20.

It provided a third wicket of the morning for Van Beek, who had been two for nine from six overs after his first spell, having dismissed Luke Wells and Josh Bohannon in the space of three deliveries.

Wells deployed an uppercut to lift a short delivery over the slip cordon but did not control the shot and Lewis Hill, with a gusty crosswind adding an extra element of difficulty, took a well-judged catch at wide third man. Bohannon edged to second slip for a second-ball duck.

However, the collapse sparked by Van Beek's breakthrough before lunch on day one was not repeated, thanks largely to Jennings, who showed the strength of his character in a difficult season to guide Lancashire to 209 for five at tea thanks to the 32nd first-class hundred of his career, his 16th for his current county.

It was doubtless not the most fluid among them on a pitch starting to produce variable bounce and he survived a chance on 58 when a diving Ben Cox could not get his gloves around a flick down the legside off Hull, but it kept his side in the game.

After finding support from Matty Hurst, who was caught behind off a fine delivery by Scriven, in adding 70 for the fourth wicket, Jennings reached the milestone as a meaty pull Van Beek brought him a 10th boundary.

The fifth wicket added a further 58, although George Bell's dismissal off a top-edged pull just before tea detracted a touch from what had otherwise been a solid session for the visitors, who were still 42 behind at the interval.

Moreover, the breakthrough Leicestershire craved was not far away, Jennings falling seven overs into the evening session, his demise brought about by a ball that reared up off a length from Scriven and caught the batter's right glove, Handscomb taking an excellent catch at slip.

After that, Lancashire's downfall came about at pace. Hull brought one back to bowl George Balderson, Rehan Ahmed's leg spin came into the game to have Tom Bailey caught behind, the England all-rounder following up by trapping Anderson Phillip leg before.

Hull then took a splendid catch on the run off his own bowling to remove Tom Hartley and spark Leicestershire's celebrations in a season in which promotion already looks theirs to lose with the Championship season only at the halfway stage.