Lancashire captain Dane Vilas said that sealing promotion to Division One of the Specsavers County Championship was his “proudest moment in a Lancashire shirt.”

The Red Roses clinched promotion this week after their innings victory over Derbyshire at Emirates Old Trafford.

After the win, Vilas reflected on the achievement and said: “To do it with two games to go, I couldn’t be more proud of the boys.

“I thought it was a fantastic effort. They way we’ve played the whole season has been superb.

“I think the last three games in the Championship have been fantastic for us, coming up against two really good sides in Sussex and Glamorgan who were close to us in the table, and coming out with three wins on the bounce has been really good.”

Vilas, who took over as captain this season has led from the front having scored 1,016 runs at an average of 102 with a top score of 266.

“My goal as a batsman was to score a thousand runs this season and I’ve achieved that which is fantastic,” he said.

The South African praised his young players and said: “It’s been great to see the young guys grow and put in performances.

“They’ve been a great help to me. It’s nice when you come out to bat on a good wicket behind guys like Liam Livingstone and Josh Bohannon,” he added.

Despite clinching promotion, the 34-year-old says that there is still work to do as the season nears its close.

“I know we’ve got two games left but it takes that stress out of it now. It means we can focus on winning the title. That’s going to be important.

“The way we’ve played has been really good. It would be great to do it (win the title).”

 

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