ALEX Davies wrote his name into the record books as Lancashire took control of their match with Derbyshire on day three of the LV County Championship Division Two match.

Darwen’s Davies, who made a career-best 89, put on 100 from 93 balls with number 11 Kyle Jarvis in what was a record-breaking 10th wicket partnership for the Red Rose.

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That took Lancashire to 345 in their second innings and set Derbyshire a daunting victory target of 365. The home side closed on 27-2.

“A lead of 250, 260 is quite slender going into a full day tomorrow so we knew we had to hang around and help the team get into a good position,” Davies said.

“Those extra runs will give us a bit more scoreboard pressure and the pitch is still doing a bit laterally and will start to go up and down as well which will help us I think the weather is set fair and if we bowl anything like, we should be able to knock them over.”

Ashwell Prince with 97 and Steven Croft (70) had dug Lancashire out of trouble with a fifth wicket stand of 159 in 42 overs and although Tom Taylor returned a career-best 6- 61, Derbyshire were struggling at the close.

The home side’s prospects looked so much brighter at the start when Lancashire were 43-4.

After Ashwell Prince had steadied the ship with Tom Croft, Lancashire lost three quick wickets before Davies gave a compelling contest what could be a decisive twist.

He mixed sound defence with selective aggression to cruise past his previous highest of 62.