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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Rob Smyth

England beat West Indies in first Test by innings and 114 runs as Anderson signs off – as it happened

England West Indies
James Anderson waves to the crowd as he walks off the pitch at Lord’s for the final time after England’s victory over West Indies.
James Anderson waves to the crowd as he walks off the pitch at Lord’s for the final time after England’s victory over West Indies. Photograph: Alex Davidson/Getty Images

WICKET! Anderson c Big Dogs b Father Time 704

That’s all for today. Thanks for your company and emails. And eternal thanks to James Anderson for scripting some of the most euphoric moments of our lives.

Jimmy speaks to Mike Atherton

It’s been an amazing 20 years. I’ve been overwhelmed with the reaction. To contribute to a win – something I’ve tried to do throughout my career – has been brilliant.

The emotions have been up and down this week. Seeing my girls ringing the bell on day one; the teams lining up today. I forget what I was trying to do with the ball for the first delivery! I can’t really get my head round the reaction from the fans.

You can’t have a long career without a support network behind you. Every player would say the same. We talk a lot in the dressing-room about creating memories as a team. But it’s the same for the families and it’s great that they’ve been part of this week especially.

[What have been the highlights?] Winning series and winning Test matches is the only thing I’ve been interested in. Winning in Australia, winning in India, becoming the No1 side in the world, and contributing to those wins as well – those are the things I’ll remember forever. And playing with some of the greats of the game has been really special

You’ve got to have a bit of a sadistic side to a be a fast bowler as it really hurts. I enjoyed walking off the field after bowling 20-25 overs in a day: legs sore, feet hurting. But I won’t miss not being able to get out of bed and sit on the toilet dfirst thing in the morning!

The amount of emotions you go in Test cricket, the ups and downs. When the captain throws you the ball at 6pm, you’ve got to bowl at full tilt even though your might be hurting… it reveals your character and shows you how deep you can dig.

I just feel like Test cricket is the perfect game (big cheer from the fans). You go on a rollercoaster and the satisfaction after a win, whether it’s three days, four or five… there’s nothing as good as that.

White-ball cricket has been amazing for the game and will continue to be, but sometimes you might get the rub of the green. There’s no amount of luck that can help you win a Test match. You have to be spot on.

Gus has been magnificent. It’s downhill from here after 12 wikcets on debut! The thing I love about Gus is that he went to India in the winter, didn’t play a game, but he worked so hard and he saw the fruits of that this week.

I think he’ll be an amazing cricketer for England because he’s got all the attributes you need. We’ve got a great bunch of fast bowlers coming through and I’m looking forward to working with them.

Updated

Jimmy Anderson is about to speak. He’s been presented with a painting of his 700th Test wicket, and now the ECB are hitting our lacrimal glands with another showing of their montage on the big screen.

Ben Stokes speaks

Really good start. We were very clinical, in particular in the field. I don’t think you could start the Test summer with a better team performance.

It’s great to see two young lads with boatloads of talent put in performances like Gus and Jamie did this week. They’ve got a very high ceiling.

I don’t want to earmark Gus as an out-and-out pace bowler, though it’s great that he can bowl quickly. He’s incredibly skilful, he used the slope really well. Taking 12 wickets on debut at Lord’s, what an amazing start. It’s very, very exciting.

We want young players to know they can out and express themselves. Me and Brendon want to make them feel as comfortable as possible and to enjoy the moment.

It’s great to be able to contribute with the ball. Joe always find it quite hard to get the ball out of my hand! I felt in quite good rhythm and I hope I can continue that throughout the summer.

I could be here for 15 minutes talking about Jimmy. He’s been an incredible inspiration to so many people. The amount of wickets he’s taken is phenomenal. We’re very lucky that he’ll be in the dressing-room sharing his learnings with Gus, Dillon Pennington, Matt Potts and the other bowlers.

[If you could single out one quality, what would it be?] His desire to get better. He’s 41 years of age and he hasn’t stopped trying to improve as a bowler. He always wants to contribute to the team and every single time he’s done that. He’s a great person to look up to.

