James Anderson is still going strong as he scalped a seven-wicket haul for Lancashire against Nottinghamshire on Day 3 of the County Championship Division One fixture at Trafalgar Road Ground, Southport. The 41-year-old rattled the Nottinghamshire lineup early on after his team declared on a competitive score of 353/9.
Anderson struck for the first time in the seventh over of the innings with Haseeb Hameed playing on. Notably, this was Anderson’s first wicket of the season. It didn’t take the swing bowler much time to grab his second scalp as Will Young edged one to the keeper Matthew Hurst in the ninth over of the innings. To say the least, it became a procession as whenever Anderson came on to bowl he dismissed a Nottinghamshire batter.
The Burnley-born completed his five-wicket haul with the wicket of Lyndon James who was caught at gully by Will Williams. It was Anderson’s 55th five-wicket haul in first-class cricket and took him just 46 deliveries to achieve it today. The Lancashire pacer continued on his merry way as he scalped Patterson-White who was also caught at gully. The Nottinghamshire score at this stage read 40/6.
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Remarkably, Anderson was the lone wicket-taker till this moment in the innings, creating hopes of grabbing all ten wickets. However, it did not transpire as Tom Bailey took the seventh and eighth wickets.
Anderson then came to bowl and take his seventh and final wicket of the innings, putting an end to Dillon Pennington‘s stay at the crease. He finished with figures of 16-3-35-7. Nottinghamshire were eventually bowled out for 126, giving Lancashire a lead of 227 runs.
The home team decided to enforce the follow-on. The openers began well but were rocked by Nathan Lyon who trapped Ben Slater in front of the stumps. At present, Nottinghamshire score reads as 63/1 with Haseeb Hameed and Will Young at the crease.
Coming back to Anderson, the 41-year-old is slated to play his last Test match against West Indies at Lord’s, starting from July 10. With Anderson in this form, West Indies will be wary of him.