[themaclad]

James Anderson enjoyed a sensational return with two wickets to put Derbyshire on the back foot in this Rothesay County Championship match

Anderson’s brace from his one five-over spell plus wickets for Tom Hartley and Luke Wells left Derbyshire on 112 for four by the close, trailing by 346 runs to give Lancashire the advantage at the halfway stage of the game.

At the start of the day an attacking century partnership between George Bell and George Balderson along with useful runs from the lower order in the afternoon had helped add 208 runs to Lancashire’s overnight score with the hosts bowled out on the stroke of tea for 458.

Anderson struck with his 18th delivery, knocking back the off stump of Caleb Jewell for 16 and having peppered David Lloyd with a number of short-pitched balls found reward eight balls later when the batter gloved a catch to wicketkeeper Matty Hurst for 27.



Derbyshire suffered further blows when Wayne Madsen edged behind for 14 attempting to cut Hartley and Harry Came was bowled by Luke Wells for 31 five overs before stumps playing no shot.

Brooke Guest (14 not out) and nightwatchman Jack Morley (4 not out) will resume the Derbyshire innings in the morning.

Bell and Balderson dominated the morning session with an attacking approach that brought instant reward with 45 runs taken from the first ten overs.

Balderson, 1 not out overnight, initially led the way striking 11 boundaries in scoring fifty more runs from just 38 balls to reach his second half century of the season.



Bell, having resumed on 3, struck six fours in his fifty with the pair taking 53 balls to take their partnership from 50 to 100 as Derbyshire struggled to contain a scoring rate that was now rattling along at 4.5 runs per over.

The visitors finally made a breakthrough eight minutes before lunch when Balderson, somewhat unluckily, got a big inside edge onto his stumps off Morley for 73 to end the highest Lancashire sixth wicket partnership against Derbyshire at Emirates Old Trafford, and also the highest of the innings, on 133.

Undoubtedly it had been Lancashire’s morning with 130 runs added in 32 overs.

Bell edged a drive off Lloyd to Madsen at slip for 57 in the fourth over of the afternoon – 393 for seven – but the visitors were further frustrated by an excellent 61-run stand between Hartley – a season-best 42 – and Tom Bailey (29).



The innings ended abruptly as Hartley and Bailey fell in quick succession with the score on 454 and Anderson Phillip was out first ball four runs later after Anderson, who received his first ovation of the day when coming out to bat, swept Morley to the fine leg boundary.

Further ovations for Anderson soon followed and Lancashire will hope for more of the same tomorrow.

“We probably hammered it (the advantage) home today a bit more than probably what we've done in the past this season,” said George Bell.

“So it was nice to get a few runs myself with Balders and put a good partnership on there and put us in a good position going into tomorrow.

“We want to get ourselves in the position where we're the ones dictating the play driving the game forward, and we have done that.



And Bell relished being out in the middle to see Jimmy Anderson’s return.

“Jimmy was so good,” he said. “And Tommy (Hartley) and Wellsy picking up wickets as well there as well.

“I always enjoy it when Jimmy’s bowling, especially when he's stood in the slips.

“It's something that I didn't think I'd probably ever get the chance to do. So it's a pretty special moment seeing him come on from his own end. He bowled really well.

“And he came with clear plans and executed really well tonight.

“That first wicket there was just a bit of extra balance, a bit of zip as well that he's been getting off that pitch.

“He'll find anything in that pitch that there is to get, really.”



Bell was naturally pleased to have contributed some very useful runs today.

“I was pleased with how I've gone,” he said.

“It's been a while since I've been in the runs, so for me it was just trying to go back to basics, really.

“I know that I've been playing well from being back in the team. I just haven't quite kicked on.

“I felt like I probably got unlucky a couple of times in the previous two games. To get a small total to help the team has been really good for me, personally.

“It gives me a bit of confidence going into the rest of the season.”

Looking ahead to the remainder of this game he added:

“If we come hard tomorrow morning and try and get a couple more early wickets, I think we'll be in a great position. Obviously, you don't want to take it for granted because it is a good pitch.

“The bowlers are going to have to put a good shift in to get something out of it and take poles. Hopefully, they come raring to go tomorrow.

“I’m sure they will do and hopefully, it will be another good day.”

[themaclad]

Lancashire bowled Derbyshire out for 314 before extending their lead to 285 runs with four wickets left in their second innings going into the final day of this Rothesay County Championship match where all results are still possible.

Two good partnerships between Brooke Guest and Jack Morley and some late hitting by Ben Aitchison and Zak Chappell during the first two sessions steered the visitors five runs past the follow-on target of 309.

