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The Independent
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
James Anderson stars for Lancashire in remarkable return to T20 cricket after 11 years
James Anderson took three wickets in his first T20 match for 11 years as Lancashire beat Durham at Chester-le-Street to claim a third consecutive Vitality Blast North Group win. The 42-year-old former England seamer had not played a sprint-format match since the Red Rose faced Warwickshire at Edgbaston in August 2014. But, having retired from international duty, Anderson returned with a bang by returning figures of three for 17 from four overs to help Lancashire limit the hosts to 150 for six. Michael Jones hit 55 before Jack Blatherwick's single from the final delivery then took Lancashire home by four wickets. Worcestershire condemned Yorkshire to a second consecutive loss, winning by 60 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method at New Road. The Pears racked up 201 for five after 79 from Brett D'Oliveira and Adam Hose's 54, with Yorkshire slipping to 51 for six before eventually making 135 for eight when the rain arrived. Ben Sanderson took four for 15 as Northamptonshire won again, beating Leicestershire by five wickets at Wantage Road. After Sanderson and David Willey (three for 20) helped limit the Foxes to 122, Ravi Bopara's unbeaten 46 helped Northants win with four balls remaining. Sussex skittled Gloucestershire for 93 to win their South Group clash by 80 runs at Hove. Tom Alsop's 58 had lifted the home side to 173 before Tymal Mills took three for 13 to help dismiss Gloucestershire in 13.3 overs. Somerset sit alongside Sussex at the top after beating Essex by eight wickets at Chelmsford. Dean Elgar and Matt Critchley hit half-centuries in Essex's 148, but Will Smeed blasted 81 not out off 54 balls to motor 2024 runners-up Somerset to victory. Asa Tribe and Dan Douthwaite guided Glamorgan to a five-wicket win over Middlesex at Northwood. Middlesex could only manage 124 for nine after Mason Crane claimed four for 28. Glamorgan were struggling on 64 for five in the 10th over until Tribe and Douthwaite, with 40 and 31 respectively, shared an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 64.
BBC News
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Anderson stars for Lancs, Glamorgan win first game
James Anderson marked his first T20 Blast game for 11 years with a career-best 3-17 and a catch as Lancashire Lightning beat Durham in a thrilling ex-England paceman helped restrict Durham to 150-6, and with the scores level, Jack Blatherwick hit the final ball of the game for a single as the Red Rose reached 151-6 to win by four wickets. Elsewhere in North Group, Northants Steelbacks earned their second win by beating Leicestershire Foxes by five wickets, and Brett D'Oliveira's 79 led Worcestershire to a 60-run win over Yorkshire at New South Group, leg-spinner Mason Crane claimed 4-28 as Glamorgan beat Middlesex by five wickets in their first game, and Somerset also won, beating Essex by eight wickets, but holders Gloucestershire were bowled out for 93 as they lost to Sussex by 80 scorecards North Group - Lightning continue good start All eyes were on Test cricket's leading wicket-taker at the Riverside as Anderson was handed the ball for the opening over of the was a tidy one, yielding just three runs, and he then had Graham Clark caught at mid-off, Alex Lees taken at mid-on, and had Colin Ackermann dropped at mid-wicket by Tom Aspinwall in an opening burst of 2-15 from three who was knighted in April, returned for the 11th over of the innings and picked up the wicket of Ackermann - his spell including 16 dot balls and no boundaries or sixes conceded - before catching Ben Raine at fine Zealander Jimmy Neesham (40 not out off 25 balls) boosted the Durham total and they then picked up a couple of early wickets at the start of Lancashire's visitors struggled to 80-4 in the 12th over but Michael Jones made 55 off 39 balls, including a six through the rear window of a vehicle in the car park, and Josh Bohannon a well-judged was caught and bowled by Neesham from the fifth ball of the final over, but Blatherwick came out to win the game and earn Lancashire their third win out of three. Three-time winners Leicestershire lost two wickets in the first over of their match, bowled by Northants Steelbacks skipper David Willey, and found themselves 39-7 in the eighth over as Ben Sanderson produced a superb spell of looked like the Foxes might fail to reach their lowest T20 score of 89 all out against Derbyshire in 2022, but Logan van Beek's 42 enabled them to bat out the full 20 overs for 122 all were 75-4 in the 14th over of their reply - but Ravi Bopara's unbeaten 46 off 40 balls took them home by five wickets on 123-5 with four balls to New Road, Worcestershire Rapids skipper Brett D'Oliveira made the highest T20 score of his career, hitting four sixes in his 79 off 48 balls against Yorkshire after being dropped early in his innings by Dom Bess.D'Oliveira put on 117 with Adam Hose, who contributed 54 off 37, before holing out off Australian Will Sutherland in their captain Dawid Malan, by contrast, was bowled second ball for a duck by Jacob Duffy (2-30) and wickets continued to fall regularly with Adam Finch (2-19) running out James Wharton by kicking the ball on to the made 41 not out off 37 balls but Yorkshire were well short of their target on 135-8 when rain ended play with three balls left and