County Championship: Vintage James Anderson display inspires Lancashire victory over Derbyshire
Jimmy Anderson takes four wickets to seal first victory as Lancashire captain against Derbyshire in Division Two; England duo Jamie Smith and Ollie Pope pile on the runs in Surrey's draw with Leicestershire; Nottinghamshire claim first victory of County Championship title defence
Monday 13 April 2026 19:08, UK
James Anderson rolled back the years with a brilliant intervention to bowl Lancashire to a surprise last-day win over Derbyshire.
Anderson, now 43 and two seasons on from retiring as England's record Test wicket-taker, claimed four for 18 to fire the Red Rose to a 20-run win at Emirates Old Trafford.
Chasing a modest 138, Derbyshire were rolled for 108 with Anderson dismissing Martin Andersson, Anuj Dal, Ben Aitchison and Shoaib Bashir before running out Zak Chappell at the bowler's end to finish things.
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Anderson's first win as permanent Lancashire captain lifts the side to second after two matches of the Division Two season.
In Division One, there were more runs for Surrey's England pair Jamie Smith and Ollie Pope in a run-heavy draw against Leicestershire.
The pair began to put their Ashes travails behind them with first-innings hundreds, with Smith adding another 89 and Pope 83 not out when the teams shook hands on a draw. The Brown Caps closed on 263 for four, leaving a match total of just under 1,500 runs at the Kia Oval.
Defending champions Nottinghamshire banked their first win as they saw off Glamorgan by 192 runs at Trent Bridge.
The Welsh side resumed on 132 for two chasing a distant 478 and never looked like getting close after the early dismissal of Asa Tribe.
The highly-rated England Lions prospect was 82 overnight but added only three more before being bowled by Brett Hutton.
Spinner Liam Patterson-White took each of the last three wickets to wrap things up.
Sussex became the only team in the country to make it two wins from two as they chased impressively for a five-wicket win against Warwickshire.
They ticked off the last 94 runs they required to clear 328 at Hove, Jack Leaning powering to 120 not out. Despite back-to-back victories, their relative lack of bonus points means they sit five behind Somerset at the summit.
Yorkshire's disappointing start continued with a 214-run loss at home to Hampshire.
They finished 211 all out pursuing 426, South African veteran Kyle Abbott completing the 47th five-wicket haul of his career.
All-rounder George Hill chipped in 52 to add to his first-innings five-for, but the hosts lacked steel with the bat in the absence of injured skipper Jonny Bairstow.
In the second tier, Ben Compton scored an unbeaten century as Kent battled for a weather-assisted draw against Northamptonshire at Canterbury having followed on.