Kraigg Brathwaite speaks

We were disappointing with the bat, we didn’t come to the party at all. With the ball we could be better, more disciplined, but it’s a positive that we bowled them out.

I do believe we can get runs over here, but the boys need to believe it as well. They have a lot of ability and talent. They need to stay mentally strong, especially after a defeat.

I believe our bowlers will be better for the run-out. Jayden was good, that was good to see, and Jason was pretty steady. We all need to come to the party, myself included.

When we lost the first Test in Australia, we came back and showed some fight. We have to work extremely hard and fight back hard.

Jimmy’s a legend of the game. I won’t miss facing him!

The player of the match is Gus Atkinson, who took - gulp - 12 for 106

I just want to say thanks to Jimmy: playing here in his last Test, and doing so well, has been incredible. When I was growing up I used to come here to sit at mid-off and watch Jimmy.

In this group you’re allowed to come in and be the player you want to be. That’s helped me massively. To join [Ollie Pope, who he has played with from age 11] in the England team has been pretty cool.

I struggled a bit with rhythm at the start of the summer and I’ve needed a few red-ball games coming into this. A lot of people asked me if I was the right decision to miss the IPL; standing here now, I can say it was.

Here’s that Jimmy Anderson interview in full

Time for the presentations. The MCC have announced that Jimmy Anderson has been awarded honourary life membership, which means he’ll be able to keep on abusing Australia batsmen for the rest of his life.

Updated

Watch Jimmy Anderson’s 704th and Test final wicket

Simon Burton has filed his report from a misty-eyed Lord’s pressbox

“Of course it’s not just Jimmy, or Andy Murray, we’re mourning, is it?” says Simon McMahon. “It’s the loss of our younger selves, and countless summers spent cheering them on, occasionally berating them, always following them. Time for new heroes now.”

Agreed.

Updated

“Is there a better visual marker of Jimmy Anderson’s longevity,” says Allan MacDonald, “than the early shots of him with spiky frosted tips?”

All I can think of is a BlackBerry, but I think the frosted tips are winning.

More from Jimmy

The thing I’ll miss the most is winning Test matches, sharing other people’s success like Gus Atkinson and Jamie Smith and getting to celebrate it all together.

The thing I’ll miss the least is feeling like I do now. I feel about 55 after the overs I’ve bowled this week! I’m just happy I made it this far.

[Will you play for Lancashire again?] Can you let me enjoy me Guinness first?! I’ve not really thought that far ahead. I’ll stick around for the rest of the summer with these guys to help the bowling group as much as I can and we’ll see where life takes us after that.

Updated

Jimmy Anderson: 'It's the best job in the world'

Nasser Hussain has been invited into the England dressing-room, where Jimmy is supping a pint of Guinness.

Erm, I’m still gutted I dropped that catch to be honest! It’s been an amazing week, I’ve been overwhelmed with the reaction. I’m just proud of what I’ve achieved.

This morning was quite emotional with the two teams lined up, and the reaction from the crowd was really special. I’m still trying to hold back tears now! I’m just really proud – playing for 20 years is really hard, especially for a fast bowler. I’m happy that I made it this far, happy that I’ve been lucky enough to stay injury-free pretty much. Playing for England is the best job in the world and I’ve been privileged to do it for so long.

[His voice is breaking up now] It’s about your family too, they’ve been an incredible support and I’m so grateful for what they’ve done and that they had the chance to be a part of this.

I’ve been lucky to play with some amazing players, but more important some really good blokes. Friends that I’ve made for life. It’s a really special sport, no other sport creates friendships like this. Part of me is jealous that they’ll get to experience this for a few more years. My advice to them would be to enjoy every moment. It’s a great ride.

Updated

Am I going mad or is this a more fitting farewell?

This is the Anderson montage that was shown on the big screen on the first morning

Gus Atkinson has a pint of stout in his hand already. He must be the first player to take 12 wickets on Test debut and still be overshadowed.

