Friday, August 16th, 2024

Lategan hits century in both innings for table-topping Academy in drawn Championship fixture

Daniel Lategan struck centuries in both innings for leaders Worcestershire Academy (Under-18s) in their high scoring drawn ECB County Championship Group Two encounter with Somerset at Taunton Vale.

The South African born left hander hit 165 in the first innings and followed it up with an undefeated 102 as Worcestershire batted out the final two sessions on the third day to earn a share of the spoils.

They collected a total of 12 points from the game and head the table with 58 points from four games, two points more than Gloucestershire (56) with Warwickshire (51) in third spot.

Worcestershire opted to bat and totalled  468-8 from 92 overs in their first innings.

Lategan scored his runs off 182 balls and hit one six and 26 fours.

He shared in stands of 88 with Louis Hursthouse (49), 153 with Fin Goodman (50) and 53 with Nathan Jukes (26) before he was sixth out with the total 339.

Josh Leach then hit an unbeaten 50 off 40 balls and the last three wickets added 36, 47 and 46 before the declaration.

Worcestershire also found wickets hard to come by as Somerset totalled 588-7 declared from 141 overs with Ben Church and Ben Mason both scoring centuries.

Ben Clarke plugged away for 23 overs to finish with 2-67 and Ben Clements picked up three wickets for 55 in 12 overs.

Worcestershire were left to bat out the final afternoon to earn a draw and Lategan was again in fine form.

His knock contained one six and 16 fours and he added an unbroken 103 with Goodman (29 not out) as Worcestershire closed on 173-2.