The evening session saw Lancashire move quickly to add to the lead but lose late wickets to reach the close on 141 for six with Luke Wells adding a fifty to go with his first innings century and Matty Hurst unbeaten on 43.



Resuming the third day with Derbyshire on 112 for four, Guest and Morley extended their partnership through most of the morning with some steady, sensible batting.

The pair looked to be in little trouble with Morley passing his career-best of 28 and their fifty partnership arriving from 116 balls after one hour’s play.

Their serene progress was disrupted twenty minutes before lunch by George Balderson taking two wickets in one over, accounting for Morley – after the former Lancashire player was nicely caught at midwicket by a tumbling Keaton Jennings for 41 – followed four balls later by Martin Andersson lbw for a duck.



Further success for Lancashire followed straight after the break when Anuj Dal miscued a cut off Tom Hartley caught by Anderson Phillip at gully for 19 before Josh Bohannon took his first wicket for four years when bowling Guest for 77.

That big breakthrough left Derbyshire on 236 for eight and still needing another 73 runs to avoid the follow-on.

They got there after a tremendous ninth-wicket partnership of 68 between Aitchison and Chappell, the former hitting consecutive sixes off Wells along with 6 fours in his 45 off 63 balls while the latter made 24 before popping up a catch to George Bell at short leg off James Anderson with five runs still required.

Blair Tickner edged Anderson over slip for four and then drove the next ball to the cover boundary to ensure Lancashire had to bat again.

Aitchison holed out to deep midwicket off Tom Hartley moments later to end the innings with Derbyshire 148 runs in arrears.



Wells and Jennings began in attacking fashion as Lancashire looked to add quick runs in their quest to set a significant target tomorrow, the pair racing to their fifty partnership by the 11th over.

But the loss of three wickets for 8 runs in 22 balls slowed the Red Rose charge.

Jennings fell for 35 after late cutting a short ball from Tickner to Andersson at third man, followed by Bohannon for 2 who gave a steepling catch to Chappell at deep mid-on attacking Morley plus a rare failure from Marcus Harris, nicely caught by a diving Guest off Aitchison for 1.

Wells and Hurst steadied matters and then pushed on, Hurst hammering David Lloyd into the pavilion seats and Wells reaching his half century off 65 balls before being bowled by Morley attempting to hit out in a partnership worth 56 runs off 83 balls.



Derbyshire inflicted further late damage to dent Lancashire ambitions with Bell caught and bowled by Morley for two and Hartley going in similar fashion, also for two, to a stunning diving catch by Lloyd.

Hurst, 43 not out, and Balderson 2 not out survived the remaining 15 deliveries to reach the close with Lancashire 285 runs in front and an intriguing final day ahead.



“We've spoken all year about trying to get results here at Emirates Old Trafford,” said George Balderson.

“Once they got past the follow-on this afternoon, we knew that we were going to have to come out and play positively to set up a game.

“We lost a couple more wickets than we wanted to in doing that, but I think that we've given ourselves a chance to come out tomorrow and bowl them out to win the game.

“They're going to have to play extremely well to get the runs.

“It's hard work when the ball gets soft,” he added.

“When the ball's new, it feels like you can hit the gaps and the outfield's quick.

“But because the surface is so abrasive, the ball gets soft really quick and then it's hard to force the rate that quickly, especially with a spinner bowling into a bit of rough or some short ball tactics that we've seen where the pitch is a little bit two-paced, it seems hard to score.

“Hopefully that will work in our favour tomorrow.



“You've always got to believe there's enough in there to take ten wickets and I definitely think there is on that pitch.

“There's a few (balls) that are starting to stay low. There's a bit of rough for the spinners to work with. We've got an attack that will come all day and give absolutely everything to try and get a result.”

It was Balderson who struck first today with two wickets in one over and he said:

“I think I have a slightly different role in this attack at the moment to the other lads.

“I think we've had Jimmy, Bails, Anderson (Phillip) use the short ball quite a lot, and I've just been trying to attack the stumps as much as I can. See if I can get one to scoot a bit lower and build a bit of pressure so that everyone else can hopefully benefit.

“So it was nice to chip in with a couple of wickets as well as trying to build that pressure.

“Hopefully, I can do more of it tomorrow.”

[themaclad]

England bowlers past and present, James Anderson and Tom Hartley, took two wickets apiece but Lancashire’s Rothesay County Championship against Derbyshire ended in a tense draw with the visitors closing on 220 for eight, still 109 runs short of what had become a notional victory target.