Updated

“Desperately trying to start a conspiracy theory concerning the fact that the two young matchwinners for England this week can be mashed up into WATKINSON,” says Luke Williams. “And the letters that their names don’t share spell WON. Deep state, anyone?”

So Mike Watkinson is starting up front against Spain, have I read that right?

ENGLAND WIN BY AN INNINGS AND 114 RUNS

The players walk off, with Anderson desperately trying to camouflage himself among the players. They shove him front and centre, where he should be, and he waves to both sides of the ground. No tears yet, but you’d pay thousands for exclusve rights to his internal monologue just now.

Goodbye to a bowler like no other. James Anderson: 704 wickets at 26.45.

Updated

WICKET! West Indies 136 all out (Seales c Duckett b Atkinson 8)

Gus Atkinson takes the final wicket, caught nonchalantly by Duckett at deep midwicket, and the first man to embrace him is a beaming Jimmy Anderson. Side before self, every time.

Updated

46th over: West Indies 130-9 (Motie 26, Seales 7) More applause from the crowd as Anderson perpares to bowl his 16th over of the innings and the 6672nd of his Test career.

Seales swings and misses, then times a half-volley down the ground for four. A flick off the pads lands just short of Duckett, running in from deep square, and a muted LBW shout is turned down by Rod Tucker. This slightly peculiar foreplay will continue into another over.

“Isn’t the precedent for the treatment of Jimmy Anderson, er, Jimmy Anderson from that tour a few years ago when he (and Stuart Broad) were left out and it seemed like the end for both?” says Gary Naylor.

I never really got the fuss over that. I might be wrong, but it seemed pretty clear it was just for one tour and that the new regime would almost certainly recall them.

45th over: West Indies 123-9 (Motie 25, Seales 1) Atkinson is bowling normally now. It wouldn’t surprise me if that was Jimmy’s initiative; he won’t want too much of this particular type of game-management, and he certainly doesn’t need any sympathy wickets. He’s got 704 at 26.44.

An edge from Motie flies just wide of third slip and away for four. Brook dived to his left but was beaten for pace. Motie smears successive bouncers for two before rifling a yorker past mid-off for four. What a shot!

“This is all making me very sad,” says Phil Harrison. “The amount of long, brilliant careers bookended by Anderson’s is amazing. For example, KP made his Test debut two years after Jimmy and played his final Test over a decade ago. That’s just nuts.”

You’ve been sitting on that pun haven’t you.

Updated

44th over: West Indies 109-9 (Motie 13, Seales 0) Maybe this is Anderson’s version of a dirty protest, a way of extending his Test career. If any England fast bowlers are kneecapped over the next few days, I know whose whereabouts I’d be verifying. Motie scrunches a yorker to the cover boundary and plays out the rest of the over.

“Are we allowed to chunter things like ‘this is embarrassing’ and ‘not good enough for people paying to see a Test match’?” sniffs Ian Copestake. “Trying to redirect the Southgate ire.”

You seen the state of English tiddlywinks mate?

Anderson drops Motie off his own bowling! Oh you eejit! Motie chipped a simple return catch to Anderson, who nonchalantly cupped his left hand … and somehow put it down.

He sinks to his knees, then gets up with a big smile at the absurdity of it all. The groan from the Lord’s crowd was hilarious.

Updated

“Morning Rob, on this slightly subdued day of Test cricket, the coda for of one of the greats,” says Guy Hornsby. “My god, how we’ll miss him. Of course we all want him around forever, but we can all feel lucky to have been around in the age of Jimmy. It feels like the passing of a baton, and it’s been an amazing debut for Gus Atkinson. His 10-fer is some balm to our cricketing sadness. But spare a thought for Charles ‘Father’ Marriott, taking 11-96 at the Oval in the Ashes on debut in 1933, aged 37 with his offspin. He never played for England again. Those interwar years were truly wild.”

