A crazy final session has left no doubt of a result in the match between the MCC and Lancashire. The MCC enjoyed the early part of the day, at one point having Lancashire on 106-7, but Captain Chapple brought the total up to 199 with a steady innings of 42. With a lead of 67 the MCC should have been looking to capatalise and move the game beyond doubt but having reached 52 for the loss of only their openers the game turned on its head.
Firstly Marshall, who'd played well to reach the highest score of the innings so far (31) was LBW to Chapple, whose day was getting better. Then Ali was bowled having scored just 2 from 24 balls. Two runs later Lancashire took the big wicket of Blackwell, (who scored 102* in the first innings) this time for 0. For the MCC the end could not come soon enough but there were still more than 10 overs left of play. Under the lights, with the dew settling and the pressure on, batting became a nightmare and Kerrigan was the bowler to capitalise. He took 3 wickets in 6 balls (across two overs) as the final 10 overs of play went for just 12 runs, leaving the MCC on 81 for 8 overnight, a lead of just 148.
As this test of the longer form of the game under day-night conditions goes on the same trend seems to be starting to appear, when darkness falls batting gets increasingly harder. But then don't we know that already? On winning the toss in a one-day day-nighter a captain almost always chooses to bat first, because of that very issue. And while the longer game allows players the time to bat slowly and take less risks it doesn't seem to change the result.
There are many good points about day-night test cricket, but in a time where very few matches last 5 days, raising the chance of quick wickets doesn't seem sensible.
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