Five wickets for Anderson as Lancashire take control on Day Two
Day Two report presented by C&C Insurance Brokers
Lancashire captain James Anderson rolled back the years with a five-wicket haul at Wantage Road to put his side firmly in control of their Rothesay County Championship Division Two game against Northamptonshire.
The 43-year-old former Test bowler, appointed as the Red Rose’s permanent skipper this season, took five for 64 to leave Northamptonshire reeling at 41 for five in response to the visitors’ 384.
Anderson was ably backed up by Tom Bailey (three for 46), but the home side fought back courageously, led by an undefeated 54 from Lewis McManus to close on 215 for nine – just 20 runs short of avoiding the follow-on.
It was a productive day for veteran seamers, with Ben Sanderson – six years Anderson’s junior – earlier mopping up the Lancashire tail to finish with five for 79.
With Lancashire resuming at 346 for seven, Bailey launched a single-handed bid to lift their total towards the 400 region, crashing Sanderson for two cover boundaries in the opening over of the day.
However, George Balderson departed without increasing his overnight score of 21, taken at second slip off Sanderson, who then tempted Ajeet Singh Dale to try and pull a ball that was too close to him and top-edged to McManus.
A late flurry from Bailey, which included heaving Harry Conway over the deep square leg fence, ended when he holed out for 39, having contributed all but three runs of Lancashire’s morning tally.
Bailey also set the tone when Northamptonshire began their reply, dismissing home captain Luke Procter for a second-ball duck before Anderson took centre stage, ripping out four more top-order wickets in the space of just 22 deliveries.
The first of those, Calvin Harrison, could feel hard done by – and did, standing for a moment with hand on hip after he was adjudged caught behind to a ball that seemed to have evaded his outside edge.
Anderson should have taken two in successive deliveries, with Harry Singh’s drop at second slip ensuring Nathan McSweeney survived his first ball in county cricket – but Ricardo Vasconcelos was castled by an inswinger before Saif Zaib and James Sales both fell cheaply.
George Bartlett (31) counter-attacked either side of lunch, whipping Anderson off his pads for four and dispatching the Red Rose skipper to the rope again with two cleanly-struck straight drives as he and McSweeney (32) began the rebuilding job.
The pair added 62 for the sixth wicket before Bailey returned for his second spell and made the breakthrough almost immediately, finding additional bounce as Bartlett fended into the hands of second slip.
McSweeney followed in Bailey’s next over, but McManus and debutant Louis Kimber (33) maintained a pugnacious approach, with the latter clubbing spinner Tom Hartley back over his head for six.
McManus clipped Bailey for leg-side boundaries as the brisk partnership raced beyond 50 but, inevitably, it was Anderson who separated them by claiming his fifth wicket as Kimber chopped on.
Sanderson continued the fightback with a knock of 22, ended when he became Ajeet Singh Dale’s maiden wicket in Lancashire colours, pinned leg before moving across his stumps, but McManus shepherded the total beyond 200.
With the light deteriorating, Luke Wells joined an all-spin attack after tea and McManus took advantage to post his half-century in style, pulling a short ball from Hartley into the stand.
Conway kept him company, defying Lancashire for 26 balls until worsening overhead conditions prompted the umpires to bring play to a close.
Images: Luke Adams / Dan Adams
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