India off-spinner Washington Sundar starred for Lancashire on his County Championship debut as he helped his side defeat Northamptonshire in a close encounter with a brilliant all-round performance.
After being the starman in the first innings of his County career for taking a five-wicket haul, Sundar then made a significant contribution with the bat in the chase of 278.
Batting at number 8, the left-hander remained unbeaten on 34* off 81 having spent 99 minutes at the crease and stroked 5 classy boundaries, to take his side over the line after they had lost 6 wickets.
He found able support in Will Williams who also remained unbeaten on 29 off 107 balls. Josh Bohannon’s 103 was seemingly going to go in vain when Lancashire were reduced to 188/5 and then 209/6 in their pursuit of 208 before Sundar and Williams performed the rescue act with a match-winning partnership of 69 runs.
Earlier in the game, Washington Sundar had hogged the limelight when he took a maiden County 5-wicket haul on his debut! In Northants’ first innings, Sundar returned with superb bowling figures of 5/76 and bowled at a parsimonious economy of 3.45 to bowl the opposition out for 235.
In reply, Lancashire batted poorly and were bundled for only 132 conceding a big lead. They did well in their second bowling innings and vanished the opposition batting line-up for 174, but faced a daunting target of 278, which they then achieved with a special effort from Washington Sundar.
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Elsewhere in the County Cricket, two other Indian cricketers have made impressive performances. Cheteshwar Pujara has continued to pile up runs. Captaining Sussex as the interim skipper, Pujara slammed another double century – his third this CC season – against Middlesex and is now the fourth-highest run-scorer in CC Division 2 having ransacked 999 runs in 11 innings at a jaw-dropping average of 111.
India pacer Navdeep Saini also made a strong statement with a five-wicket haul on his County debut. Making his debut in the County Championship Division 1, bowling for Kent, Saini made a mark straightaway with a staggering five-wicket haul against Warwickshire at Edgbaston, Birmingham. His bowling figures of 5/72 and 2/39 went a long way in Kent’s victory by 177 runs.
