County Championship: Lancashire thwarted by Dom Sibley century for Bears

Dom Sibley made his first century since being dropped by England last summer but Lancashire pacemen Tom Bailey and Hassan Ali hit back with three late wickets.

Having won the toss and opted to bat first on what looked a very good pitch, the visitors ended the day on 273-7 with Sibley unbeaten on 118.

The vast majority of the credit for that should go to Sibley, who chose not to tour with England Lions in Australia before Christmas, instead preferring to stay at home and work hard on his game with Warwickshire batting coach Tony Frost.

The benefits can be seen in Sibley's more compact, better balanced side-on technique as he coped capably with a Lancashire attack admittedly lacking both of their England pacemen James Anderson and Saqib Mahmood.

It was Sibley's first red-ball century since making 120 against the West Indies, also at Old Trafford, behind closed doors in the Covid bubble in July 2020.

While Sibley stood firm, the Lancashire attack made regular breakthroughs, the first of which came in the third over when in his first innings back at his former club, Alex Davies departed to an eighth-ball when he offered no shot to Bailey, only to see it jag back to knock out his off stump.

Rob Yates then lost his off stump to a swinging delivery from Luke Wood and Sam Hain put on 82 with Sibley before coming down the pitch to a Matt Parkinson delivery that he turned into a full toss and smacked straight to short extra cover where substitute fielder, Rob Jones, took a good two-handed catch above his head.

Warwickshire captain Will Rhode hit three fours in his 16 runs before being bowled by a Parkinson leg-spinner.

But Sibley then put on 99 with Chris Benjamin, who on the ground where he made his maiden first-class century on his Championship debut last August, finally fell to the new ball when Bailey trapped him lbw for 47.

Four overs later Michael Burgess was also leg before to Bailey and Danny Briggs then went second ball, well caught low down by Keaton Jennings at second slip off Ali.

Lancashire fast bowler Tom Bailey:

"Those three wickets at the end were massively important, otherwise it would have been Warwickshire's day.

"We knew the wicket was going to be good but we also knew there'd be a bit if help early on. After that it flattened out and that showed.

"Playing here every week we know we have to stick at it if we are going to be in contention for trophies and we put a shift. We were debating whether to take the second new ball because the bowlers were tired but thankfully it paid off."

Warwickshire fast bowler Oliver Hannon-Dalby:

"That's what we know Dom can do. He's a brilliant batter, He takes his time and he absorbed a lot of pressure from that Lancashire attack. That's Dom at his best.

"He's spent a lot of time this winter working with various coaches at Warwickshire. He was in at eight in the morning and he was often there until late at night.

"He took that into the pre-season games and he looked a million dollars in those games. It's so nice to see him get a score. He'll be looking to kick on."

Report supplied by the ECB Reporters' Network.