James Anderson bags five wickets, but Lancashire struggle with bat

James Anderson recorded his 46th first-class haul of five wickets or more, but Wayne Parnell led a superb Worcestershire fight back from 38 for 7 to even up a 15-wicket opening day this clash between two promotion hopefuls at Emirates Old Trafford.

Pre-game Division Two leaders in the Specsavers County Championship, Worcester crumbled badly in the face of England Test bowlers present and past Anderson and Graham Onions, having been invited to bat.

But former South Africa bowling all-rounder Parnell's 63 was at the heart of their recovery to 172 inside 59 overs before returning three for 19 from 10.4 overs with the ball as Lancashire closed on 88 for 5 from 36.4.

Anderson claimed four of the seven wickets before lunch - the other three went to Onions - and finished with 5 for 25 from 17 overs upon his return from a week out with a knee injury. Eighteen of Anderson's hauls of five wickets or more have come for Lancashire.

Seam rather than swing contributed to the morning wreckage under sunny skies.

Onions claimed the first two wickets - Daryl Mitchell caught at first slip by Keaton Jennings and Tom Fell lbw.

The latter came with the last ball of the eighth over before Anderson uprooted George Rhodes' off-stump with the first ball of the ninth as the score slipped to 6 for 3.

Anderson then trapped Riki Wessels and Callum Ferguson lbw in the eleventh and 15th overs before Onions bowled Ross Whiteley. When Anderson had Ed Barnard caught at second slip by Liam Livingstone, Worcester were 38 for 7 in the 19th.

Then came the recovery, led by Parnell, who came in at number nine and helped the score to 66 for 7 at lunch. Further improvement followed, with Ben Cox reaching 32 and captain Joe Leach contributing 36. Wicketkeeper Cox, like Parnell, was circumspect in an eighth-wicket stand of 52 inside 17 overs either side of the break, only to under-edge Richard Gleeson behind.

Leach then counter-attacked with six fours in 36 balls, including three in one over from Gleeson, in a 61-run ninth-wicket partnership.The Worcester skipper, playing only his second game back after nearly a year out with a back injury, fell caught behind off Anderson in the 49th over.

Parnell reached his fifty off 108 balls with five fours and hit seven in 132 balls in all, only to be bowled by Tom Bailey to wrap up the innings on the verge of tea.

The day started with Lancashire announcing that Australian Ashes hopeful Joe Burns had cut short his nine-game overseas stint due to personal reasons. Batsman Burns has returned to Brisbane after debuting in last week's win over Northamptonshire here and will not play for the Red Rose again in 2019.

Jake Lehmann, who featured in the Royal London one-day Cup, has stepped in, the county's third Australian overseas player in the first three games of the season, added to Glenn Maxwell. Lehmann was one of the five Red Rose wickets to fall after tea.

Leach had Jennings well caught by Fell at fourth slip, high to his left, before Parnell had Lehmann sharply caught at first slip by Wessels.

Charlie Morris then trapped Haseeb Hameed lbw for 29 before Parnell capped a memorable day when he had Rob Jones caught by Mitchell at the second attempt at second slip and nightwatchman Anderson lbw in his last two overs of the day. The latter fell in the day's final over.