James Anderson, England’s all-time leading Test wicket-taker, stepped into the captaincy role for Lancashire during their recent Championship match against Kent in Blackpool. Indeed, this was a big day for Anderson. With 188 Tests under his belt and almost 22 years of first-class cricket to his name, he is a perennial font of wisdom. As the team endures a brutal beginning to the season, they haven’t won any of their first eight games in Division Two.
Lancashire continued their violent intent in the other match, brushing aside Kent with 639-9 declared. This success represents their best score in 10 years. All three players—Luke Wells, Josh Bohannon, and Ashton Turner—scored centuries, highlighting the impressive batting depth in the squad. Lancashire lost nothing with that performance, going down fighting in what was a close match. Kent’s quite brilliant unbeaten 90 saw him bat through the last day, avoiding defeat with the draw. Kent faced a daunting task at 116-7 in their second innings. Joey Evison and Grant Stewart then put on a remarkable 182-run partnership that went on to save the contest for them.
Anderson stressed the need to focus on keeping a positive attitude going forward.
“The positive approach we had, if we keep that and keep playing well, we have the quality in the group to win some games,” – James Anderson (BBC Radio Lancashire).
That’s the feeling then as he looks ahead to captaining the side in their final group game against Derbyshire on Wednesday. Anderson took on leadership of the team after fellow Black outfield prospect Marcus Harris temporarily left the team for paternity leave. He’s currently being advised by interim head coach Steven Croft. The coaching staff has gone through extreme turnover over the past year. Dale Benkenstein’s dismissal came just two weeks after Keaton Jennings’ resignation as captain was announced.
Anderson spoke optimistically about his new position in TSU’s history. He admitted that leading the team has brought him a terrain of challenges that’s contrasted to his typical concentration on bowling alone.
“For me, it was something very different. Even when I’ve played and not been captain, I’ve always thought about the game and tried to help captains out on the field,” – James Anderson.
He wrote that he had a hard time focusing at first, but found his rhythm as the game continued.
“Day one, the concentration levels weren’t quite there when I was bowling. I was thinking about other stuff rather than where I was bowling the ball, so it took a little while to get used to that,” – James Anderson.
Anderson said he was hopeful about the direction Lancaster was heading. He observed that their execution on the night against Kent was markedly different from other games this season.
“The way we applied ourselves this week felt different to the rest of the season,” – James Anderson.
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