LANCASHIRE have taken a giant step towards LV= County Championship promotion by completing a three-day innings and 157-run win over Leicestershire at Emirates Old Trafford yesterday.

After an aggressive morning batting display saw the Division Two leaders claim a first-innings lead of 276, the struggling Foxes were bowled out for 119 in a 23-point win, Lancashire’s sixth in nine matches.

Arron Lilley enjoyed a memorable day with bat and ball, scoring 59 off 41 balls with seven fours and two sixes before his off-spinners accounted for 4-28 from 15 overs.

In only his third career Championship match, he took three wickets in 13 balls during the latter stages of the afternoon as Leicester slipped to 90-6 in the 32nd over.

Lilley played in last month’s home win over Derbyshire at Southport when he hit a fifty and claimed five second-innings wickets.

Ashwell Prince also completed his fourth Championship century of the season during a morning which yielded 169 runs in 29 overs, moving from 74 not out overnight to 104 off 171 balls.

He and Lilley were two of six pre-lunch wickets for visiting off-spinner Jigar Naik, who finished with career best figures of 8-179 from 44.3 overs. Naik conceded 53 runs in 9.3 overs during the morning.

Lilley reached a 32-ball fifty with a straight six off left-arm seamer Rob Taylor before falling the same way as Prince, stumped off Naik. Prince reached his century off 167 balls, and now has 939 runs for the season.

Not only do Lancashire have the country’s leading Championship run-scorer in Prince, they also have the leading wicket-taker in Kyle Jarvis with 55, who struck twice with the new ball after lunch.

Jarvis trapped Niall O’Brien lbw and bowled Angus Robson as he offered no shot, leaving the score at 47-2 in the 12th over, before James Faulkner had Mark Cosgrove caught at deep point.

Lilley then had Umar Akmal caught behind on the sweep, with the ball ricocheting up off the batsman’s boot, Ned Eckersley caught at first slip and Ben Raine caught at second slip, the latter two in the 32nd over.

Jarvis trapped Naik lbw and bowled Taylor with successive balls in the 41st over as Leicester slipped to 107-8.

Lilley had Andrea Agathangelou caught behind in the 48th before Jarvis got Charlie Shreck lbw in the next to finish with 5-44 from 15.4.