- Author, Stephan Shemilt
- Role, Chief Cricket Writer at Lord’s
First Rothesay Test (day three of five), Lord’s:
West Indies 121 (Atkinson 7-45) & 136 (Atkinson 5-61)
England 371 (Crawley 76, Smith 70, Root 68; Seales 4-77)
England won by an innings and 114 runs, take 1-0 lead in three-match series
James Anderson ended his legendary international career in England’s crushing victory over West Indies in the first Test at Lord’s.
Anderson, England’s all-time leading wicket-taker, took one of the four wickets to fall on the third morning as the hosts completed a rout by an innings and 114 runs.
On an poignant day at the home of cricket, 41-year-old Anderson was given a guard of honour by both teams on his entrance to the field and was visibly moved by the standing ovation he received from the expectant crowd.
The result was already in little doubt after West Indies had been reduced to 79-6 on the second evening, 171 away from making England bat again.
Anderson bowled the first full over of the day and struck in his second, having Joshua da Silva caught behind.
Gus Atkinson had Alzarri Joseph held at long leg to become the first England bowler to take a 10-wicket haul on Test debut since 1976, then bowled the swiping Shamar Joseph.
The stage was set for Anderson, who somehow missed the chance for the fairytale finale when he dropped a caught-and-bowled chance off Gudakesh Motie.
Instead it was Atkinson who had the final say when Jayden Seales was caught at deep square leg to leave West Indies 136 all out. It gave Atkinson 5-61 in the second innings and 12-106 in the match, the best figures by an England debutant in 134 years.
The win halts a run of four successive Test defeats for England and gives them a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Anderson immediately joins the England coaching team as a bowling mentor for the second Test at Trent Bridge, which begins on Thursday.
Lord’s says farewell to Anderson
This has been a long goodbye for Anderson, who announced his intention to retire in May after talks with England captain Ben Stokes, coach Brendon McCullum and managing director Rob Key.
Much of the week has been a celebration of his unparalleled career, one that has made him the most successful fast bowler to ever play Test cricket.
This did not have the drama of the exits of his great friends Sir Alastair Cook and Stuart Broad. Cook made a century in his last Test against India, while Broad hit a six from the final ball he faced in Test cricket then sealed an Ashes draw with his final delivery against Australia at The Oval last year.
On the same ground where he made his Test debut against Zimbabwe in 2003, Anderson was last down the pavilion steps. He walked between the two sets of players lined up on the outfield while the big screen showed his picture and a caption of “James Anderson The Greatest”.
In a mix of England’s old and new, Atkinson, playing his first Test, and Anderson, in his 188th and last, bowled unchanged and in tandem throughout the hour of play on Friday morning.
Anderson, as he has done so often, found movement down the Lord’s slope to take Da Silva’s edge, while Atkinson bounced out Alzarri Joseph and splattered the stumps of Shamar Joseph.
With the last pair at the crease and one final wicket to take, the crowd sang Anderson’s name and cheered him to the crease, only for Motie’s chipped drive to pop out of the bowler’s left hand as he followed through.
In almost comical scenes, with Motie somehow evading fielders and the whole ground willing Anderson towards his moment, celebrations were muted when Seales hooked Atkinson to Ben Duckett.
Anderson led England from the field, soaking up the adulation, then was interviewed by his first Test captain Nasser Hussain in the England dressing room, pint of Guinness in hand.
Anderson’s 3-32 leaves him with 704 Test wickets, third on the all-time list behind only spinners Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne. It was England who decided to move on from Anderson, and now England must prepare for life without him.
Anderson’s Test career in stats:
- Played under eight Test captains (Hussain, Vaughan, Flintoff, Strauss, Pietersen, Cook, Root, Stokes)
- Played on 50 Test grounds
- Played with 109 team-mates
- Played against 409 opponents
- Dismissed 261 different batters
- Bowled more than 40,000 deliveries
England’s new era begins
England refreshed their team in response to the 4-1 defeat in India and with an eye on planning for the Ashes in 2025-26.
Atkinson was superb, bowling with high pace and little fuss to record the best match figures by an England bowler on debut since Fred Martin against Australia at The Oval in 1890. He also managed to trump Anderson’s career-best match figures of 11-71.
Jamie Smith was tidy behind the stumps and impressive for his 70 on day two, while off-spinner Shoaib Bashir was not required to bowl in his first home Test.
Perhaps most importantly for England, Stokes’ return to play a full part as an all-rounder provides balance that has been badly missing. His repaired left knee allowed him untroubled spells of eight overs in the first innings and 10 in the second.
Still, the skipper would like a score with the bat – his four on Thursday was his fifth successive single-figure score in Tests.
England will make at least one change for Nottingham, with Matthew Potts and uncapped Dillon Pennington vying to replace Anderson. At some point in the summer Mark Wood will come back into the Test reckoning.
This was a chastening week for an inexperienced West Indies side. Concerns over their batting were realised and an exciting bowling attack was hampered by an injury to Shamar Joseph.
The Windies do have form for shock results. They stunned England at Headingley in 2017 and at the beginning of this year produced one of the all-time great Test wins by beating Australia in Brisbane.
They should improve as the series progresses, but England look too strong and anything other than a 3-0 series win should be regarded as a disappointment for the home side.
