Anderson gears up for Test farewell with sensational seven

Retiring England great James Anderson has warmed up for his 188th and final Test match at Lord's next week with a sensational seven-wicket haul for Lancashire in Southport.

Anderson didn't miss a beat in his return to the crease after a three-month break following England's tour of India, taking the first six wickets before finishing with 7-35 – the best County Championship figures this season – as Nottinghamshire were skittled for 126 in reply to Lancashire's first innings 9(dec)-353.

It was the 41-year-old's first county appearance in over a year and one which has seen him team up with fellow prolific Test wicket-taker Nathan Lyon who is playing the last of his eight matches with Lancashire for the 2024 season.

The Australian was basically a spectator though as Anderson got to work in Notts' first innings, taking wickets in six consecutive overs in a first spell of the season that yielded 10-2-19-6 and left his opponents reeling at 6-42.

His second spell after lunch produced his seventh wicket and by that stage Notts were 9-84, Lyon – who went wicketless through six overs in the first innings – closing the innings with the run out of Dane Patterson to end a 42-run 10th-wicket partnership.

Lyon claimed the first two wickets of the visitors' second innings as Lancashire enforced the follow-on, with Notts making an improved go at it second time around as they reached 2-84 at stumps on day three.

"That was one of our best days of the summer," Lyon said at stumps. "It was pretty amazing to come here to Southport and have Jimmy bowling as well.

"Doing what he did this morning was pretty amazing to witness.

"I've obviously seen it (when I've been) on the other side, when I'm not standing there saying 'come on Jimmy' so that was amazing to watch and amazing to be a part of.

"It feels a little bit sick me saying 'come on Jimmy' and him saying 'nice Garry'.

"But that's the beauty of county cricket I guess, to come over here and play with arguably the greatest fast bowler to play the game has been pretty special.

"When I first signed for Lancashire that was one of the big drawcards to hopefully bowl in a partnership with Jimmy.

"We've only done three overs so far but hopefully the weather holds off and we can have a decent crack tomorrow.

"It was pretty cool being at mid-off and actually have him tell me what he was actually doing, it was good fun.

"I've said this before, I'm very surprised that England have tapped him on the shoulder and said, 'you've got one more Test and that's it'."

Anderson, who has announced he will retire from Test cricket following the first match of the series against West Indies beginning July 10, is yet to take a wicket in the second innings but still bowled metronomically with 0-4 from four overs.

Nottinghamshire trail by 143 runs with eight wickets remaining heading into the final day after no play was possible on Monday due to rain.

At Cheltenham, Marnus Labuschagne responded to Cameron Bancroft's second-innings 184 for Gloucestershire with 67 not out as Glamorgan reached 3-222 at stumps on day three.

They still require a further 371 runs to win after Gloucester racked up 5(dec)-610 in their second innings, led by Bancroft's fine hand, James Bracey's unbeaten 204 from 231 deliveries and Beau Webster's 65no from 68.

Elsewhere, Sussex's Australian quick Nathan McAndrew took five second innings wickets, including two in three balls, to power his county to victory over Northamptonshire and cement their place at the top of the division two standings.

Overseas signing McAndrew, who removed both openers at Wantage Road on Monday, finished with figures of 5-73 on Tuesday as Northamptonshire were bowled out for 220, Sussex winning by 63 runs.

A short, fiery spell from overlooked England seamer Ollie Robinson did the early damage with two wickets in gloomy, drizzly conditions to effectively dash the hosts' remaining hopes of chasing 284 to win. 

South Australian McAndrew, playing the second of two Championship matches he is available for this year in his second season with Sussex, then returned to take the last three wickets to earn his side their fifth win of the summer.

– with PA

2024 Division Two County Championship standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	Drawn D	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Bowling Bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 Sussex SSX	14	8	2	0	4	3	40	40	237
2 Yorkshire YRK	14	5	2	0	7	0	41	40	217
3 Middlesex MSX	14	5	2	0	7	0	28	32	196
4 Northamptonshire NOR	14	2	3	0	9	0	22	35	161
5 Leicestershire LEI	14	1	3	0	10	0	28	31	155
6 Glamorgan GLA	14	2	4	1	7	2	22	30	146
7 Gloucestershire GLO	14	2	5	1	5	2	27	29	142
8 Derbyshire DBY	14	1	6	0	6	1	20	31	122

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

D: Drawn

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