REPORT | Jimmy Anderson new ball burst puts Derbyshire on back foot

James Anderson took two wickets in his first four-day game for nearly a year to put his side in a good position of the Rothesay County Championship match at Emirates Old Trafford.

The former England fast bowler finished with two for 24 from his five-over spell with the new ball but did not return to the attack on an evening when Lancashire’s spinners were utilised.

Replying to Lancashire’s 458, Derbyshire were 112 for four at the close with Brooke Guest on 14 and nightwatchman Jack Morley unbeaten on four after a day on which the home side had put their recent poor performances behind them.

The morning’s play had set the tone for the day. Resuming on 250 for five, Lancashire’s sixth-wicket pair, George Balderson and George Bell, began brightly, taking five fours off the first six overs and scoring the 50 runs needed for a second bonus point in less than 12 overs.

That early aggression set the tone for the morning. Balderson’s 11th four of the session took him to his half-century off 70 balls although 50 off those runs had been scored off 43 deliveries this morning.

Seven overs later Bell reached his first half-century off 101 balls with six fours and the sixth-wicket partnership had added 133 runs when Balderson inside-edged a drive onto his stumps and was bowled by Jack Morley for 73, eight minutes before lunch. Despite that setback, Lancashire lunched on 380 for six, having added 130 runs in a 32-over session.

Shortly after the resumption, Bell was caught at slip by Wayne Madsen off  David Lloyd for 57 but Tom Hartley and Tom Bailey piled the pain on Derbyshire’s bowlers by adding 61 for the eighth wicket before both were dismissed in the space of three balls.

Hartley was caught and bowled for 42 when he miscued a hook off Martin Andersson and Bailey was brilliantly caught for 29 by Caleb Jewell, who grabbed a one-handed catch at short extra-cover off Morley.

Anderson Philip was then caught behind off Andersson for nought to end the home side’s innings on 458 and the crowd spent the tea interval anticipating the sight of one of the best fast-medium bowlers in the game’s history displaying his skills for Lancashire yet again. Aitchison was the most successful Derbyshire bowler with three for 87.

The visitors’ reply began with a flurry of boundary fours but Anderson was not to be denied. He straightened the last ball of his third over to bowl Jewell for 16 and then extracted plenty of life from what had seemed a slow pitch to have Lloyd caught behind for 27 when he could not evade a short delivery and the catch looped up, probably off the glove, to Matty Hurst.

Having taken two for 24 in five overs, Anderson was then removed from the attack but Lancashire’s other bowlers kept the pressure on Derbyshire’s batters. The visiting skipper, Wayne Madsen, was caught at the wicket for 14 when attempting to cut the left-arm spin of Hartley and the day ended with another success for the home side when Harry Came was deceived by Luke Wells’ googly and bowled for 31.

Derbyshire batting coach, Ben Smith, said: “We have a lot of confidence in that dressing room from the batting group’s perspective. We’ve shared it around this season and the most important thing for us to do is build some partnerships. We’ve seen how Lancashire had three century partnerships, so if we can have a couple of partnerships that gets us closer to that follow-on total.

“It looks as though the pitch has got better to bat on but we were exposed to a new ball against a good bowling attack. We’re not just making silly mistakes and this is where we’re playing our cricket this week. It’s a fantastic venue, we’ve got a good pitch and there’s no reason why we can’t test our skills even more tomorrow and come out of this innings in a good place.

“After all those overs and all those wickets, I’m sure Jimmy Anderson will be bowling like that in his sleep. He’s a fantastic bowler but for us it’s about playing the ball and not the bowler. It’s about us coming out of this innings in more of a position of strength than we are at the moment.”