
Since Lancashire won the County Championship in 2011, they have been relegated four times – in 2012, 2014, 2018 and now in 2024. If the numerical pattern continues, the (semi) good news is that they won’t be relegated again until 2032. Of course, they first have to win promotion back to the top flight. On each of the previous three occasions, they have been promoted at the first time of asking, but 2025 may not be so easy.
Having finished second in the County Championship in 2022 and fifth last year, ninth place represented a sad decline for the Red Rose county. Six matches were lost, including three consecutive innings defeats (four in total). Captain Keaton Jennings did his best to keep the ship afloat, with over 1,000 runs including four hundreds, but he had poor support from his fellow batters. A quartet as talented as Josh Bohannon, Luke Wells, George Balderson and George Bell managed just three hundreds between them in 88 innings. The team achieved a dismal total of just 15 batting bonus points all season.
It was a similar tale of under-performance amongst the bowlers. None of Balderson, Tom Bailey and Will Williams will be totally happy with their season’s efforts. It was the unlikely figure of Luke Wells who impressed most with the ball, taking 24 wickets at only 22.70 apiece.
And then there is the matter of absent friends – those who didn’t play or played less than might have been the case. Dane Vilas, Danny Lamb and Matt Parkinson had all departed before the season began and you can look in vain for the names of Phil Salt, Liam Livingstone and Jos Buttler in the four day averages. James Anderson and Saqib Mahmood managed three appearances between them and Nathan Lyon, originally lined up for a full season, was restricted by an edict from Cricket Australia to just eight matches, in which he captured 26 wickets.
There was at least a modicum of success in the Vitality Blast. Third place in the North Group was achieved despite three no results. Seven matches were won, but then in the quarter final disaster struck. Lancashire were bowled out at Hove for just 114 in 15.3 overs by the varied Sussex attack. The home team then knocked off the runs in 14.1 overs for the loss of just two wickets.
Keaton Jennings was again to the fore in the Blast campaign while Stephen Croft (in his last season) and young Matty Hurst both played useful innings. Australian Chris Green also contributed with the bat and took 14 wickets with an economy rate of just 7.41 runs per over.
Then there was the Metro Bank One Day Cup. Oh dear! Bottom of Group A with just two wins and six losses. It could have been even worse, the only wins coming in the last two games when the cause was already hopeless. There were minor consolations in that three hundreds were scored (by the inevitable Jennings, plus Josh Bohannon and Chris Green) and Rocky Flintoff showed his potential with the bat. As many as 13 players turned their arms over but no-one achieved a double figure tally of wickets. Enough said!
Results
Vitality County Championship: ninth in Division One
Vitality Blast: Losing quarter finalists
Metro Bank One Day Cup: Bottom Group A
Leading run-scorers
Vitality CC: Keaton Jennings 1006 runs at 45.72
Vitality Blast: Keaton Jennings 278 at 30.88; Strike rate 158.85
Metro Bank ODC: Josh Bohannon 274 runs at 34.25
Leading wicket-takers
Vitality CC: George Balderson 36 at 30.00
Vitality Blast: Chris Green 14 at 21.00; Economy rate 7.41 runs per over
Metro Bank ODC: Charlie Barnard 8 at 30.75
Player of the season
For having carried the burden of captaincy in a losing side and for scoring almost 1500 runs across the three competitions, Keaton Jennings has to be Lancashire’s player of the season. At age 32, his international days are almost certainly behind him, but at county level he is a consistently fine performer.
Breakthrough Player
Wigan born wicket keeper batter Matty Hurst, aged just 20, had a fine season. His 677 runs in the Championship included five fifties and one hundred. He backed this up with 41 catches and a stumping. He also scored well in the Blast. He is clearly a player to watch having already bagged a stint in The Hundred, plus an England Lions call up and a contract with Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash.
Close behind him is Rocky Flintoff, just 16 years old. He followed a century for England under-19s with some extremely promising innings in both the Championship and the One Day Cup, including 88 against Middlesex.
Could have done better
Lancashire are not alone in having struggled to find the right input from overseas players. The situation with Nathan Lyon was not their fault and Chris Green proved to be a pretty good white ball signing – he will be back in 2025. However Tom Bruce, Venkatesh Iyer and George Dockrell all came and went without making a significant contribution.
Need to work on
Continuing with the theme of overseas players, coach Dale Benkenstein is undoubtedly right when he says that some more experience is needed in the squad to back up the youngsters and that this will have to come from overseas. Just who he will manage to recruit in a difficult and competitive market remains to be seen. He had a tough first year in charge and things are unlikely to get much easier.
What’s next?
Undoubtedly the focus next year will be on bouncing back to the top division of the Championship. The fact that they have swapped divisions with bitter rivals Yorkshire will have made the pill of relegation even harder to swallow. If some of the players who put in sub-par performances this year can get back to their best in the slightly easier environment of the second division and if young players like Flintoff and Hurst can progress, maybe an early return is on the cards.
Season Rating
Even allowing for the decent Blast performance, this was a poor season for the Red Rose county.
Mark: 4/10
Far too many inaccuracies – Lancs weren’t 4th in 2023, Matt Lamb ??? and Anderson Phillip’s 15 wkts at 24 looks relatively significant in comparison with others…..
Valid comments – thanks. I have updated the review to correct the mistakes.