MATCH PREVIEW: Lancashire v Kent
Lancashire Cricket return to Rothesay County Championship action against Kent on Sunday.
Lancashire v Kent
Rothesay County Championship, Division Two
Sunday June 22 - Wednesday June 25, 2025, 11am
Blackpool Cricket Club, Stanley Park
Match Guide
The Red Rose are currently second from bottom in Division Two having drawn five and lost two of their opening seven games.
The county sit on 66 points and are 42 adrift of Derbyshire, who occupy the second promotion place in Division One with 168 points still to play for.
Realistically, league leaders Leicestershire (139) are away and gone. They have one foot in next season’s Division One already.
For Lancashire to join them, they will likely need four or even five wins from the remaining seven games. By no means impossible, but interim head coach Steven Croft will know all too well that his side can’t afford to linger.
After early-season frustrations with the red ball, Lancashire have breathed life into their season courtesy of some impressive performances with the white in the Vitality Blast. They are very much in the hunt for the quarter-finals at the halfway stage of that competition.
Now, they must build on that momentum.
Croft has named James Anderson stand-in captain for the next two Championship matches - Derbyshire at Chesterfield follows from next Sunday - with Marcus Harris having returned to Australia.
Fellow overseas player Anderson Phillip, the West Indian fast bowler, is also unavailable having been called into their squad for a forthcoming home Test series against Australia.
Lancashire, however, do have all-rounders Chris Green and Ashton Turner available.
Opponents Kent are bottom of Division Two despite winning two matches so far. They have 65 points following two wins, four defeats and a draw so far.
Last time out, Lancashire were beaten at Leicestershire in late May, while Kent were beaten at Derbyshire.
Opposition
Kent are the only county in Division Two to have lost four games this season and one of three across both divisions, with Worcestershire and Yorkshire - the bottom teams in the top-flight - also having lost four apiece in 2025.
The Canterbury side have, however, won twice. And they were the first two games of the season, against Northamptonshire away and Middlesex at home.
Kent played the last Championship match of the last block without an overseas player.
They are coached by former England and Surrey all-rounder Adam Hollioake, who is in his first season in charge.
Top order batter Daniel Bell-Drummond started the season as captain but didn’t take charge of their last four-day game against Derbyshire, despite playing. Opener Ben Compton took on the leadership duties.
Compton is their leading run-scorer with 688 from seven matches, including three hundreds. New-ball seamer Nathan Gilchrist leads the way with 23 wickets. He is amongst the top five wicket-takers in the second division.
Former Lancashire leg-spinner Matthew Parkinson has taken nine wickets in three matches so far this season.
Previous meeting
The two counties traded Division One victories last season. Kent won at Emirates Old Trafford in May, by seven wickets chasing 164, before the Red Rose won by an innings and 83 runs at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, Canterbury at the end of June.
It was pretty much this week of last season - June 23-26.
George Balderson and Nathan Lyon struck three times apiece in Kent’s day one 244 all out before Luke Wells and Josh Bohannon brilliantly all but killed the game with the bat.
They shared 312 for the second wicket through the bulk of day two, from 7-1 in reply, opener Wells hitting 150 and Bohannon 205.
They underpinned a total of 549-9 declared, leaving Kent with little room for manoeuvre in their second innings. They were bowled out for 222 shortly before lunch on day four, with Tom Bailey and Will Williams claiming three wickets apiece.
What they said
Australian overseas all-rounder Chris Green has paid tribute to Jimmy Anderson, saying the opportunity to play alongside Lancashire’s Knight is “something I will remember for the rest of my life”.
Green is available to line up alongside Sir James during the next two Championship matches having already done so during the last few weeks in the Vitality Blast.
Green and Anderson also played together in the Championship draw against Nottinghamshire at Southport last July when the new-ball seam bowling legend claimed 7-35 in the first innings.
“To play with a player like that, someone who has done some incredible things in all facets of the game, particularly the Test arena, is pretty special and something I will remember for the rest of my life,” said Green. “I’m very, very lucky.
“He’s pretty good at what he does. The thing that impresses me most about Jimmy is that he’s very humble and giving of his time.
“He’s a guy who’s achieved so much on the field, but watching him around the group and seeing how much desire and passion he has for his own performance but also that of the team’s.
“You look at him and what he’s achieved and you think, ‘You could go and enjoy yourself’. But he’s still giving so much to the game and his team.
“It’s so impressive, and it’s probably fair enough he got knighted!”
Off-spinning all-rounder Green is in his second season with Lancashire, primarily signed for T20 cricket. He is also contracted at Emirates Old Trafford for 2026 as well. But his deal includes the other two formats when available.
“I love my four-day cricket,” he added. “I love playing for Lancashire and enjoyed that one game last year. If every game I play with Jimmy he gets seven-for, that would be even better.
“I’m here to work, contribute as much as I can and give back to a club who has obviously backed me for two more years. I want to contribute in all facets of the game.”
How’s Stat!
Lancashire have only lost one of their last 11 Championship matches played at Blackpool, dating back to early August 1997, albeit one of those was abandoned without a ball bowled against Surrey in 2008 because of wet weather.
Of the 10 matches played, the only defeat was against Essex in 2023. Lancashire have claimed seven wins in that time added to two draws.
These two counties met at Blackpool in July 2003 and played out a high-scoring draw in which the Red Rose, despite making a first-innings 365, had to follow-on in reply to 602-6 declared.
Warren Hegg captained Lancashire, David Fulton skippered Kent that season.