County Championship: Dramatic Lancashire victory ends Hampshire title hopes

Lancashire made the biggest total of the match to win at Aigburth

Lancashire ended Hampshire's hopes of a first title since 1973 with a thrilling one-wicket victory at Aigburth.

Tom Bailey returned career-best figures of 7-37 as Hampshire were all out for 193, having begun day three on 158-7.

Alex Davies (44) gave the Red Rose county a positive start and captain Dane Vilas (47 not out) saw them to 198-9 despite Mason Crane's 5-41.

Lancashire will become county champions if Warwickshire are unable to beat Somerset at Edgbaston on Friday.

When the Bears failed to take maximum first-innings bowling points, it opened the door for Hampshire to clinch the title with victory over Lancashire.

But their attack, minus leading wicket-taker Kyle Abbott because of injury, could not quite finish the job and earn a second trophy of 2021 for skipper James Vince, who won The Hundred with Southern Brave.

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Lancashire have won the title outright on seven occasions, most recently in 2011, and also shared the title with Surrey in 1950.

In an astonishing finish to the match, they seemed to be cruising towards their target of 196 at 177-5 but then lost three wickets for 16 runs, including Bailey, who was run out by Crane when Vilas called him for a single.

With only three more needed, Jack Blatherwick came out at number 10 to face Liam Dawson and inexplicably pinched the strike for the next over with one run from the final delivery.

Facing Crane, Blatherwick blocked out three balls but then edged to second slip, leaving last man Matt Parkinson to survive the rest of the over, which he did.

And that cleared the way for Vilas to sweep Dawson for four to put paid to the possibility of a tie and end both the match and Hampshire's dream of a third title.

Tom Bailey's career-best figures took him to 50 Championship wickets for Lancashire this season

Earlier, pace bowler Bailey helped finish off Hampshire's second innings with two of the three wickets to fall and Davies and George Balderson then launched the run-chase with a 55-run partnership either side of lunch.

Balderson was bowled behind his legs by Dawson and Davies caught at cover off Keith Barker in successive overs and there was another double setback for Lancashire when Josh Bohannon and Luke Wells departed just before tea, which they reached on 118-4.

Vilas, however, stood firm, and despite the sudden flurry of wickets by leg-spinner Crane, kept the home side in the title picture and put all the pressure on Warwickshire.

Lancashire now have 73.5 points and if Warwickshire - who lead Somerset by 157 runs - fail to win and become champions, Nottinghamshire can snatch second place by beating Yorkshire at Trent Bridge, where they have been set a target of 174.

Lancashire captain Dane Vilas:

"Parky (Matt Parkinson) was never going to get out to a leg spinner being the type of man that he is but it was incredibly tense because Mason (Crane) bowled incredibly well and he was asking some huge questions.

"To put ourselves in a position where we could potentially win the County Championship is massive and you don't get these opportunities that often as players. I'm privileged and honoured that I could be there to get us over the line.

"The effort that we've shown throughout the whole season has meant everybody has stepped up at some stage - all the batters have got a hundred and that's what we want from a team.

"We've created that culture and that environment where we drive each other to do well and everyone wants to do well for the team."

Hampshire leg-spinner Mason Crane told BBC Radio Solent:

"It really hurts. We got close and we clawed it back and we said we'd keep fighting to the very end and that's what we did.

"I'm proud of the team and everyone for sticking with it. It obviously wasn't meant to be today, but it's a cruel game sometimes, we were that close, inches away from the edge of the bat to winning the Championship and it's tough to take.

"Every run was crucial towards the end and at times, it felt like quite a big score we had there. But the pitch did seem to get better the longer the game went on.

"It does hurt but once the dust settles, I would rather have been in this position all season than playing in dead rubbers at the end."