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James Anderson has claimed his 701st wicket in his 188th and final Test match against the West Indies at Lord’s.
He had bowled two spells earlier in the day without a breakthrough, while Gus Atkinson claimed seven for 45, but with one wicket left, Anderson struck.
The match itself has been focused on Anderson’s final farewell to English cricket, on the same ground he made his Test debut 21 years ago, and he has marked the occasion with the wicket of Jayden Seales, who was trapped lbw, as the West Indies were bowled out for just 121 runs in the first innings of the Test match at Lord’s
During the winter in India, he became just the third bowler in history to take his 700th scalp, with only Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan having taken more wickets in the game’s longest format.
Anderson started the match eight wickets behind Warne, but has inched closer with the wicket of Seales, when he bowled his first over from the Nursey End, having bowled from the other end in both the previous spells.
England started their Test summer with the visit of the West Indies, and have made a marked change from the previous teams of the Bazball era.
Dubbed Bazball 2.0, England have made the decision to move on from some of the players who have brought them success.
Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes’ first decision was to recall the recently dropped Stuart Broad and Anderson when they took the reigns in Spring 2022, but Broad retired in fairytale fashion after the final Ashes Test last summer, and the regime have decided it is time to move on from Anderson as well.
As Lord’s bid farewell, Anderson responded in kind with the wicket, and that puts him just seven behind the late Warne’s impressive total.
