Veteran English pacer James Anderson called time on his remarkable red-ball career during the first Test between England and West Indies, which the home side won by an innings and 114 runs at the Lord’s Cricket Ground on Friday.
Anderson bagged four wickets in his last Test match and retired with 704 wickets to his name, the third most after Shane Warne (708 wickets) and Muttiah Muralitharan (800 wickets).
The 41-year-old had the chance to get the “perfect ending” but he dropped Gudakesh Motie’s catch when England just needed one wicket to win. Nevertheless, retiring at the home of cricket after dominating Test cricket for over 21 years was a fitting farewell for arguably the greatest red-ball pacer.
Anderson walked off the field at Lord’s for the last time and was hailed by the crowd as well as England and the West Indies’ teams.
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The legendary pacer thanked the Lord’s crowd for getting the memorable farewell before saying that he is proud of his achievements.
“It’s been an amazing week, been overwhelmed with the reaction of the crowd and everyone around the ground,” Anderson told Sky Sports. “I’m just proud of what I’ve achieved.”
When asked about his future plans, the 41-year-old confirmed that he will stay with the team through the summer to help the young pacers as England continue to increase their position in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 points table.
“I’m going to stick around for the rest of the summer with these guys, trying to help around with the bowling as much as I can. We’ll see where life takes me after that, I haven’t thought that far ahead,” Anderson said.
Despite the heavy win, England continued to sit on ninth place on WTC points table as they have just won four out of 11 matches as their Test tour to India earlier this year was not a success.
In Ashes 2023, they lost 19 points over the course of five Tests which dented their chances of making it to the WTC final. England now have 33 points from 11 Tests and they would need to recover big-margin wins in their next matches to improve their position on the points table.
- James Anderson
