James Anderson stars for Lancashire, Matthew Potts helps blow Kent away

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION TWO ROUNDUP: In the face of Anderson's burst, Northamptonshire finsihed the day just 20 runs shy of avoiding the follow-on

ECB Reporters Network | 04/04/2026 at 18:34

Chester-le-Street (day two of four): Durham 335 & 83-2, Kent 197 - Durham lead by 221 runs with eight wickets remaining

Matthew Potts starred as Durham's bowlers blew away Kent's batting line-up on a rain-affected second day of their County Championship clash.

It was Durham's day as Potts and Kemar Roach picked up three wickets apiece to restrict Kent to 197 all out, a first innings deficit of 138 for the visitors.

This was despite the best efforts of Sam Northeast, who fell six short of a century on his return to the county.

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^{Matthew Potts inspired Durham to bowl Kent out cheaply (Stu Forster/Getty Images)}

Kent's bowlers struck back with a couple of early wickets, but Durham reasserted their dominance in their second innings and finished the day on 83 for 2, leading by 221.

Resuming on 50 for 2 under gloomy skies at Chester-le-Street, Kent pair Tawanda Muyeye and Northeast had a challenging opening period to see out.

Northampton (day two of four): Lancashire 384, Northamptonshire 215-9 - Northamptonshire trail by 169 runs with one wicket remaining

Lancashire captain James Anderson rolled back the years with a five-wicket haul at Wantage Road to put his side firmly in control of their County Championship Division Two game against Northamptonshire.

The 43-year-old former Test bowler, appointed as the Red Rose's permanent skipper this season, took 5 for 64 to leave Northamptonshire reeling at 41 for 5 in response to the visitors' 384.

Anderson was ably backed up by Tom Bailey (3 for 46), but the home side fought back courageously, led by an undefeated 54 from Lewis McManus, to close on 215 for 9 – just 20 runs short of avoiding the follow-on.

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^{Ben Sanderson finsihed off the innings to end with a five-wicket haul (David Rogers/Getty Images)}

It was a productive day for veteran seamers, with Ben Sanderson – six years Anderson's junior – earlier mopping up the Lancashire tail to finish with 5 for 79.

With Lancashire resuming at 346 for 7, Bailey launched a single-handed bid to lift their total towards the 400 region, crashing Sanderson for two cover boundaries in the opening over of the day.

However, George Balderson departed without increasing his overnight score of 21, taken at second slip off Sanderson, who then tempted Ajeet Singh Dale to try and pull a ball that was too close to him and top-edged to McManus.

A late flurry from Bailey, which included heaving Harry Conway over the deep square leg fence, ended when he holed out for 39, having contributed all but three runs of Lancashire's morning tally.