Gloucestershire 179 for 1 (Charlesworth 104*, Phillips 60*) trail Lancashire 557 (Green 160, Hartley 130, Hurst 106, Zaman 4-85) by 378 runs
Chris Green and Tom Hartley produced record-breaking performances with the bat as Lancashire assumed the upper hand on day two of the Rothesay County Championship Second Division match against Gloucestershire at the College Ground, Cheltenham.
Both made their highest individual first-class scores, Green raising a superb 160 from 199 balls with 13 fours and eight sixes, and Hartley 130 via 153 deliveries with 14 fours and six sixes as the Red Rose county posted a formidable 557 in their first innings. Together, the pair staged Lancashire's biggest ever ninth-wicket partnership of 212, eclipsing a long-standing record set by Australians Les Poidevine and Alexander Kermode in a match against Sussex in Eastbourne way back in 1907.
Opening-day centurion Matty Hurst made a career-best 106, while Gloucestershire seamer Zaman Akhter and spinner Graeme van Buuren claimed figures of 4 for 85 and 3 for 117 respectively as their side waged a campaign of damage limitation on an essentially sound if slow Festival pitch.
Demonstrating character aplenty, Ben Charlesworth and Joe Phillips launched a spirited counter-attack thereafter, staging an impressive unbroken alliance of 159 in 43.3 overs as Gloucestershire reached the close on 179 for 1, trailing by 378 runs. Charlesworth produced a dazzling display of stroke-play to score the fastest century of the match so far and finish on 104 not out, while Phillips played the supporting role to perfection, posting a stubborn undefeated 60 from 135 deliveries to dampen Lancashire's hopes of forcing a second consecutive victory in the red-ball format.
Again without the services of injured paceman Marchant de Lange, Gloucestershire deployed four spinners, van Buuren taking two wickets in four balls to check northern progress after Lancashire resumed on 290 for 6.
Hurst had added just one run to his overnight career-best 105 when he pursued a wide delivery and sliced to Akhter at backward point, while Jack Blatherwait miss-timed a drive and skied to mid-off as the visitors slipped to 302 for 8.
That was as good as it got for Gloucestershire. Pulling and driving with growing confidence, Green raised 50 from 87 balls and, together with Hartley, helped secure a third batting bonus point. Putting Todd Murphy under pressure for the first time, Green pulled the Australian Test spinner for two successive sixes over mid-wicket, in the process causing some among a healthy Festival audience to seek cover. No slouch himself and especially strong off the back foot, Hartley also opened his shoulders to good effect as the eighth wicket alliance realised 50 inside 12 overs.
Green raised the hundred partnership in 151 balls with an imposing six over square leg off Singh Dale as Lancashire went past 400.Hartley brought up his 50 via 78 balls with a single on the leg side off Singh Dale as Lancashire reached lunch on 415 for 8. Their partnership was already the highest for the ninth wicket for Lancashire in matches against Gloucestershire, improving upon the 107 staged jointly by Billy Tyldesley and Bill Huddlestone at the Spa Ground, Gloucester in 1914 and by Alan Wharton and Malcolm Hilton at Blackpool in 1951.
Green went to his hundred from 156 balls in the first over after lunch, the Australian driving Murphy through the off-side for the ninth four of an increasingly authoritative innings. When Hartley nudged a ball from Murphy into the covers and ran a single to move the score onto 445 for 8, he and Green had established a new Lancashire record ninth-wicket partnership. The occasion was marked by a gentle ripple of applause from a small handful of aficionados in front of the pavilion.
By now slog-sweeping with impunity, Green plundered a further two sixes off Murphy to establish his highest first class score, surpassing the 121 made against Derbyshire at Chesterfield last month. Not to be upstaged, Hartley posted a career-best score of his own moments later, eclipsing the 73 not out made against Essex at Chelmsford in 2023. Green's sixth six at the expense of Murphy carried him to a maiden 150 and, six runs later, he claimed the highest score by a Lancashire number eight, eclipsing the 155 mustered by Wasim Akram and Glenn Chapple in 1998 and 2001 respectively.
Amid the blizzard of landmarks was a small success for the home side, Charlesworth bowling Green to offer respite. It proved short-lived, Hartley driving Charlesworth to the long-off boundary to register his maiden hundred from 145 balls with his 13th four later in the same over. The England spinner then launched a murderous offensive, smashing a further 29 runs in eight balls, including a quartet of sixes, before hoisting Charlesworth to long-off.
Gloucestershire's suffering continued, Cameron Bancroft shuffling in front of a straight delivery from Jimmy Anderson as the home side lost their first wicket with 20 on the board. Charlesworth and Joe Phillips mustered stubborn resistance thereafter, as tea was taken with the score 59 for 1.Charlesworth then went to a 54-ball half century in style, straight-driving Hartley for six as the second wicket pair continued to frustrate the bowling in the final session.
Phillips offered staunch support, eschewing risk and compiling steadily as the Kookaburra ball softened. The hundred partnership occupied 161 balls, after which Charlesworth allowed his natural attacking instincts to take over, the 24-year-old left hander going to his fourth career first-class hundred from just 123 balls with 16 fours and a six. Rather more sedate in his approach, Phillips raised a chanceless 50 from 111 deliveries.