they lost by 60 runs via the DLS method. South Group - Crane puts Middlesex in spin Glamorgan made a winning entry into this summer's competition as figures of 4-28 by leg-spinner Mason Crane set up a five-wicket victory over Middlesex at Merchant Taylors' home side went into decline following an opening stand of 45 between Stevie Eskinazi and Kane Williamson, the latter run out for 25 by Hayden Kerr's direct hit at the bowler's proved to be the best score in a disappointing Middlesex total of 124-9, but their bowlers made Glamorgan work for the win, reducing them to 64-5 before an unbroken stand of 64 between Asa Tribe (40 not out) and Daniel Douthwaite (31) saw them home on 128-5 after 15.3 overs."It is a bit of a mystery when you come to an out-ground in terms of knowing what you are going to get, but there was a little bit there so I was pretty happy with that," Crane Smeed played arguably the innings of the day for last year's runners-up Somerset, hitting a six and 11 fours in his 81 not out off 54 balls as they cruised to an eight-wicket win over Essex at coming together when a brilliant one-handed boundary catch by Thomas Rew removed Paul Walter, Dean Elgar (50) and Matt Critchley (54) shared a fourth-wicket stand of 83 for the home side, but from 119-3, they lost seven wickets for 29 runs to be all out for opening partnership of 96 in nine overs between Smeed and Tom Lammonby (36) put Somerset on course for victory and they reached 149-2 from the penultimate ball of the 16th over. Holders Gloucestershire suffered their second defeat as their batting let them down against Sussex Sharks at Payne, the top wicket-taker in the 2024 Blast, and Matt Taylor claimed three victims each as Sussex were bowled out for 173 despite Tom Alsop (58 off 35 balls) and James Coles (43 off 27) putting on 105 Ollie Robinson bowled Cameron Bancroft for seven with a beautiful leg-cutter early in Gloucestershire's reply and the visitors lost their way as Tymal Mills took 3-13 and were dismissed in the 14th over. Tuesday's fixture Cardiff: Glamorgan v Surrey (start 18:30 BST) Wednesday's fixtures Old Trafford: Lancashire Lightning v Leicestershire Foxes (18:30 BST)Derby: Derbyshire Falcons v Northants Steelbacks (19:00 BST)
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
T20 Blast begins with wins for Lancs and Sussex
This year's T20 Blast got under way with opening night victories for troubled Lancashire Lightning and last season's semi-finalists Sussex Sharks. A day after the departure of head coach Dale Benkenstein after a bad start to the season, Lancashire secured a tense seven-run victory over Worcestershire Rapids at Emirates Old Trafford. Captain Keaton Jennings led from the front in their North Group encounter as his side posted 176-8 with no Worcestershire batter going past 39 as they only made 169-7. In the South Group, Sussex began with a 16-run win at Lord's over Middlesex aided by a fine 77 not out from James Coles in their 202-4. Despite 51 from Ben Geddes and some lusty hitting from Ryan Higgins, the home side never looked in contention as they ended on 186-7. It has been a dreadful start to the season in the County Championship for Lancashire, who named former T20-winning captain Steven Croft as interim head coach, with no wins from their seven games. Jennings had already resigned as red-ball captain and the club apologised to its members before Benkenstein's exit. Back in charge for the T20 Blast, Jennings brought up his 50 off 30 balls and put on 79 for the first wicket with Luke Wells. But a brilliant catch in the deep from Ethan Brookes removed Jennings and halted Lancashire's progress, and the hosts lost five wickets for 22 runs to keep the target to under nine runs an over. When Kashif Ali smashed 39 off 21 balls, the Rapids were well over the required rate and on course for an away win. But the loss of captain Brett D'Oliveira (30) and Adam Hose (13) to reduce Worcestershire to 93-4 after 10.1 overs changed the complexion of the game. From there, Lancashire turned the screw and with the visitors needing 15 runs off the last over, Tom Aspinwall conceded just seven to deliver a morale-boosting first win of the season in any competition. Middlesex have been perennial strugglers in the South Group, unable to reach the quarter-finals for six years and without a Finals Day appearance since they won the competition in 2008. After winning the toss, they chipped away at Sussex's top order, helped by Tom Helm running out Daniel Hughes at the non-striker's end when the Australian was well set on 38. But Coles' best T20 score from 44 balls held the innings together as he put on an unbroken 88 with Tom Clark (26 not out) to take the score past 200. New Zealand star Kane Williamson, on his Middlesex debut, was spectacularly caught for 14 at deep point by a diving Harrison Ward, who almost lost his trousers in the process. However, they were soon behind the required rate and at 136-5 early in the 17th over, the game looked over. Higgins hit 44 off just 16 balls to give them a glimmer of hope until he was bowled by Ollie Robinson in the last over as the England bowler finished with an impressive 3-27. North Group: Leicester: Leicestershire Foxes v Derbyshire Falcons Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire Outlaws v Birmingham Bears Headingley: Yorkshire v Northamptonshire Steelbacks South Group: Taunton: Somerset v Surrey Bristol: Gloucestershire v Kent (19:00) Utilita Bowl: Hampshire Hawks v Essex Eagles (19:00)