43rd over: West Indies 103-9 (Motie 7, Seales 0) It looks like Ben Stokes is encouraging Gus Atkinson to phone in the last four balls of the over so that Jimmy can have one last bowl. I’d love to hear Jimmy’s internal monologue right now. Will he hate this or secretly fancy a Hollywood ending?

Atkinson does the job, anyway, by ramming in a load of short balls. For the final time, heeeeeeeeeeere’s Jimmy.

“It’s all quite emotional, isn’t it?” says Eva Maaten. “Hard to say anything that isn’t a cliché. From me, just the observation that he started bowling for England in the same year my by now very poised and grown-up daughter was born. She’s spent her entire life hearing about Jimmy running in to bowl.”

WICKET! West Indies 103-9 (S Joseph b Atkinson 3)

Never mind Jimmy’s five-for, Gus Atkinson is on a 12-for! He’s cleaned up Shamar Joseph up with a sizzling yorker that sent the off stump flying. That makes it four in the innings and 11 in the match. Who rewrites your scripts, Jimmy?

Updated

42nd over: West Indies 103-8 (Motie 7, S Joseph 3) Anderson bowls one last bouncer, which zips past Motie and also beats Smith. The two runs are giving as wides so he won’t be making that mistake again. He’s now going at almost 1.4 an over for goodness sake.

“I’m struggling to think of a similar situation to this, where a sportsperson who is still clearly worthy of their place in a representative side on merit, who is still fit as a butcher’s dog, and wants to play on in said team, is ushered out the door obviously against their will,” says Martin O’Donovan-Wright. “The gravitational pull of The Ashes warps cricket, and often not for the better.”

It’s a good point about the lack of precedent; I’m sure there’s one we’ve forgotten somewhere. While I would have kept him on this summer, playing around half the Tests, I do think it’s slightly more nuanced. There are holes in his record in the last few years – not many, but enough that we shouldn’t let a masterclass against West Indies make us thing he’s the same bowler he was at 38.

Updated

41st over: West Indies 97-8 (Motie 7, S Joseph 1) Atkinson’s role is very different to Anderson’s, but he could succeed him as England’s shy achiever. There were no extravagant celebrations of that tenth wicket, just a quick raise of the ball to the crowd.

“Andrew Cotter to read that brilliant poem for me please!” says Liam Crowley.

That’s a great idea, though he might be quite busy the next few days.

Updated

A ten-for on debut for Gus Atkinson!

WICKET! West Indies 96-8 (A Joseph c Duckett b Atkinson 8) Alzarri Joseph hooks to fine leg, where Duckett takes a terrific running catch to give Gus Atkinson a ten-for on debut. That’s a helluvan achievement. He’s the first England men’s bowler to do it since John Lever in India in 1976-77 and the first to do so at home since the great Alec Bedser in 1946.

Updated

“Jimmy might be bowling from his less favoured end at Lord’s, but at least Mike Selvey will be smiling to himself,” says Tim Sanders. “He has always claimed that the Nursery End offers more for a seeker of the outside edge.”

It’s worth seeking out some of Selve’s pieces on Anderson’s artistry – nobody captured it better.

Updated

40th over: West Indies 96-7 (A Joseph 8, Motie 7) Anderson goes round the wicket to beat the left-handed Motie with a lovely outswinger. His pace is still good, around 82mph.

Motie denies him a 1731st Test maiden with a stylish drive over wide mid-on for four. West Indies’ lower order are playing their shots.

39th over: West Indies 92-7 (A Joseph 8, Motie 3) Motie clatters Atkinson over cover for three, with Anderson scrambling desperately to save the boundary. That was a brilliant bit of fielding, which will give him almost as much pride as the Da Silva wicket. His genius with the ball makes it easy to forget that he’s been one of the great fast bowler/fielders.

Atkinson then zips a terrific, Archerian bouncer past Joseph’s attempted hook. There’s definitely a bit of Jofra in his action.

