Sunday 14 June 2015 20:21, UK
James Faulkner took a hat-trick as Lancashire bowled out Leicestershire for 207 on the opening day of their County Championship Division Two match at Old Trafford.
The Australian removed Ben Raine, Jigar Naik and Charlie Shreck late in the day as the visitors passed 200 – having recovered from 78-5.
The 25-year-old left-arm seamer had Raine caught at point with the last ball of the 43rd over, before trapping Naik and Shreck with the first two balls of the 45th.
He finished with 3-53 from 15 overs and became the first Red Rose county player to achieve the feat in first-class cricket since James Anderson did so on the same ground against Essex in 2003.
On a day when poor light and rain restricted play to just 50 overs, Leicestershire were aided by a sixth-wicket stand of 87 between Andrea Agathangelou and Raine.
Agathangelou hit 54 from 66 deliveries and was the only visiting batsman to pass 30.
Tom Bailey claimed 4-69 but it was Faulkner who brightened up a dull day with his hat-trick achieved over two overs.
Meanwhile, on the opening day at Chelmsford, James Porter finished with figures of 4-28 before Alastair Cook hit an unbeaten half-century as Essex assumed total control of their clash with Derbyshire.
Porter was given fine support from Jesse Ryder, Graham Napier and Matt Salisbury in dismissing Derbyshire for 148 before tea.
Cook (50no) then put on an unbroken 108 with Nick Browne (47no) in reply, to leave the hosts just 40 runs behind with all 10 first-innings wickets in hand.
Having earlier been asked to bat, the visitors suffered a horrible morning in reaching lunch at 57-6. They quickly found themselves 7-2; Billy Godleman bowled by Ryder for a seven-ball duck before Ryder was again involved, this time taking the catch to remove Ben Slater off Porter.
And that became 23-4 with Wayne Madsen also lasting just seven balls without scoring before he was trapped lbw by Ryder, leaving Chesney Hughes to be clean bowled by Porter as Derbyshire's nightmare start deepened.
It got worse for them. Scott Elstone became the third player in the top six to fail to score when he was bowled by Porter and within an hour of play, they were reeling on 25-5.
Wes Durston and Shiv Thakor offered some relative resistance, adding 28 for the sixth wicket before Salisbury had Durston caught behind for 18 only for the weather to close in, allowing just 18.2 overs in the session before food.
Thakor continued to impress alongside Wayne White when the players returned and they added 60 for the seventh wicket before Thakor (44) was caught by Cook off Napier.
White continued to shepherd the tail but was left stranded on 38 when Mark Footitt was bowled by Napier.
Derbyshire's woes were then put into context by Cook and Browne as their bowlers toiled without reward for 38 overs.
