Lancashire vice-captain Josh Bohannon says that the club’s younger players can benefit from the tough experiences they are facing in the County Championship this season.
The Red Rose are sitting seventh in Division Two, having lost five of their past six matches, including their latest defeat, a 316-run hammering by Northamptonshire.
It leaves Lancashire facing possibly the lowest finish in the club’s history, with only five games remaining.
Three players in the middle order for that game at Old Trafford had an average age of 19 and a combined 13 first-class matches between them.
“As a captain, vice-captain, senior player, I don’t want to put them in this position,” said Bohannon, who stood in as skipper with James Anderson out with a calf injury.
“But that’s where we’ve found ourselves at the minute and long-term. It will develop their knowledge and experience of the game of cricket.”
On a tricky pitch, Lancashire suffered collapses in both innings, being bowled out for 137 and 129 respectively.
Arav Shetty, 22, Rocky Flintoff, 18, and wicketkeeper Joe Moores, 17, occupied places four to six in the batting order.
In the first innings, Lancashire went from 104-3 to 120-9 and then in the second, they fell from 51-2 to 82-7, as the experienced seamer Ben Sanderson and India leg-spinner Yazvendra Chahal turned the screw.
With Lancashire short of options, the youngsters will be needed for the coming month, starting at Worcestershire on Thursday, and Bohannon said he was hopeful that they could come through this tough spell.
“Everyone knows that playing first-class cricket is really hard,” he told Radio Lancashire.
“It’s the most challenging format, not only does it take a lot of skill but it’s physically demanding as well.
“In terms of the younger players, we’re hoping the senior players are the ones navigating those more difficult circumstances and the younger ones can watch a little bit and learn how people go about it.
“Ultimately, they’ve found themselves in those situations. As hard as it is right now, I do think it will benefit them down the line having experienced stuff like this.”