Jimmy Anderson takes 1,000th first-class wicket: county cricket – as it happened

Fanciful? Metronomic. Absurd! Jimmy Anderson grasped his 1,000th first-class wicket in a startling spell of bowling that dismantled Kent’s batting in less than a session. His seven for 19 was a masterclass in what Anderson does best: a glorious medley of balls that seamed and swung, hooped and wavered.

With the skies suitably glowering, Kent, for reasons best known to themselves, won the toss and decided to have a bat. Did they gulp when they saw Anderson, tall, Test-match fit, white wrist bands on each wrist, pausing at the James Anderson end?

Perhaps in his first over, when Zak Crawley was bewitched by one that swung away. Or the second, when Jordan Cox nibbled behind, or the third when Ollie Robinson repeated what he had just got away with and boxed the ball to Dane Vilas. Perhaps in his sixth, when Jack Leaning fenced to second slip. Definitely by the final ball of his seventh, the four-figured big one, when Heino Kuhn, who had suffered through an unplayable over, finally got a tickle to an outswinger.

A thousand wickets. Nineteen years of first-class cricket. The first Lancashire fast bowler since Ken Higgs in May 1968 to do it. Anderson smiled, readers, he beamed, as he was enveloped by teammates and they ruffled that famously dark barnet.

Two more wickets would follow before he finished his 10-over spell, when Matthew Milnes gloved and Harry Podmore feathered behind. Only one man got after him. Darren Stevens, their combined age, 83. At the end of the spell, dispatched to deep midwicket, there was more applause from the doughty spectators who had sat through four sessions of rain for this.When Danny Lamb (three for 16) took the final wicket, Kent dismissed for 74, Anderson took off his cap, ruffled his hair, bashfully lifted the ball in the air, turned to the James Anderson end, and led the players off.But even that wasn’t the complete story, as Kent found the gumption to fight back in the final session despite a ding-dong 47 from Alex Davies on a historic afternoon.

Dom Bess’s turn and bounce was too much for Northamptonshire at Wantage Road. Bess finished with his best first-class figures of seven for 43, worrying the middle-order and skittling out the tail. Harry Brook guided Yorkshire to a handy second-innings lead of 147, despite four wickets for Simon Kerrigan.

Dom Bess put on a masterclass at Wantage Road. Photograph: Tony Marshall/Getty Images

Ben Stokes took three for 55 in his first outing in Durham whites for a blue moon, as Warwickshire were bowled out for 237 bolstered by another classy hundred from Rob Yates.

A glorious 174 not out from Colin de Grandhomme, batting at No 6 on his Hampshire debut, piled the pressure on Surrey at the Rose Bowl. Looking up at a mammoth total of 488, Surrey lost four quick wickets in reply, with Keith Barker taking three for 15.

Some vigorous wagging by Somerset’s tail, with numbers eight, nine and 10 all scoring 70s, helped them stack up 461 before declaring. Leicestershire lost three quick wickets before rain stopped play.

There were more runs for Sussex 16-year-old Dan Ibrahim, who scored his second first-class fifty at Hove against Glamorgan. Miles Hammond top scored for Gloucestershire against Middlesex with 75 on the opening day of the Cheltenham festival; while fifties from Haseeb Hameed and Ben Duckett helped put Nottinghamshire in a promising position against Derbyshire.