James Anderson hails 'fantastic' debutant as Lancashire seal pulsating day four win over Derbyshire
The Red Rose showed incredible fight to seal their first victory of the season
James Anderson inspired Lancashire to a pulsating day four win over Derbyshire in the County Championship.
In their first home match of the campaign, the Red Rose defied the odds to win by 29 runs. The visitors needed just 138 to win at Emirates Old Trafford, having bowled Lancashire out for 160 on Monday morning.
But, Anderson’s spell of 4-18 - after Tom Bailey and debutant Paul Coughlin removed the top order - saw the home side triumph in remarkable fashion. Lancashire collected 21 points and ticked off their first win of the season, after drawing at Northants in last week’s opener.
The winning moment was Tom Bailey’s run out of number eight Zak Chappell, who was on five and batting with Pakistan seamer Mohammad Abbas. It was Abbas who was on strike but Chappell set off for a run and was left stranded.
Speaking post-match, Anderson told BBC Lancashire: "It was a tough week for us. We didn't play our best cricket. I felt like first innings, we should've scored more with the bat. We had a few guys get in and not go on. It felt like a good pitch to bat on, on day one. They then batted really well. I thought we bowled pretty well throughout the game - really pleased with that.
“We managed to scrape to 147 and it gave us half a chance to get a win. To be honest, you've just got to keep running in and keep believing that something is going to happen. A day four wicket... I thought it was a great pitch at Old Trafford. Good carry in it, a little bit of variable bounce towards the end, but it made for great viewing.
“I think when you win games like that, when it's close, it probably feels better than a comfortable win. But obviously, you don't want it to be like that every week. We've had two games now where we've really had to battle to get results. Last week, we came close. This week, we've gone one better but we've had to work really hard for it.”
Anderson was full of praise for debutant Coughlin, adding: “I thought he was fantastic. I thought he was brilliant throughout. I thought he could have got more wickets in the first innings. He bowled fantastically well and then broke the game open for us in the second innings, so he's done a great job.”
Match Highlights
Lancashire 351 & 160: Mark Harris 125 and 66. Josh Bohannon 73. Paul Coughlin 4-79 and scores of 29 and 35 at number eight. James Anderson 4-18, with the four wickets taken in a second spell of 4.5 overs and just seven runs conceded.