Once more, with feeling. On Wednesday they let Jimmy Anderson lead the two teams on to the field for the start of his 188th and last Test. On Friday, they made him wait to be 22nd man out for its final rites. He stood a while at the top of the steps down from the Long Room and took a couple of deep breaths while the other players arranged themselves into a guard of honour on the outfield, and the full-house crowd, who had rushed to arrive right on time for the moment, rose in a standing ovation that stretched on and on, so long that by the time it was over Anderson was lost on his own in the middle of the field and beginning to break into tears.
He seemed glad when his teammates finally walked over to join him, and, one by one, slapped him on the back or wrapped him up into a hug, and gladder still when the field spread and the umpires called play for the day.
