Match Preview: Lancashire vs. Durham, Rothesay County Championship
Lancashire v Durham
Rothesay County Championship, Division Two
Thursday September 24 - Sunday September 27, 2026, 10.30am
Emirates Old Trafford Cricket Ground
One last hurrah for 2026, and there’s no hiding the fact that it’s mightily frustrating that visitors Durham are the ones who will be celebrating promotion at Emirates Old Trafford this weekend.
Lancashire, meanwhile, have the goal of ending a damaging three-game losing streak which has run right through September.
A third win of the season won’t count to prizes or change the fact this has been a hugely disappointing and frustrating campaign, but it will at least give the players and coaches, supporters some kind of spring in their steps heading into the winter.
Durham, on the other hand, have won nine of their 13 games, and are unbeaten this season to take the Division Two title.
While Lancashire were beaten away at Kent last week, they drew at home to Worcestershire.
Opposition
Every credit to Durham, they have had a fabulous four-day season under the leadership of coach Ryan Campbell and captain Alex Lees.
It wasn’t an easy winter for the North East county, who were relegated on the final day of last summer at Headingley.
Needing to bat out the final couple of sessions for survival, they crumbled to 85 all out, and it would have been no surprise to see that disappointment drift into 2026. But it hasn’t, and they have run away with Division Two.
A key win came at home against Lancashire in April, a period when the Red Rose were at their best, and they have kicked on and been ruthless.
They have been boosted by the inclusion of former England Test captain Ben Stokes over the last month or so in red-ball cricket, while South African overseas batter David Bedingham and fringe England Test quick Matthew Potts have been talismanic presences.
Seamer Potts is the leading wicket-taker in Division Two with 60, while Bedingham is the second leading run-scorer in the second tier with 1,029. He’s only 35 runs behind market leader Ricardo Vasconcelos of Northamptonshire.
Bedingham has actually returned to South Africa for their domestic summer and has just scored twin centuries for Western Province in a four-day win over the Dolphins.
Opposition player to watch
Only Hampshire seamer Kyle Abbott with 62 in Division One has taken more wickets than Durham’s new-ball seamer Matthew Potts in either division of the Championship this summer.
Potts, capped 23 times by England - 11 times in Test Cricket, has been a consistent performer throughout the summer.
Amazingly, he has taken at least a wicket in every innings he has bowled this summer in the Championship, aside from one. That was the second innings against Worcestershire last week, which amounted to 32-1 inside 10 overs late on Friday’s fourth day. Potts bowled four overs with the new ball.
He has taken two six-wicket hauls and a five-for.
Potts, aged 27, played the last of his 11 Tests against Australia at Sydney in January.
Previous meeting
Durham beat Lancashire by eight wickets at Banks Homes Riverside in late April, a game which the Red Rose were on top of for large parts.
Unfortunately, Durham impressively chased a final-day target of 336 with some comfort thanks to unbeaten centuries from David Bedingham and England Test opener-to-be Emilio Gay.
Lancashire, having been inserted, totalled 370 all out through to the early stages of day two, an innings built around an excellent 148 from Marcus Harris. New-ball seamer Ben Raine led the way for Durham with four wickets.
Tom Bailey struck three times as Durham were restricted to 295 all out before the Red Rose totalled 260-9 declared in their second innings through to end of day three.
Paul Coughlin hit a superb 100 to help Lancashire recover from 72-6.
The Red Rose were then in an encouraging position with Durham at 46-2, George Balderson and Mitch Stanley striking inside the first 20 overs of the defence.
But, then, right-hand, left-hand pair Bedingham and Gay got to work and shared a defining 290-run partnership unbroken.
Gay top-scored with a well-paced 159 off 211 balls, Bedingham supporting him with a more dynamic 129 off 151.
What they said
Marcus Harris has hailed “unbelievable” Sir James Anderson.
Captain Anderson has taken 50 wickets in this season’s Championship and needs seven more for 1,200 in his first-class career and 450 for Lancashire.
Aged 44, Anderson shows no signs of slowing.
Australian Harris said: “He's unbelievable. I just can't believe he keeps playing. The amount of tape that he's got on his legs, I'm not sure if you've seen it, but there's a lot of stuff holding him together.
“He's bowled unbelievably again last week at Kent, so it's been a privilege to play with him.
“I don't take it for granted getting to play with someone like that.
“We've been so lucky to have him around for the last couple of years, but those guys don't come around very often, so I cherish every time I get to walk on the field with him.”
How’s Stat!
Josh Bohannon needs 32 runs to reach 6,000 first-class runs for Lancashire.
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