Anderson stars for Lancs in first T20 since 2014

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Sir James Anderson takes a wicket for Lancashire

James Anderson marked his first T20 Blast game for almost 11 years with a career-best 3-17 and a catch as Lancashire Lightning beat Durham in a thrilling final-ball finish.

The ex-England paceman helped restrict Durham to 150-6, and with the scores level, Jack Blatherwick hit the final ball for a single as Lancashire won by four wickets.

Elsewhere in the North Group, Northants Steelbacks earned their second win by beating Leicestershire Foxes by five wickets, and Brett D'Oliveira's 79 led Worcestershire to a 60-run win over Yorkshire at New Road.

In South Group, leg-spinner Mason Crane claimed 4-28 as Glamorgan beat Middlesex by five wickets in their first game, and Somerset also won, beating Essex by eight wickets, but holders Gloucestershire were bowled out for 93 as they lost to Sussex by 80 runs.

North Group - Lightning continue good start

All eyes were on Test cricket's leading pace wicket-taker at the Riverside as Anderson was handed the ball for the opening over of the game.

It was a tidy one, yielding just three runs, and he then had Graham Clark caught at mid-off, Alex Lees taken at mid-on, and Colin Ackermann dropped at mid-wicket by Tom Aspinwall in an opening burst of 2-15 from three overs.

Anderson, who was knighted in April, returned for the 11th over of the innings and picked up the wicket of Ackermann - his spell including 16 dot balls - before catching Ben Raine at fine leg.

New Zealander Jimmy Neesham (40 not out off 25 balls) boosted the Durham total and they then picked up a couple of early wickets at the start of Lancashire's chase.

The visitors struggled to 80-4 in the 12th over but Michael Jones made 55 off 39 balls, including a six through the rear window of a vehicle in the car park, and Josh Bohannon a well-judged 31.

Bohannon was caught and bowled by Neesham from the fifth ball of the final over, but Blatherwick came out to win the game and earn Lancashire their third win out of three.

Ben Sanderson takes a wicket for Northants

Three-time winners Leicestershire lost two wickets in the first over, bowled by Northants Steelbacks skipper David Willey, and found themselves 39-7 in the eighth over as Ben Sanderson produced a superb spell of 4-15.

It looked like the Foxes might fail to reach their lowest T20 score of 89 all out against Derbyshire in 2022, but Logan van Beek's 42 enabled them to bat out the full 20 overs for 122 all out.

Northants were 75-4 in the 14th over of their reply - but Ravi Bopara's unbeaten 46 off 40 balls took them home by five wickets with four balls to spare.

At New Road, Worcestershire Rapids' skipper D'Oliveira made his highest T20 score, hitting four sixes in his 79 off 48 balls against Yorkshire after being dropped early in his innings by Dom Bess.

D'Oliveira put on 117 with Adam Hose, who contributed 54 off 37, before holing out off Australian Will Sutherland in their 201-5.

Yorkshire captain Dawid Malan, by contrast, was bowled second ball for a duck by Jacob Duffy (2-30) and wickets continued to fall regularly with Adam Finch (2-19) running out James Wharton by kicking the ball on to the stumps.

Bess made 41 not out off 37 balls but Yorkshire were well short of their target on 135-8 when rain ended play with three balls left and they lost by 60 runs via the DLS method.

South Group - Crane puts Middlesex in spin

Glamorgan made a winning start in this summer's competition as figures of 4-28 by leg-spinner Mason Crane set up a five-wicket victory over Middlesex at Merchant Taylors' School.

The home side went into decline following an opening stand of 45 between Stevie Eskinazi and Kane Williamson, the latter run out for 25 by Hayden Kerr's direct hit at the bowler's end.

That proved to be the best score in a disappointing Middlesex total of 124-9, but their bowlers made Glamorgan work for the win, reducing them to 64-5 before an unbroken stand of 64 between Asa Tribe (40 not out) and Daniel Douthwaite (31) saw them home on 128-5 after 15.3 overs.

"It is a bit of a mystery when you come to an outground in terms of knowing what you are going to get, but there was a little bit there so I was pretty happy with that," Crane said.

Will Smeed played arguably the innings of the day for last year's runners-up Somerset, hitting a six and 11 fours in his 81 not out off 54 balls as they cruised to an eight-wicket win over Essex at Chelmsford.

After coming together when a brilliant one-handed boundary catch by Thomas Rew removed Paul Walter, Dean Elgar (50) and Matt Critchley (54) shared a fourth-wicket stand of 83 for the home side, but from 119-3, they lost seven wickets for 29 runs to be all out for 148.

An opening partnership of 96 in nine overs between Smeed and Tom Lammonby (36) put Somerset on course for victory and they reached 149-2 from the penultimate ball of the 16th over.

Holders Gloucestershire suffered their second defeat as their batting let them down against Sussex Sharks at Hove.

David Payne, the top wicket-taker in the 2024 Blast, and Matt Taylor claimed three victims each as Sussex were bowled out for 173 despite Tom Alsop (58 off 35 balls) and James Coles (43 off 27) putting on 105 together.

But Ollie Robinson bowled Cameron Bancroft for seven with a beautiful leg-cutter early in Gloucestershire's reply and the visitors lost their way as Tymal Mills took 3-13 and were dismissed in the 14th over.