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Anderson takes seven-wicket Championship haul ahead of England exit / Photo: © AFP/File
Anderson takes seven-wicket Championship haul ahead of England exit
England great James Anderson took seven wickets for Lancashire in a County Championship match against Nottinghamshire on Tuesday -- just eight days before his final Test appearance.
Anderson, in his first Championship match for over a year, took 7-35 -- the best figures in this season's Championship -- as Nottinghamshire were dismissed for 126 in reply to Lancashire's first innings 353-9 declared.
Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon then took his 800th first-class wicket as Nottinghamshire were made to follow-on at Southport, with the visitors 84-2 at stumps on the third day, needing a further 143 runs to avoid an innings defeat.
This is the first match the 41-year-old Anderson has played all season as he prepares for the first Test against the West Indies at Lord's starting on July 10.
But in his first competitive cricket match since the fifth Test against India in March, he showed few signs of rustiness as he reeled off a remarkable 10-over opening spell of 6-19, with former England batsman Haseeb Hameed the first man out when he deflected the ball onto the bails.
If there was a touch of luck about that dismissal, the rest came as a result of Anderson's immaculate line and length.
He took all six wickets to fall before lunch after Liam Patterson-White was caught in the slips, with Anderson's return the 55th five-wicket haul of his first-class career.
After the interval, Anderson returned to have fellow paceman Dillon Pennington -- who could make his Test debut at Lord's -- caught behind.
By contrast, next week's match will be Anderson's 188th Test, with the England spearhead having made his debut back in 2003.
Anderson is the first seamer and only third bowler to have taken 700 Test wickets after spinners Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan.
But he has decided to bow out of Test cricket following next week's series opener at Lord's, with England having made it clear they wanted to move on ahead of the 2025/26 Ashes.
Anderson, set to become an England fast-bowling mentor once his international career ends, has yet to confirm whether he will retire from county cricket as well this season.
N.Wilson--SFF
