“And opening the bowling from the Pavilion End it’s …” Jimmy Anderson, of course. Same as it has been, on and off, since he took five for 73 against Zimbabwe here in his very first Test 21 years ago. He’s almost a fixture at Lord’s, like Old Father Time on the weather vane above the scorers’ box. The 21 other men from that first Test match he played are long gone now: one of them was Anderson’s last boss at the England and Wales Cricket Board; another is his latest; a third is working as one of his coaches; many of the rest make a living talking about him and his teammates. But Anderson is still out there, for this last week at least.
Those old teammates of his will tell you he was a sullen kid who hardly spoke to them all week. He didn’t seem so very different now, a little slower, for sure, and with a few more wrinkles too, but still pretty surly with it. Anderson only goes at two-and-some runs an over but he still gives more four balls than he does smiles.
