Handscomb smashes 76-ball county century

Peter Handscomb has powered his way to a 76-ball century for Yorkshire as their County Championship clash with Lancashire at Old Trafford ended in a draw on Monday.

With little chance of a result for either side in the four-day game, Handscomb provided some final-day entertainment, hitting 12 fours and a six to finish unbeaten on 101 in what was his first Championship century for Yorkshire, who ended on 1-177.

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"It's nice to tick that one off and go well," Handscomb told the Yorkshire Post.

"Second innings runs, it would have been nicer to have done that in the first innings and set the game up.

"I'm obviously happy with it but (we) could have done with it in the first.

"I'm feeling good and have been all season so far.

"It's nice to convert this one having had a few starts with the red ball at the start of the season.

"Hopefully this could start a nice little rollercoaster and get on a roll."

Lancashire left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan copped the brunt of Handscomb’s powerful display, struck for 43 runs off the 27 deliveries he bowled to the 26-year-old Victorian.

It’s not the first time Kerrigan has been punished by an Australian Test batsman – in his only Test appearance for England in 2013, where he bowled just eight overs against Australia at The Oval, he was hit for 53 runs.

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Shane Watson scored 35 of those from just 25 deliveries, including six boundaries, on his way to his highest Test score of 175.

Monday’s performance continued what’s been largely a prosperous spell in the United Kingdom for Handscomb, who also has a 50-over domestic ton under his belt for Yorkshire.

Since arriving on English soil, Handscomb has scored 275 runs at 45.83 in the four-day competition, and 444 runs at 63.42 in the domestic one-day tournament.

"He's an unbelievable player, he's settled in well,” Yorkshire coach Andrew Gale told the Yorkshire Post.

"He's one of the best players of spin that I've ever seen.

"He played terrifically well and set the tone for next week."

The Roses clash at Old Trafford was destined to end in a draw after Lancashire avoided the follow-on on day four, with Ryan McLaren (84) and Kerrigan (59) helping them to 432 all out.

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England and Lancashire fast bowler James Anderson batted with a runner and then did not bowl in Yorkshire’s second innings, with the quick waiting to find out the full extent of a groin injury suffered earlier in the game.

"It was a bit attritional,” Gale told BBC Radio Leeds. “I'm disappointed we lost the time through rain because it could have been a good game, but we played some good cricket.”

"We've spoken about taking our half chances.

“It's something we haven't always done this year.

"We felt we had the better of the cricket, but Lancashire stuck at it well and fought their way back into it."