Lancashire quartet sign contract extensions to end of 2023

Jack Blatherwick, Rob Jones, Danny Lamb and Luke Wells have all put pen to paper on two-year contract extensions

Lancashire quartet Jack Blatherwick, Rob Jones, Danny Lamb and Luke Wells have all signed two-year contract extensions to remain at Emirates Old Trafford until at least the end of the 2023 season.

They are the latest in a long list of players to commit their futures to Lancashire, with Liam Livingstone, Josh Bohannan, Matt Parkinson, Tom Hartley, George Balderson, George Lavelle and Jack Morley also signing new deals over the past few months.

Academy products Jones and Lamb both established themselves as first XI regulars in 2021.

Batter Jones was the club’s leading run-scorer in the Royal London Cup, scoring two half-centuries on his way to 220 runs, while he also chipped in with 180 runs in the County Championship and 161 runs at a strike rate of 127.77 in the T20 Blast.

Lamb, meanwhile, had a breakout season in the County Championship. With the bat, he scored 365 runs at 28.07, including hitting his maiden first-class century against Kent, while with the ball, he recorded his first 20-plus wicket season, picking up 23 at 33.91. Among Lancashire’s seamers, only Tom Bailey (50) and Saqib Mahmood (28) took more wickets than the 26-year-old.

^{Luke Wells and Jack Blatherwick [Harry Trump/Getty Images]}

With the white ball, he scored 147 runs and picked up 10 wickets in the Royal London Cup, earning the club’s One Day player of the year gong in the process, and collected a further 11 wickets in the T20 Blast.

Wells and Blatherwick were both new arrivals ahead of the 2021 season, joining from Sussex and Nottinghamshire, respectively.

Immediately slotting into the side at no.3, Wells scored 572 at 40.85, including one century and three fifties, in the County Championship and also picked up seven wickets with his part-time leg-spin. He also scored 158 runs in the Royal London Cup.

Blatherwick, meanwhile, made a splash towards the end of the season, using his height and pace to pick up six wickets at 26 in three Championship outings.

Director of cricket performance, Mark Chilton, said: "Rob Jones and Danny Lamb have become important players in our squad across all three formats and it is great to have two academy graduates commit their futures to the club for at least another two seasons.

"We have also been really pleased with the additions of Jack Blatherwick and Luke Wells who both put their hands up to put in some really important performances for us towards the end of last season and we look forward to them continuing to do that for us into next season and beyond."