“Jimmy’s debut Test is closer to the Falklands War than now,” says Paul Griffin. “Incredible. After a few international matches early in his career, I concluded Jimmy lacked the mental fortitude to make it at Test level. Nonetheless, I am available for any Director of Elite Performance roles, except for Spain’s football team as that Yamal looks absolutely sh1te.”

Humble pie has been my comfort food since about 2010-11. I got it totally wrong with Jimmy Anderson, who I thought was a bit of a cloudy Charlie. In the interests of potential future employment, I did also say Stuart Broad would take hundreds of Test wickets before he’d played for England.

“I’m sure the people in the video suite have already put together a montage of Jimmy’s England career,” says James Flanders. “I bet they’ve not used Whyte Horses’ Elusive Mr Jimmy, but they should have done.”

38th over: West Indies 88-7 (A Joseph 7, Motie 0) Anderson’s figures are both absurd and familiar: 12-7-11-3.

“When you described Dale Steyn and Jimmy Anderson as the two greatest pace bowlers of the last twenty years, surely you meant two of the three greatest?” says Geoff Wignall. “Otherwise Jasprit Bumrah will be needing a word.”

Ah yes, fair point: he might be the greatest of them all. I should have said ‘of their generation’ I suppose, although Jimmy spans about seven generations.

Jimmy Anderson takes his 704th Test wicket with a jaffa so familiar that it verges on cliche. It was angled in, just full of a good length, and swerved away sharply to take a thin edge as Da Silva worked into the leg side. Jamie Smith did the rest.

That ball would have got Don Bradman out. A 41-year-old really should not be able to bowl like this.

Updated

WICKET! West Indies 88-7 (Da Silva c Smith b Anderson 9)

Gorgeous bowling!

Updated

37th over: West Indies 88-6 (Da Silva 9, A Joseph 7) Alzarri Joseph gave Atkinson some brief tap in the first innings, and he’s at it again. A lusty chip over midwicket just evades Stokes, running back towards the boundary, and brings a couple of runs.

There’s almost a run-out chance when Da Silva is sent by Alzarri, though he’s home by the time Stokes’s throw pummels the gloves of Smith. The over ends with a cross-bat smear over Atkinson’s head for a one-bounce four, and that bounce was a millimetre in front of the boundary sponge. Shot!

“I thought that reference to Rhythm is a Dancer was a joke playing on JM Anderson’s longevity,” says Andy Flintoff, “but it turns out it was in the charts in 2003, at number 17. I have to admit, the re-release/remix did pass me by.”

And me. I was too busy raving about the England debutant Anthony McGrath.

36th over: West Indies 79-6 (Da Silva 8, A Joseph 0) A stiff first over from Jimmy, who also needs to adjust to bowling from the wrong end. But he ends it with a lovely outswinger that tempts Da Silva into a push-drive and whooshes psat the edge.

“To maximise the genius of Brian Withington,” begins David Harland, “can some please get hold of John Hannah to read this out and then be prepared to minute floods of tears from many middle-aged men.”

Ken Bruce, surely?

Updated

35th over: West Indies 79-6 (Da Silva 8, Joseph 0) Gus Atkinson has one ball of the 35th over to bowl, and rams it down the leg side.

Jimmy Anderson is opening up at the other end. He usually bowls from the Pavilion End but this is about the future as well as the past and present, and England want Atkinson to get a debut ten-for.

“Given day five is purely notional at this point,” says Harry Phillips, “I’d sincerely hope somebody high up is getting Jimmy good seats in Berlin on Sunday. Stokes too for the trademark talismanicism.”

Updated

Here come the players, all 21 of them. They’re lining up in a guard of honour for Jimmy Anderson, who smiles a little shyly, raises a thumb of thanks then shakes the head of the West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite. Then, after a few seconds lone, he breaks into a broader smile, almost as if he can’t believe – at least on a subconscious level – that there is this fuss for him.

