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Durham 88 for 3 trail Lancashire 204 (Croft 54, Petersen 51, Rushworth 4-30) by 116 runsScorecard Had James Andersons stress fracture healed a trifle more quickly, he would have been playing against Pakistan in the Test match at Lords. Instead of that, however, he spent his Saturday at the home of cricket. That, at any rate, is probably how Chris Firth sees it.On most weekends in the summer Firth captains Southport and Birkdales first team but at around 5.30am on the first morning of this game, he began tipping up around a thousand seats to remove the overnight rain from them. This is county week at Trafalgar Road and that matters to folk round here.Southport is not alone, of course. By a lunacy of the fixture list likely to make even the most tranquil Buddhist scream in frustration, the coming week sees Lancashire play at Southport at the same time as Glamorgan are playing at Colwyn Bay and Kent at Tunbridge Wells. And yes, it is the Cheltenham Festival, too. It is as though someone had decided to hold a beauty contest for Englands cricketing Elysiums.At all of these great grounds members have taken unpaid holidays in order to welcome first-class cricket. Sightscreens have been painted, hospitality sold and patios brushed to within a cubit of their stony lives. Wickets have been rolled and weather forecasts studied with more than jocular cynicism. Outground cricket is not some indulgent Betjemanesque whimsy; it could be near the heart of the English four-day season if only some counties and a few ECB officials loved it a little more and saw the long-term value of spending a few bob taking the game to the people.Rarely, though, does the composition of the teams in an outground match contain such delightful contrasts as was on offer at Trafalgar Road. In the Lancashire team, for the first two innings anyway, was Anderson, who will almost certainly open Englands bowling against Pakistan on Friday, but also Tom Moores, who was making his first-class debut. Moores, indeed, was watched by his father, Peter, not so long ago an England coach himself, but today, was simply a dad watching his lad.In the Durham side was Ben Stokes, who may line up alongside Anderson on Friday, and Adam Hickey, who had never played in the County Championship before. Of the four players, Moores had just about the better day. His 54-minute 25 helped Lancashire recover a smidgeon from 105 for 5 when Karl Brown was out for nought.Moores added 41 with Steven Croft but was dropped twice, receiving the first generosity when he nicked his first ball to Stokes at third slip, who thus dropped his second catch of the day and hurled the ball into the ground in Vizigothic fury. Merseyside cricket fans are generally unimpressed by such histrionics. Hey, Stokesy-la! Butterfingers! one yelled.Moores eventually nicked a catch to Michael Richardson off the medium pace of Keaton Jennings and the same bowler removed Kyle Jarvis, caught and bowled for 2, but it was not these later batsmens fault that Lancashire were 188 for 7 at tea or bowled out for 204 shortly after the resumption.Chris Rushworth, bowling on a surface which offered him pace and bounce but which both he and Lancashires Alviro Petersen described as a good cricket wicket, dismissed the last three batsmen in 11 balls early in the evening session to end the Lancashire innings. Rushworth finished with 4 for 30 from 17 overs while the Lancashire skipper, Croft, was the last man dismissed, caught and bowled by Sunderlands finest beard for a valiant 54.How Croft must have regretted the profligacy of his colleagues, who had managed to turn a very respectable 91 for 2 into a very dodgy 105 for 5 in just three careless post-prandial overs. This decline began when Luke Procter, having got his nut down in characteristic fashion to make 30 in 135 minutes, flashed at Paul Coughlin but only edged a catch to Richardson.Then Petersen, perhaps surfing the contentment that comes when you make a half-century against a decent attack, called Croft for a second run but was well beaten by Jack Burnhams throw from deep midwicket. Two overs later, Browns horribly flat-footed slash only nicked a catch to Jennings off Graham Onions. In less than the time it took the corporate hospitality boys to move from the claret to the port, Lancashire had gone from gentle prosperity to genteel poverty.But even after they had been bowled out 60 runs short of acceptability, Lancashire cricketers could still console themselves that they had Anderson in their attack during Durhams first innings. This consolation appeared especially significant when Anderson removed Jennings in the third over of the day but Mark Stoneman and Scott Borthwick then added 69 for the second wicket in a manner that ranged from the confident to the vulnerable. The former was shown by the boundaries the pair stroked off Jarvis; the latter, by the over in which Borthwick played and missed five times to Anderson.Still, though, the pair survived and it looked as though Durhams cricketers were heading for a position of strength when Procter removed both Stoneman and Burnham in the last five overs of a day that had begun at noon. Catches were edged to Moores and Croft and the Lancashire pair made no mistake. Rushworth considered the game evenly poised and few in the happy crowd on Saturday seemed keen to dispute the contention.And in many respects that final session was the best of the day. A fed and watered crowd watched the cricket in bubbling contentment and the Southport and Birkdale chairman, Tony Elwood, even sported his Bertie Wooster blazer. For the clubs volunteers, all their work was utterly worthwhile as the evening warmed. The sun shone, too, although if the tireless Lindsey Bridge could have found a ladder long enough, she would have sent someone up with a duster to give it a polish. Wholesale Jets Jerseys . