Lancashire v Yorkshire: James Anderson forced off as Red Rose edge day one

James Anderson is England's all-time leading Test wicket-taker with 467 wickets

England seam bowler James Anderson was forced off with a tight groin on day one of Lancashire's County Championship match against Roses rivals Yorkshire.

Having reduced the Tykes to 9-2, with Anderson bowling opener Alex Lees, the 34-year-old broke down during his sixth over and had to leave the field.

Gary Ballance struck 74 as Yorkshire fought back, but his dismissal sparked a mini-collapse to leave them 178-6.

However, Jack Leaning's unbeaten 54 helped the visitors to 251-6 at stumps.

Leaning was well supported by wicketkeeper Andy Hodd (41 not out) in a partnership of 73 to at least drag Yorkshire to a more competitive score.

But the day's major talking point was the early injury to Anderson, which will be assessed again before the second day and is sure to be of concern to both his club and country.

However, the severity of the problem remains unclear and, with England's first Test match of the summer against South Africa not coming until 6 July, his international commitments may not be affected.

Despite being a bowler short, Lancashire still had the better of the opening day at Old Trafford, with Ryan McLaren (2-37) and Tom Bailey (2-82) leading the attack.

Only Ballance, whose 74 came off 163 balls and took him past 1,000 runs for the season in all competitions, and Leaning made half-centuries after Yorkshire had chosen to bat first.

Lancashire coach Glen Chapple told BBC Radio Manchester:

"Jimmy's got a tight groin. He felt some pain and came off with it. He's had ice on it all afternoon and he will be assessed in the morning. Fingers crossed he won't be feeling it, but we'll have to see.

"He walked off all right, but we'll see how he is. If he's still feeling it, he will probably need a scan.

"We had a great start with the two early wickets. We made it difficult for Yorkshire to score. The pitch is fairly slow but seemed to get better and better to bat on. At 180-6, we'd have liked a little bit more out of the day. But, all in all, it's about par."

Yorkshire coach Andrew Gale told BBC Radio Leeds

"We're a bit disappointed that we didn't get a few more partnerships early on. We feel it's a decent pitch. It's going to deteriorate, hence why we batted first. But Jack Leaning showed his quality there. It's been a while coming and hopefully he can kick on tomorrow.

"He hasn't looked out of nick. He just needed a score. Hopefully this will kick-start his season. We all know what he's capable of.

"It looked like it was swinging a bit early doors. The lads dug in well and got us a decent end to the day."