Lyon, Anderson primed for county cricket's ultimate union

Nathan Lyon will get his long-awaited union with James Anderson with the pair of prolific Test wicket-takers selected for Lancashire's ongoing County Championship clash with Nottinghamshire.

The prospect of a combined 1230 Test wickets bowling in tandem resulted in a day one sell out at the coastal outground in Southport west of Manchester, but eager punters were left in anticipation for all of Sunday after Notts' decision to bowl backfired as Lancashire racked up 8-344 by the close of play led by skipper Keaton Jennings' unbeaten 183.

Persistent rain in northern England then washed out play on Monday, meaning the Ashes rivals will have to wait until day three for a chance to bowl together.

The match marks Anderson's first of the northern summer as he gears up for his Test farewell at Lord's on July 10 having announced he will retire following the first match of the series against West Indies.

It will also be Lyon's last appearance of the 2024 campaign as he comes to the end of his eight-match stint as per the agreement between Lancashire and Cricket Australia.

The pairing of Test cricket's third and seventh most successful bowlers of all time in the same county attack has also been hotly anticipated by the men themselves since the season got underway in April, with Lyon revealing it was one of the reasons that drew him to Lancashire.

"I've had some incredible battles against him," Lyon told BBC Radio Lancashire earlier in the season.

"I admire his skill, there's nothing but respect from my end for what he's been able to do for English cricket but also world cricket inspiring young boys and girls to play the game. He's one of the greatest, if not the greatest, fast bowler to have played the game.

"If the opportunity comes around that I get to bowl in tandem with him and share a changing room with him it will be pretty special, so I'm looking forward to that."

While this week is Anderson's first appearance of the season, he hasn't yet ruled out featuring in the second half of Lancashire's county campaign despite his Test retirement with the club locked in a battle to avoid relegation from division one.

NSW off-spinning allrounder Chris Green is also making his county debut in Southport after joining Lancashire at the start of the T20 Blast season in late May.

Green scored nine on the opening day with Lyon to resume day three this evening (AEST) on eight not out alongside Jennings.

Jennings said Lyon's impact this season had been "brilliant" despite the club only recording two wins to date (three draws) to sit eighth in the standings with six matches remaining.

"He surprised me really with how competitive and how aware of every match situation he's been, I've learnt quite a bit in managing spin from him and what is possible," Jennings told BBC Radio Lancashire ahead of this week's fixture.

"When you have a quality of player firstly that outputs what he does, and then the quality of bloke around the changeroom, it's sensational.

"He's been working with the Kent spinners, he sat and had a 10-minute conversation with a young lad called Ben and chatted all sorts of things about his game and interests, it was amazing.

"That's the kind of thing you don't see. A lot of Aussies come over here and cop it a little bit, but to see Nath really buy into everything that's going on around him, to our spinners, has been absolutely amazing.

"The quality he's put into the changeroom has been fantastic – he's chipped in at the right time, he'll pump lads up at the right time, which is brilliant.

"He'll be a massive loss, as a bloke, as a player but it's (been) fantastic to have him in and around the environment.

"Him and Jimmy … hopefully they and contribute towards a huge win."

After taking four wickets in Lancashire's win over bottom-placed Kent last week, Lyon will be hoping for another solid performance in his final match to end his campaign with two straight wins and keep his side out of relegation danger.

2024 Division One County Championship standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Drawn D	No results N/R	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Bowling Bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 Surrey SRY	9	6	1	2	0	0	20	25	157
2 Somerset SOM	9	3	1	5	0	0	21	25	134
3 Essex ESS	9	4	2	3	0	0	17	23	128
4 Hampshire HAM	9	3	1	4	1	2	15	19	120
5 Durham DUR	9	2	2	4	1	1	14	17	102
6 Nottinghamshire NOT	9	1	2	6	0	1	14	25	102
7 Lancashire LAN	9	2	3	4	0	0	15	22	101
8 Warwickshire WAR	9	0	3	6	0	0	24	24	96
9 Worcestershire WOR	9	1	3	5	0	0	13	22	91
10 Kent KEN	9	1	5	3	0	0	9	17	66

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

D: Drawn

N/R: No results

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

Bowl: Bowling Bonus

PTS: Total points

Australians in the 2024 County Championship

Durham: Ben Dwarshuis, Ashton Turner (both T20s only)

Essex: Daniel Sams (T20s only)

Glamorgan: Marnus Labuschagne

Gloucestershire: Cameron Bancroft, Beau Webster

Hampshire: Michael Neser, Ben McDermott (T20s only)

Kent: Wes Agar, Charlie Stobo, Xavier Bartlett (T20s only)

Lancashire: Nathan Lyon, Chris Green

Leicestershire: Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris

Northamptonshire: Chris Tremain (first four matches only), Ashton Agar (T20s only)

Somerset: Matthew Renshaw, Riley Meredith

Surrey: Sean Abbott, Spencer Johnson (T20s only)

Sussex: Nathan McAndrew, Daniel Hughes