Lancashire are the worst side in England
Each team have played five County Championship matches this season and Lancashire – all that history, all that talent, all that resource – sit bottom of the pile, 18th out of 18.
Lancashire were favourites for promotion from Division Two, having slipped to a surprising relegation last year, but, having started the season with four draws, they threw away a prime opportunity for victory at Northamptonshire, falling instead to a humbling 70-run defeat.
It leaves them on 50 points, behind Gloucestershire (who are also winless) and Glamorgan, who pulled off a stunning innings win at Kent to get their season moving. This was also a first win for Darren Lehmann's Northants.
This desperate situation leaves head coach Dale Benkenstein battling for his job in his second season at the club. Benkenstein was a surprise appointment before the 2024 season, moving from Gloucestershire, who finished bottom of Division Two in 2023 having not won a single match.
Since joining, Benkenstein has guided Lancashire to three championship wins in 19 matches, including relegation last season, as well as a flat defeat in the quarter-finals of the T20 Blast and bottom place in their group of the One-Day Cup. The rancour among an active membership is only growing, and is aimed not just at Benkenstein but director of cricket Mark Chilton and chief executive Daniel Gidney.
This was an especially galling defeat, because Lancashire were in control entering the third day of the match (with Northants leading by 102, six down), but soon surrendered the initiative.
Northants lost two wickets – the set Calvin Harrison and Saif Zaib – with the score on 189, but that merely brought Ben Sanderson to the crease. In the space of 28 balls, the No 9 – who had never scored a first-class half-century in 112 matches – changed the complexion of the game. Sanderson smashed 65, picking off boundaries from the medium pace of Will Williams and Tom Bailey with ease. With support from Liam Guthrie, he helped set Lancashire a target of 236, when it should have been so much lower.
65 runs from 28 balls. 🎆Words can't describe how good that innings from @sando567 was. 😅 pic.twitter.com/JA3lY0gGGU
— Northamptonshire CCC (@NorthantsCCC) May 11, 2025
Guthrie, the Australian left-arm seamer, tempted Lancashire's openers Keaton Jennings and George Bell into loose shots, but Josh Bohannon and Marcus Harris steadied the ship, and appeared to be guiding the visitors to victory. Lancashire needed just 120 with eight wickets in hand.
One of the oddities of Lancashire's awful start to the season has been Harris's wonderful run of form. The Australian, who has played 14 Tests as an opener, has been prolific at No 4 for Lancashire, with 749 runs in five matches, including three hundreds (one in the first innings at Wantage Road). With two matches to play, he is an outside shot at becoming just the ninth man, and first since Graeme Hick in 1988, to make 1,000 first-class runs before the end of May in England.
But when Harris fell, stumped off the leg-spinner Calvin Harrison, who is on loan from Nottinghamshire, Lancashire crumbled.
32 | Gone! ☝️Harris advances down the track but misses the ball and is stumped by McManus.Lancashire 116/3.Watch live 👉 https://t.co/CU8uwteMyd pic.twitter.com/bdaBCKXfIK
— Northamptonshire CCC (@NorthantsCCC) May 11, 2025
Matty Hurst was bowled by Harry Conway, then Harrison pinned Bohannon lbw and bowled Luke Wells. In the blink of an eye, they lost seven for 28; that the last pair of Bailey and Williams shared 21 merely narrowed the margin of defeat. It seemed a lifetime ago that Lancashire had Northants 67 for six on the opening day.
'The disappointing thing for me is we've had four, five, six, seven opportunities in the game to win it and we squandered all those opportunities,' said Lancashire's captain Keaton Jennings. 'It's massively concerning and, emotions aside, it's just not good enough.'
Lancashire might have James Anderson – who bowled on the outfield during this game – back by the time they host Derbyshire on Friday, but it will take some effort from England's greatest bowler to transform a bleak season.
At the other end of the standings are Nottinghamshire, who have opened a decent cushion atop Division One thanks to a three-day win over Hampshire. That Notts are captained by Haseeb Hameed and second-placed Warwickshire are led by Alex Davies, just two of the many talented products of Lancashire plying their trade elsewhere, will make the pain for fans of the Red Rose even more acute.
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