In the morning session, Lancashire had declared 184 for seven, thereby challenging their opponents to score 328 in 88 overs for victory. Harry Came made 63 as the visitors chased this target but after reaching tea on 165 for five, Derbyshire’s batsmen settled for the draw.

The visitors’ heroes were Anuj Dal, who faced 114 balls for 13 not out and Jack Morley, who was unbeaten on nought after 36 balls when the game ended. Anderson finished with two for 25 from 16 overs and Hartley two for 38 from 20.5

Despite remaining winless after six games, Lancashire take 13 points from the match, meaning that they move off the bottom of the Division Two table, whereas Derbyshire’s 11 points keeps them in second place.



In the morning session, Lancashire scored 43 runs off six overs before declaring on 184 for seven. The only home batsman dismissed was George Balderson, who was caught at third man by Martin Andersson off Blair Tickner for nine but Matty Hurst was 56 not out when Marcus Harris called his batsmen in.

Derbyshire’s pursuit of 329 began poorly when Caleb Jewell played too early at a slower ball from Anderson and chipped a catch to Tom Bailey at mid-on.



However, the Lancashire bowler returned figures of 6-1-17-1 in his first spell and following Jewell’s dismissal for 12, David Lloyd and Came guided their side to 78 for one after 20 overs at lunch. By that interval, both batsmen were batting fluently and the visitors were up with the required run rate.

But any optimism among the visiting supporters was dampened four balls after the resumption when Anderson trapped Lloyd lbw for 30. Undaunted, Came and the new batsman, Wayne Madsen, saw off Anderson’s spell (4-2-4-1) and had added 50 in 16 overs before Madsen tickled Bailey down the leg side and was caught by Hurst for 17.



By that stage, Came has reached his third fifty of the season off 72 balls, most of them pedigree strokes, but Brooke Guest could not match his partner’s fluency and was bowled round his legs for two when trying to sweep Hartley, who was bowling over the wicket, partly with the aim of achieving such a dismissal.

Four overs later, Hartley struck again when he took the vital wicket of Came, the Derbyshire batsman pushing uncertainly forward and giving a catch to George Bell at short leg when he had made 63. That left Derbyshire on 151 for five with 44 overs still to be bowled.



By tea the visitors had reached 165 for five and it soon became clear that Derbyshire’s batsmen had abandoned all thoughts of victory. Anderson bowled three uneventful overs, while Hartley wheeled away from over the wicket from the Brian Statham end.

Over an hour into the evening session, Lancashire took their sixth wicket when Josh Bohannon induced Martin Andersson to drive a full toss straight to Keaton Jennings at short extra cover and Andersson’s dismissal for 43 was followed two overs later by a second success for Bohannon when Zak Chappell gave him a return catch.



That left Derbyshire on 212 for seven with 18 overs to be bowled and Bailey struck the next blow when he had Ben Aitchison lbw for nought with 65 balls left in the game.\

After 80 overs Lancashire took the new ball and Anderson had four overs to take the wickets that would seal victory. But Dal and Morley resisted him successfully.

“It's obviously fantastic to just watch some really good cricket,” said head Coach Dale Benkenstein.

“That's what we've always wanted to play. I think it was just a good vibe.

“Obviously, having Jimmy in the team is going to lift everyone. I thought Marcus did a great job as well. Not an easy thing to just take over as captain.

“The combination worked really well. I don't think there was much difference to the pitch. I think the opposition were really good.

“Over four days, nearly every day, we were pretty much on top. (It was) much better.

“I think we are moving in the right direction. Obviously gutted that we didn't get a win. I think we really did deserve to win that game in so many ways.

“But there were some fantastic performances. As a team, we will definitely take a lot of confidence out of these four days.

“You don't want to bust three days and then give the opposition an easy target to get to. I think the place where we are, obviously Jimmy's first game as well, we're not sure how he's going to get through.



Regarding the declaration today, Benkenstein added:

“I think it gave us enough runs to make sure that they are going to have to play very well.

“I think there was enough of a carrot there for them to have a go. They would have backed themselves, I think, on the last day here to win the game.

So, from that point of view, for the position we were in, it was almost the perfect declaration. We were trying to force it yesterday and we lost a few wickets, just trying to score as fast as we can to give ourselves enough time.

“We saw at the end there, when they're just defending and defending, it's quite hard to actually get a wicket.

“But the guys played well this morning and I thought it was exactly what we wanted.”

[themaclad]

Leicestershire 59 for 2 trail Lancashire 206 (van Beek 3-38, Hull 3-43) by 147 runs

Winless Lancashire squandered a promising start to be bowled out for 206 on the opening day of their visit to runaway Division Two leaders Leicestershire in the Rothesay County Championship.


