Former England pacer James Anderson still looked at the top of his game, at 42 years of age, when he represented Lancashire against Derbyshire in the County Championship Division Two game between the two sides at the Queen’s Park at Chesterfield. With Anderson captaining Lancashire and Durban-born Wayne Madsen leading the hosts, it was the first time in a Derbyshire match in 51 years that both skippers were over 40. There was a vintage feel to the game after Anderson chose to bat on a grassy track, with the visitors made to work for every run against testing pace bowling. At the end of Day 1, Lancashire were bowled out for 367, with Keaton Jennings and Chris Green scoring centuries. On the morning of Day 2, it was expected that the veteran Anderson would deliver, and so he did, breathing fire at 42. He caught opener Mitchell Wagstaff plumb in the third over and in the fifth, dismissed Caleb Jewell with a beauty. Watch the video of Jewell’s dismissal here: Pretty comprehensively bowled Admin would say… ?@jimmy9 on the march early on Day Two at Chesterfield. ? #RedRoseTogether https://t.co/ogUFTRBp1g pic.twitter.com/CI29n9kb4M — Lancashire Cricket (@lancscricket) June 30, 2025 At the time of writing, Anderson’s figures read 7-1-19-2, the best among the four bowlers who have bowled yet. Anderson has, over the years, made it a habit to provide early breakthroughs, and he has done the same throughout this County season. Even against Kent in Lancashire’s last league game, he bagged two early wickets on the final day before his counterpart Daniel Bell-Drummond took control. The Derbyshire game will be the last for Anderson as captain, as he was replacing Marcus Harris, who had travelled back to Australia for the birth of his child. Before the Kent game, Anderson had just played once in the Championship in 2025, after a calf injury ruled him out for the first one and a half months, but he has been in good form in the Vitality Blast. The match against Kent was the first time that Anderson led a professional XI. He became Lancashire’s third red-ball skipper this year, with Harris having succeeded Jennings after a tough start to 2025 that cost Dale Benkenstein his job as head coach, too.