As he stood on the dressing room balcony at Lord’s, delighting the crowd by knocking back a pint of the black stuff after a rollicking farewell win, Jimmy Anderson drank in the love of his teammates and the gratitude of a nation. Over the past 21 years, English cricket – world cricket, even – has been pretty blessed to witness his pure genius.
It never ran dry, either. Even during the final throes of this troublingly one-sided first Test against West Indies – wrapped up by an innings and 114 runs just 64 minutes into its third day – Anderson’s best was still there to be savoured. His removal of Joshua Da Silva in just his second over of the morning, en route to figures of three for 32, was very much plucked from the shelf marked vintage, the ball angling into the right-hander, swinging away at the final split-second and kissing the edge of willow one final time.
That the last of Anderson’s 704 Test wickets should fall in such classical fashion was pretty fitting, even if, amusingly, he still found it within himself to be grumpy afterwards about the one that got away. As the tailender Gudakesh Motie thrashed West Indies past three figures with (depressingly) their highest score of the match – 31 not out in 136 all out – Anderson grassed a return catch that would have sealed the victory earlier than its midday finish and matched his great mate, Stuart Broad, by way of fairytale ending.
Having just about held back the tears when he strode through a guard of honour at the start of play, Anderson instead cracked a wry smile as he crumpled to the turf in disbelief at this one-handed drop. The crowd let out a collective sigh, too, but, really, it was no bother. Just as apt, perhaps, was Gus Atkinson soon inflicting the coup de grâce when Jayden Seales, the No 11, picked out Ben Duckett on the boundary’s edge.
It was only a wicket with the penultimate ball of day two that meant Atkinson started from Anderson’s preferred Pavilion End, and the great man operated from the other but this has still felt like a week in which a torch has been passed. Surrey’s shy but slippery quick mopped up three of the remaining four wickets to finish with five for 61 and thus 12 for 106 in the match. You have to go back to 1890 for the last time an English bowler – Fred “Nutty” Martin – claimed as many on debut. Weirdly, he played only one more Test after that.
Atkinson should get a few more chances than old Nutty if he continues to produce the same probing bursts witnessed at Lord’s, although the bean counters may start to get twitchy if there are more repeats of the full refund that his exploits handed to ticket-holders for the final three days. Jamie Smith similarly made a bright start to his Test career, his 70 in England’s 371 all out showcasing the class that has long had the pigeons at the Oval cooing and his wicketkeeping – at a notoriously tough ground for it – shipping no byes and returning four catches. The edge pouched off Da Silva was not simply a 24th birthday present but, given the bowler, one to tell any future grandkids about too.
The emergence of these two Surrey striplings was the biggest plus for Ben Stokes, although his own return to fully fledged all-rounder status after knee surgery late last year may well be the most significant. Two typically lengthy spells of eight and 10 overs in each innings returned match figures of three for 39 for the England captain. As he and Brendon McCullum plot a new course for this team, the threat that those thudding outswingers offer from Stokes as the fourth seamer will buttress an attack that, with Anderson and Broad having now made way in the space of 12 months, has lost a remarkable 1,308 wickets of experience.
Not that all the knowledge accrued by the pair evaporates after this match. While the caravan moves on to Trent Bridge for next week’s second Test, and Broad continues to offer his insight from the Sky commentary box, Anderson will now slip into the role of England’s bowling mentor for the remainder of the summer. Dillon Pennington, tipped to make it a third debutant for England in the series at what is now his home ground, will be among those to benefit. The hope, knowing that Anderson did not want to go and could clearly still do a job, is that his presence does not overawe the new breed.
This is something not unknown to West Indies, although their performance in this first Test was less about the shadow of former greats and more a product of cricket’s skewed financial landscape and unworkable schedule.
One match against a rookie county XI at Beckenham served as their only warmup, with Hurricane Beryl preventing Shamar Joseph from playing in it at all. Still, as undercooked as Joseph was, his exploits at the Gabba earlier this year are a reminder about the perils of big pronouncements. Kraigg Brathwaite and his men may yet grow into the series. Here’s hoping, certainly.
All that is to come, however, with these spare two days a chance to continue breathing in the Anderson fumes for a little bit longer. It has been an incredible journey.
And, on a rare personal note, one that has been a privilege to witness from start to finish, first as a backpacker at the MCG in late 2002 – Anderson’s ODI debut, when it took word of mouth in the stands to identify the wiry new kid with no name on his shirt – through to covering his farewell for a national newspaper. As Anderson signed off by raising a glass to his public, it is only right to do the same in return. Cheers, Jimmy.