Logan van Beek and Josh Hull took three wickets each as Lancashire, who had been 74 without loss in the 28th over, were subsequently dismissed by an hour after tea as Leicestershire added three more points to the impressive 115 banked from four wins and two draws so far.

Frustratingly for coach Dale Benkenstein, most of his batters made starts but none could turn them to anything of consequence with Luke Wells's 36 their top score.

Leicestershire made an unsteady start to their first innings, losing openers Sol Budinger and Rishi Patel inside the opening seven overs, but had progressed to 59 for 2 at the close.

Any spectators hoping for a glimpse of James Anderson in a first-class match at Grace Road for the first time in 20 years were disappointed after Lancashire decided he should miss this match to manage his recovery from injury, having bowled 28 overs against Derbyshire last week.

In any case, the home side won the toss and opted to bowl first on a green-tinged pitch, so they had to content themselves with the four worthy seamers of Leicestershire instead, albeit with an England player among them in left-armer Hull.

Not that they are not worth watching this season, led by the division's leading wicket-taker in Ian Holland, although they were successful only once in a morning session with which Lancashire, after their struggles of the season so far, would have been encouraged.

They lost Keaton Jennings, who was leg before in the first over of van Beek's second spell, but 77 for 1 at lunch was at least satisfactory.

Their fortunes took a turn for the worse, though, in the middle session, the first ball of which saw a tentative Wells, who had been dropped at first slip on 10, caught behind as van Beek struck again.

Leicestershire's celebrations were understandably animated with the departure of Marcus Harris for 10. The Australian is the division's leading run-scorer and made more than 1000 first-class runs over two stints at Grace Road. He could count himself unfortunate this time, bowled by a ball from Ben Green that dislodged the leg bail after seeming to pinball off his thigh pad and the back of his bat.

There was rather less bad luck involved in the four other dismissals that left Lancashire 171 for 7 at tea. Josh Bohannon, beaten for pace, was leg before to a good delivery from Hull, but George Bell and Matty Hurst, both caught at slip within the space of three deliveries bowled by Holland and Tom Scriven, may reflect that they have played better shots.


Peter Handscomb, who caught both, the first at the second attempt, instinctively grabbed on to another deflection as George Balderson became a second victim for Scriven, although this time it was via a superb ball that had gone past the edge and hit the off stump. Scriven was denied when diving wicketkeeper Ben Cox put down Tom Bailey on 4 but Leicestershire were well on top.

Tom Hartley, with an unbeaten 23, marshalled a degree of resistance as Leicestershire's bowlers got into the tail but Bailey was bowled offering no shot. Dragging the Lancashire total past 200 before Anderson Phillip, off a steepling top edge, and Will Williams were caught behind was of only minor consolation.

Budinger, tamely, was caught at midwicket, and Patel at second slip as Williams and Bailey claimed a wicket each with the new ball but with Lewis Hill at the crease to temper Rehan Ahmed's exuberance, Leicestershire recovered from 24 for 2 to close on 59 without further loss.

[themaclad]

Leicestershire 457 (Ahmed 136, Hill 119, Holland 50) lead Lancashire 206 by 251 runs

A record-breaking partnership between Rehan Ahmed and Lewis Hill gave league-leading Leicestershire a dominant position at the end of the second day of the Rothesay County Championship match against Lancashire at the Uptonsteel County Ground.


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Ahmed, with his first-class best of 136, and Hill, whose 119 was his first three-figure score for two seasons, put on 256 for the third wicket, a championship-best for Leicestershire's third wicket against Lancashire, beating a record dating back to 1929.

Lancashire's bowlers stuck at their task, picking up seven wickets throughout the afternoon and evening sessions, but a half-century from all-rounder Ian Holland helped the Foxes close with an intimidating 251 run lead.

They also picked up all five batting bonus points, completing a maximum bonus point return from the game.

The partnership between Hill and Ahmed, not out overnight on 29 and 26 respectively, was all the more admirable for the fact conditions at the start of play were very much in the bowlers' favour, the previous day's sunshine having given way to overnight rain and heavy cloud cover.

The two right-handers faced a real battle for the first hour, with Lancashire seamers Tom Bailey and George Balderson both beating the bat on several occasions. No chances were created however, the nearest either batsman coming to dismissal being when Ahmed called Hill through for a single that would have sent his team-mate back to the pavilion had Josh Bohannon's throw not missed the stumps by a whisker.

