The first target for Lancashire will be a return to Division One of the Championship and they start the season as clear favourites to achieve that. They are also one of the fancied teams in the Blast having gone down heavily to Sussex in last year’s quarter finals.
Lancashire struggled for first innings runs last summer, apart from Keaton Jennings who passed the thousand runs mark again. He was the only batter to average more than 35 and has committed himself to the Red Rose county until the end of the 2029 season. The top order has been reinforced with the signing of Scottish international opener Michael Jones from Durham and Marcus Harris, who is due to be at the club throughout the season, playing Championship and One Day cup games. The expectation is that he will be absent for the final few rounds of Championship fixtures, as most Australian overseas players return home at the beginning of September for preseason training with their state side. Alongside Josh Bohannon, Matty Hurst and Luke Wells, this looks a strong batting line up, particularly against Division Two attacks.
The question then is whether they have the bowling to win games and the answer is undoubtedly yes. George Balderson was their leading wicket taker in the Championship last season, with 36 at 30.00, supported by Tom Bailey (27 wickets) and Luke Wells (24 wickets). These are not outstanding numbers, but they will also have James Anderson, who at 42 has signed to play for Lancashire again this season. They have also brought in West Indian quick Anderson Phillip, who played three games at the end of last season, taking 15 wickets at 23.93. He will be available for the first 11 Championship fixtures. It waits to be seen if they will also have the services of Saqib Mahmood for any red ball games. He has signed a contract to play Blast games for the club until the end of the 2027 season, but may be available for red ball cricket. Clearly he will want to be careful given his recurrent back injuries, but has been fit enough to be part of England’s current one day team.
Ex-England slow left arm spinner Tom Hartley will be hoping to bowl more this year in the absence of Nathan Lyon. He played just six Championship matches last summer, taking five wickets at 81.80. His last Test was just a year ago, but he has fallen off the radar and will be hungry to start getting into the Division Two batters.
When it comes to Lancashire Lightning’s chances in the Blast, much will depend on the availability of their international players. Phil Salt and Liam Livingstone only played three games each in last year’s competition, although both were present when they were knocked out by Sussex. Jos Buttler was absent for the whole campaign. Australian Ashton Turner has been signed for the first eight games of the Blast and will also be available for Championship games, although this would mean leaving out either Harris or Phillip.
Key player
Keaton Jennings remains at the heart of Lancashire’s efforts having often been a lone performer with the bat last season. At 32, his England hopes look to be at an end, but the signing of a five year deal demonstrates that he is determined to see out his cricketing days with the Red Rose club and he will not want to be doing that in Division Two. He has scored 11,421 runs in 187 first class appearances and was also Lancashire’s leading run scorer in the Blast in 2024, his 278 runs coming at an impressive strike rate of 158.85. He is clearly not just an accumulator.
One to watch
It is difficult not to go along with the hype surrounding Rocky Flintoff, the 16-year-old son of Freddie. He clearly has had a lot of attention paid to him, but it was perhaps a surprise to see him included in the England Lion’s squad that toured Australia this summer. He only made his Lancashire second team debut last summer, scoring a century in his second outing. He then played the last four Championship fixtures, making 87 runs at 12.42, with a top score of 32. It could be argued as to whether his Lions outing was premature, but he did score a century against a Cricket Australia XI, albeit it was not recognised as a first class game.
It might be that Flintoff needs to go away and quietly develop his batting skills in the county game, but the name Flintoff is not usually associated with the word “quietly”.
Ins and Outs
Overseas signings: Chris Green (Australia), Anderson Phillip (West Indies, until the end of July), Marcus Harris (Australia, for Championship and One-Day Cup), Ashton Turner (Australia, for T20, 29 May-4 July)
Ins: Michael Jones (Durham)
Outs: Steven Croft (retired), George Lavelle, (released), Jack Morley, (Derbyshire)
How will they fare
It will be a huge disappointment to everyone at Old Trafford if they do not achieve promotion this year, although Yorkshire did not find it as easy as they might have expected, albeit with more obstacles to their challenge. Likewise, if they can get their stars on the field in the Blast, finals day is a realistic ambition.
Opening fixture: CC vs Middlesex on April 4 at Lord’s
Likely Championship XI:
- Jennings
- Harris
- Bohannon
- Bell
- Hurst (WK)
- Balderson
- Wells
- Hartley
- Bailey
- Phillip
- Anderson