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. Cheap Jets Jerseys . If ever they start actually putting pictures beside words in the dictionary, the Blue Jays left-handers mug will appear beside “Consistency. http://www.cheapnewyorkjetsjerseysauthentic.com/ . Halifax beat the Saint John Sea Dogs 7-5 on the strength of two goals apiece from Nikolaj Ehlers, Matt Murphy and Brent Andrews. Jonathan Drouin also scored and had three assists while Zachary Fucale made 17 saves for the Mooseheads (16-8-0), who led 6-1 after two periods. PITTSBURGH -- Jeff Locke barely made the Pittsburgh Pirates starting rotation out of spring training, winning a battle with Kyle McPherson almost by default after McPherson struggled and a better option never materialized. "You know when you break camp as the No. 5 guy, if something happens or if someone starts off hot down below you might be the guy that gets moved," Locke said. "Its kind of pitching to survive." Something thats no longer an issue for him as the de facto ace for the injury ravaged Pirates. The 25-year-old, who looks a couple days removed from high school, allowed two hits over seven innings as the Pirates silenced the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-0 on Friday night. Locke struck out five and walked one while needing just 75 pitches to get 21 outs. Locke (6-1) barely resembled the guy who walked seven Chicago Cubs in his previous start, keeping the Dodgers off balance by working both sides of the plate and not being afraid of letting his defence do the rest as his ERA dropped to 2.19. "He came to pitch," Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. "Just very, very efficient. He made pitches the entire seven innings." Jason Grilli worked out of a two-on, no-out jam in the ninth for his National League-leading 24th save. Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run double in the third inning off Stephen Fife (1-2) and gave the Pirates some insurance when he scored on a sacrifice fly by Neil Walker in the ninth. The story, however, remains the soft-spoken left-hander from New Hampshire. Locke lost his first game of the year, a 6-2 defeat in Los Angeles on April 10. He hasnt been beaten since and appears to be growing stronger each time he takes the hill, a welcome development for a starting rotation in tatters. A.J. Burnett, Wandy Rodriguez, James McDonald and Jeanmar Gomez all are on the disabled list, leaving Locke and veteran Francisco Liriano as the top-end starters for one of baseballs biggest first-half surprises. If the spotlight is getting to Locke, it doesnt show. "I wouldnt say (my) comfort level has changed at all," Locke said. "Its still uncomfortable. The confidence is definitely there. Thats something Ive gained into spring training and Ive been able to carry it through the first half of the season so far." Los Angeles didnt get a runner to second base while Locke was in the game, but had chances late to tie the game. Pittsburgh reliever Mark Melancon struck out pinch-hitter Juan Uribe with runners in scoring position in the eighth. Yaisel Puig and Nick Punto hit consecutive singles off Grilli to start the ninth. Grilli then retired Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez and Mark Ellis to remain a perfect 24 for 24 in save opportunities. "He threw eight pitches in that at-bat," Gonzalez said. "When I see eight pitches, I shouldnt strike out. I needed to put a ball in play and I should have.dddddddddddd That was bad hitting on my part." Something thats going around for Los Angeles, which has dropped five of six and is now a season-low 10 games under .500 (28-38). The Dodgers played without manager Don Mattingly, who served a one-game suspension for his role in the brawl with Arizona earlier in the week. Bench coach Trey Hillman filled in and watched his team get handcuffed by a player who is making $497,500. The average salary on the Dodgers is nearly $10 million. "(Locke) commanded three pitches pretty well and he pitched in a lot," Hillman said. "The fastball and the changeup were good and he kept us honest with the breaking ball all night." McCutchen gave the Pirates all the offence they would need when he doubled to the corner in right field in the third, scoring Alex Presley and Russell Martin. Fife, making just his fourth start of the season, settled down and escaped without further damage when McCutchen was gunned down at home trying to score on a ground ball and Clint Barmes flew out to left with the bases loaded later in the inning. Fife gave up six hits in five innings, walking three and striking out four. "It was a battle the whole time I was in there," Fife said. "I just couldnt get that easy inning." That wasnt a problem for Locke, who felt fresh after heading to the dugout in the middle of the seventh. He didnt put up any fight to stay in the game, not with the one-two punch of Melancon and Grilli available. It almost backfired. Andre Ethier singled with one out in the eighth and Jerry Hairston Jr. doubled to the gap in left-centre one batter later. Ethier held up at third rather than try to score, and it cost the Dodgers when pinch-hitter Juan Uribe struck out. Pittsburgh added an insurance run when McCutchen singled leading off the bottom of the eighth and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Neil Walker. Grilli made it stand up against the meat of Los Angeles lineup. NOTES: Locke singled off Fife in the third to end an 0-for-30 skid dating to last season ... Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis went 0 for 3 with 3 strikeouts in his return from the disabled list. He also threw out two would-be base stealers. Ellis missed 14 games with a strained oblique. To make room for Ellis, Los Angeles designated C Ramon Hernandez for assignment. Hernandez hit .208 with three homers and six RBIs in 17 games with the Dodgers ... The series continues on Saturday when rookie Brandon Cumpton makes his major league debut for the Pirates, replacing Burnett. Clayton Kershaw (5-4, 1.88 ERA) starts for Los Angeles ... Dodgers reliever J.P. Howell pitched two perfect innings in relief. Howell is appealing a two-game suspension for his role in the brawl with the Diamondbacks. Reliever Ronald Belisario sat out to serve his one-game suspension. ' ' '