Wells, Jennings frustrate Middlesex on rain-hit day
Middlesex's promotion hopes hit the skids with victory off the cards
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17-Sep-2025 • 4 hrs ago
Luke Wells made a half-century to drive Lancashire • PA Photos/Getty Images
Lancashire 105 for 0 (Wells 60*, Jennings 36*) trail Middlesex 211 (De Caires 52, Geddes 52, Aspinwall 4-62, Bailey 4-68) by 106 runs
Luke Wells and Keaton Jennings enriched the penultimate evening of the season at Emirates Old Trafford with an unbroken opening stand of 105 but Lancashire's Rothesay County Championship match against Middlesex looks certain to end in the draw that would almost certainly end the visitors' chances of promotion.
Replying to Middlesex's 211, a first innings in which Tom Aspinwall and Tom Bailey both took four wickets, Lancashire ended another day shortened by rain and bad light on 105 without loss, with Jennings on 36 not out and Wells unbeaten on 60. However, only 31.4 overs were possible in Manchester on Wednesday and neither side appears to have a credible chance of forcing a win, even if Thursday's weather permits a full 96 overs' play. So far 210 overs have been lost in this match.
Heavy rain overnight and throughout the morning left the Emirates Old Trafford outfield saturated but after two inspections play got under way at three o'clock and Lancashire's bowlers took only 6.4 overs to take the two wickets they needed to end Middlesex's first innings.
Tom Aspinwall had Zafar Gohar caught at long leg by substitute fielder Will Williams for 25 and then Henry Brookes followed for two in Aspinwall's next over when he edged a cut to Matty Hurst behind the stumps. That left Aspinwall with figures of four for 62 while Tom Bailey finished with four for 68.
Left with a possible 34 overs in which to bat this evening, Jennings and Wells quickly settled into their work. Wells pulled Toby Roland-Jones towards the party stand for six and Lancashire were 44 without loss at tea.
In the evening session, Wells played with even greater fluency levying maximums off both Seb Morgan and Zafar Gohar, reaching his fifty off 71 balls and ending the day just 25 runs of a thousand in first-class cricket this season. Jennings requires another 67 runs to reach the same mark but it is also a reflection of Lancashire's recent problems that this was only the county's second century partnership for the first wicket in the last 47 innings, a record stretching back to the end of 2023.
Middlesex came into this match lying fourth in the table, 30 points behind second-placed Glamorgan. However, their hopes are almost certain to be scuppered if they fail to win this game and Glamorgan avoid defeat against Derbyshire.
