County Championship: Lancashire openers share century stand against Warwickshire

Luke Wells will be in search of his 20th first-class century on Saturday

Lancashire openers Luke Wells and Keaton Jennings shared an unbroken century partnership as the home side dominated the rain-curtailed second day of their County Championship match against Warwickshire at Emirates Old Trafford.

Replying to the visitors' 315, in which Dom Sibley carried his bat for 142, Lancashire were 127 without loss after 42 overs of their first innings when umpires Nigel Llong and Graham Lloyd took the players off three overs before tea.

Play was then abandoned at 17:20 BST with Wells unbeaten on 70 and Jennings, who is making his first appearance of the season, on 44 not out. In all 35 overs were lost from the day's minimum allocation of 96, although eight of those can be recovered on the third day.

But the signs had been ominous for Warwickshire from the opening overs of the home side's reply. Wells looked in particularly fine form, helping himself to three boundaries through the off side off Nathan McAndrew and hitting seven in all as the first-wicket stand passed 50 in the 20th over.

Jennings was rather more restrained but he and Wells, who were opening a Lancashire innings for the first time, ignored the growing gloom and were only properly tied down by Olly Hannon-Dalby, whose 11 overs cost 13 runs.

Wells reached his fifty off 90 balls with a square-driven boundary off Danny Briggs that brought him his ninth four.

The pair brought up their 100-run partnership off the first ball of the 36th over but a few minutes later Wells had a narrow escape when a delivery from McAndrew shaved his off stump. However, that was something of an exception on an afternoon when the Lancashire pair built a platform from which their side will hope to overhaul Warwickshire's total on Saturday.

The morning also began well for Lancashire when Hassan Ali had both McAndrew and Craig Miles leg before wicket in his first three overs.

The home attack was then frustrated for 48 minutes by last man Hannon-Dalby, who faced 29 balls for his three runs before being bowled by Matt Parkinson, who became the third Lancashire bowler after Hassan and Tom Bailey to take three wickets in the innings. That left Sibley undefeated, the fourth time he has carried his bat for Warwickshire. Indeed, he is the only Bears batter to do so since Ian Westwood performed the feat, also at Old Trafford in 2010.

Report supplied by the ECB Reporters' Network.