Watch: James Anderson put on a new-ball masterclass on the opening morning of Lancashire’s County Championship clash against Somerset at Old Trafford.

In gloomy conditions, Lancashire skipper Dane Vilas made the unsurprising decision to bowl first after winning the toss.

Anderson was at his very best, ending his opening spell with figures of 8-5-5-2, and he was unfortunate not to end the morning with more breakthroughs after Somerset opener Tom Lammonby was dropped three times off Anderson’s bowling; twice in the cordon and once by Anderson himself.

Anderson’s first victim was Steven Davies who was caught by Tom Hartley at third slip. Somerset captain Tom Abell was next to go, falling lbw for one.

As well as the three dropped catches off Lammonby’s bat, Anderson came close to making further inroads into the Somerset line-up, frequently passing the outside edges of the Somerset batters. Lammonby responded to the missed chances by digging in to reach lunch on 24 off 105 deliveries.

You can watch every ball of James Anderson’s superb new-ball spell below:

A quite incredible opening spell from @jimmy9 this morning

8 overs
5 maidens
5 runs
2 wickets#LVCountyChamp pic.twitter.com/nhFOeBDBdV

— LV= Insurance County Championship (@CountyChamp) May 11, 2023