Jimmy Anderson bid farewell in style on Friday by taking four wickets in the first Test match against the West Indies, his final swansong in an England shirt.
His country’s best ever fast bowler bid farewell to the international stage with a convincing win over the West Indies. The team barely made it to the second day and made an emotional impression afterwards.
Although they are different bowlers in style, the torch was more or less passed to Surrey’s Gus Atkinson, who took 12 wickets in the match on his debut for his country.
All attention, however, was on Anderson, who received the hero’s welcome only he deserved from a grateful Lord as he prepares for the next phase of his career as England look past him.
Mail Sport’s LAWRENCE BOOTH delivers top performance at Lord’s Test…
Gus Atkinson showed the future is bright for England with a debut to remember at Lord’s
However, attention turned to Jimmy Anderson, who retired from international cricket for good.
Atkinson recorded the fourth best figures for a debutant in Test cricket with a dominant performance
Atkinson makes his mark
Gus Atkinson’s match figures of 12 for 106 were the fourth-best in Test history by a debuting bowler, behind Indian spinner Narendra Hirwani (16 for 136 against West Indies at Chennai in 1987-88), Australian swing bowler Bob Massie (16 for 137 at Lord’s in 1972) and England medium-pacer Frederick ‘Nutty’ Martin (12 for 102 against Australia at The Oval in 1890).
England will now look to the future – which Atkinson is likely to play a big part in – for their team
Good luck to Jimmy against West Indies…
Jimmy Anderson finished with 91 Test wickets against the West Indies, at 22 apiece, bettered only by Australia’s Glenn McGrath, who made 110 at 19.
…and he wasn’t bad at Lord’s either!
Anderson’s final score at Lord’s was 123 at under 25. Next on the list is Stuart Broad, with 113 at 27.