There’s a prolonged standing ovation, during which the camera cuts to his wife. “There are a few sunglasses being worn by family members…” says Nasser Hussain.

Eventually Anderson applauds the fans as if to say, ‘That’s all folks, can I bowl some balls please?’

Updated

Jimmy needs three wickets for one last five-for. I don’t know about you, but I’d quite like it if Alick Athanaze was his 703rd and final Test wicket. The opposition’s best player, worn down and then broken by the most skilful interrogator in the business. What could be better than that?

“Stop all the clocks,” writes Brian Withington.

Stop all the clocks, switch off the mobile phone
Prevent the Sky team talking to the microphone
Silence the PA and the background hum
Line up the teams, and let him come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message ‘Soon retired’
Put three slips ready for the edge he loves
Let the wicket keeper wear black padded gloves.

He was our North, our South, our East and West
With Duke ball in hand, just simply the best
‘Oh Jimmy, Jimmy’ was our song
We thought that he would bowl for ever: we were wrong.

The stumps are not wanted now: pull out every one
On the honours board just write ‘James Anderson’
Pour away the champagne and sweep St John’s Wood
For nothing now can ever quite be as good.

Musical interlude

When Jimmy Anderson made his Test debut, these were all in the UK pop charts.

Remember when may be the lowest form of conversation, Mr Soprano, but it doesn’t have make good clickbait. Go on, you know you want to. Clickity click click click.

There’s more than one way to fit a farewell

“Andy Bull pretty much nailed it in his piece, I think,” says Simon McMahon. “A low-key finish for this most low key of sporting superstars. He’ll probably be off the field when the winning wicket is taken. Twenty-one years a Test cricketer! Even W.G. only managed 19.”

Bull is so good at writing pieces that capture both the mood of the moment and the long-term perspective. As somebody who frequently gets carried away in the moment, I know how hard that is to achieve.

Updated

“I think Tim Venner might be overestimating just how much professional cricketers want to play cricket,” says Richard O’Hagan. “After all, we all enjoy an unexpected day off from work, don’t we (hint, hint, Mr Starmer)? Also, who the heck is JAMIE Anderson (10.11am)?”

You haven’t read the preamble, have you. I’m not angry, it’s just been raining on my facee.

There was no guard of honour for Jimmy Anderson yesterday, simply because he bolted out of the Lord’s pavilion in record time to ensure there was no fuss the West Indies were celebrating Mikyle Louis’s spectacular run-out of Shoaib Bashir and were caught on the hop.

Dale Steyn is in the house! Lord’s, I mean, not the OBO bunker. That’s made me so happy. He’s currently doing a Masterclass on Sky with Stuart Broad, but hopefully we’ll see him with Jimmy later. They’re the two greatest pace bowlers of the past 20 years, with different skillsets and a mutual respect that is quite lovely.

“Since the Test will finish by lunchtime, why not schedule two 40-over games for Saturday and Sunday?” says Tim Venner. “The players want to play; the spectators want to see some cricket; the ECB would save thousands of pounds in refunds. It’s a win-win situation. Alas, it won’t happen – far too sensible an idea.”

I don’t know for certain but I’m fairly sure the issues are logistical rather than commonsensical. And knowing Bazball-era England, they may also be golfical.

This, from someone who knows, is rather sweet

With the possible exception of Jimmy Anderson there’s nobody better to write about the great man’s farewell than another publicity-shy master of his craft, Andrew Bull.

Weather permitting – it has actually been raining in north London, that wasn’t just an excuse to link to a topical comedy – West Indies will resume on 79 for six, needing too many to make England bat again.

It might happen, we all remember Headingley 81, right, but the likeliest scenario is that England will wrap up an innings victory before lunch, and Jamie Anderson will a former England player. Are you ready for this? I’m not sure I’m ready for this.

Preamble

Today is the first day of the rest of your life. It’s also the last day of James* Anderson’s Test career, and there’s rain in the air at Lord’s.

* Or is it Jimmy? How can we not know after 21 years?

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