New Delhi: James Anderson returned to basics as he featured in his first T20 match in 11 years, taking the field for Lancashire Lightning against Durham Cricket in a T20 Vitality Blast match at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street on Sunday. Anderson’s performance in the match rewound the clock as he took his best-ever figures of 3/17, helping his team win the game by four wickets.
Anderson marked his return to the shortest format after nearly 11 years as he had last appeared in a competitive T20 match in August 2014, which makes it a span of 3,935 days. He has reaffirmed that he indeed comes with a Midas touch, as even after 11 long years of absence in the format, it is clear that he still has a lot left in him with the white ball.
In the next month, he will be celebrating a full year since his international retirement. However, even at the ripe age of 42, Anderson looked like his old self, as he bowled three overs up front in the powerplay against Durham and completed his spell of four. In the first three overs, Anderson scalped the wickets of both Durham openers, skipper Alex Lees and Graham Clark.
In the early overs, he extracted plenty of movement as he took 2/15 in the powerplay and returned in the 11th over to add a third wicket, dismissing Colin Ackermann to finish with figures of 3/17. This effort turned out to be Anderson’s best returns in T20 cricket as he improved on his past figures of 3/23, which had come in a T20I game for England against the Netherlands back in 2009, the last year in which Anderson played for England in T20s.
Watch James Anderson’s performance on his T20 return –
Jimmy Anderson is back in the Vitality Blast, and back in the wickets 🌹 pic.twitter.com/TiXBBZsyaz
— Vitality Blast (@VitalityBlast) June 1, 2025
Enjoy every ball of Jimmy Anderson’s 3/17, on his return to the Vitality Blast 🌹 pic.twitter.com/EU052tWlIr
— Vitality Blast (@VitalityBlast) June 2, 2025
Anderson rocking in 40s
Anderson, 42, bagged his first wicket in his second over itself as he bounced back having conceded a six and a four in the first three balls to dismiss Clark. Anderson sent the entirety of Durham’s top three back to the pavilion, a bowling wizardry that ensured the hosts were only able to score 150 on the day. Anderson’s contribution was important, but Durham bowlers too, made a spirited outing, and Lancashire could only chase the 151-run target in the entire 20 overs.
The performance of Anderson was a marked improvement on the last time he played in a T20 game, which saw him leak 52 runs for no wickets against Warwickshire during the 2014 Blast final. His return has lifted Lancashire to a third win in a row to start off their Vitality Blast campaign on a high, which is a perfect record so far as they have already defeated Worcestershire and dismantled Nottinghamshire in their first two matches of the season.
42-year-old James Anderson made his way back to T20 cricket as he played for Lancashire Lightning against Durham Cricket in the Vitality Blast on Sunday and took 3 for 17, reaffirming he still has a lot in him with the white ball. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