Hill's determination to be positive paid off however, notably when he walked down to the pitch to Will Williams and lofted the New Zealand-born seamer for the sweetest of straight sixes. Ahmed, while being impressively determined in defence, also began to unveil some characteristically flamboyant shots: both feet were off the ground when he flayed consecutive short deliveries from Anderson Phillip to the cover boundary before going to his 50 by whipping the same bowler through square leg.

Hill was keeping pace, reaching his 50 with a top edged cut that sailed high over the slips. If that was unorthodox, two perfectly timed on-drives had the purists purring. By lunch 130 runs had been added to the score and the Lancashire attack was looking understandably deflated.

They looked even more so an hour into the afternoon session, when Hill and Ahmed cut loose. They passed the county's championship record third wicket partnership against Lancashire, 163 compiled by Walter Bradshaw and Norman Armstrong in 1929, and then the first class record of 165, compiled rather more recently by Ben Slater and Colin Ackermann in the Bob Willis Trophy in 2020 before Ahmed was first to a hundred - his second against Lancashire in as many matches.


It came with a cut down to third, his 14th four, and occupied 164 balls. Hill followed, his century coming off 150 deliveries and including 14 fours and the six, and both accelerated thereafter before Ahmed sliced at drive at the left-arm spin of Tom Hartley, giving Keaton Jennings a straightforward catch at short third man.

Hartley also picked up the wicket of Hill, caught behind cutting at a ball which bounced more than he expected, before captain Peter Handscomb edged an Anderson Phillip out-swinger to Jennings at second slip.

A partnership of 76 between Holland and Ben Cox pushed Leicestershire close to 400 before Holland, Logan van Beek and the tail steered the Foxes past 450.

[themaclad]

CAN THIS SEASON GET ANY WORSE, WELL YES!!!!!

Day 3: Leicestershire 457 beat Lancashire 206 & 248 by an innings and three runs.

Leicestershire 24 points Lancashire 3 points.

Leicestershire's strong start to the 2025 season continued with victory over Lancashire by an innings and three runs to further reinforce their lead in Division Two of the Rothesay County Championship.
With a 251-run advantage on first innings, brought about largely by centuries from Rehan Ahmed and Lewis Hill, they bowled Lancashire out for 248 to complete a fifth win of the season.

Keaton Jennings gave his side hope of salvaging something from this match with a characterful 112, but no other batter made more than 26 runs.

Logan Van Beek was Leicestershire’s most successful bowler with four for 61 and there were two wickets each for Josh Hull, Tom Scriven and Rehan Ahmed.

Marcus Harris was dismissed in the penultimate over before lunch as captain Peter Handscomb repeated his first-day tactic of bringing back his new ball bowlers for a pre-interval burst. It brought success then and it did again as Harris flashed at a ball outside off stump to be caught behind for 20.

It provided a third wicket of the morning for Van Beek, who had been two for nine from six overs after his first spell, having dismissed Luke Wells and Josh Bohannon in the space of three deliveries.

Wells deployed an uppercut to lift a short delivery over the slip cordon but did not control the shot and Lewis Hill, with a gusty crosswind adding an extra element of difficulty, took a well-judged catch at wide third man. Bohannon edged to second slip for a second-ball duck.



Thanks largely to Jennings, who showed the strength of his character in a difficult season to guide Lancashire to 209 for five at tea thanks to the 32nd first-class hundred of his career, his 16th for his current county.

It was doubtless not the most fluid among them on a pitch starting to produce variable bounce and he survived a chance on 58 when a diving Ben Cox could not get his gloves around a flick down the legside off Hull, but it kept his side in the game.

After finding support from Matty Hurst, who was caught behind off a fine delivery by Scriven, in adding 70 for the fourth wicket, Jennings reached the milestone as a meaty pull Van Beek brought him a 10th boundary.

The fifth wicket added a further 58, although George Bell’s dismissal off a top-edged pull just before tea detracted a touch from what had otherwise been a solid session for the visitors, who were still 42 behind at the interval.

Moreover, the breakthrough Leicestershire craved was not far away, Jennings falling seven overs into the evening session, his demise brought about by a ball that reared up off a length from Scriven and caught the batter’s right glove, Handscomb taking an excellent catch at slip.

After that, Lancashire’s downfall came. Hull brought one back to bowl George Balderson, Rehan Ahmed’s leg spin came into the game to have Tom Bailey caught behind, the England all-rounder following up by trapping Anderson Phillip leg before.

Hull then took a splendid catch on the run off his own bowling to remove Tom Hartley and spark Leicestershire’s celebrations in a season in which promotion already looks theirs to lose with the Championship season only at the halfway stage.