Farewell to a true cricketing legend as Jimmy Anderson departs at 704 all out

If it's Friday it must be a trip to Lord's to say goodbye to one of my sporting heroes ahead of a return to Germany and the Road to Berlin

Happy Friday,

I’m writing today’s post after a trip to Lord’s, glorious, hallowed, Lord’s, to say farewell to a true sporting hero of mine, Jimmy Anderson.

After 704 wickets and nine Prime Ministers, Anderson, a genuine cricketing icon of the game, played his 188th - and final - Test of his 21 year international career.

It was an absolute honour to sit in the Mound Stand with pals this morning to watch history being made at the end of an era - an era that may well never be replicated again.

Jimmy Anderson walks out to a guard of honour from both sides prior to the start of Day Three of the First Test vs the West Indies. CREDIT: Twitter/Unknown.

St John’s Wood was abuzz, the atmosphere simmering with anticipation, as touts offered tickets for £250 around the tube entrance, despite knowing full well there would barely be any play past midday, such was the precarious state of the match for the West Indies.

After a quick trip to NW8’s best kept secret, the Taxi Hut, in the shadows of the Nursery End for a restorative cuppa and bacon sarnie - I never understand why punters fork out nearly £15 for a ‘gourmet’ bap, when you can pick up a far tastier and far cheaper version 50 yards outside - I headed through the gates and into one of my favourite sporting site on the planet, Lord’s.

Souvenir programme and scorecard obtained, not to mention a quick trip to the shop to keep tabs on the latest Lord’s tat - as a ‘tat addict’ I picked up a badge I really didn’t need - I made my way to my seat and to catch up with an old pal.

As the strains of Jerusalem blared out over the PA, both sides - resplendent in all white, not those unseemly, grotesquely kaleidoscopic corollary’s emanating from shorter forms of the game - both sides formed a guard of honour.

We looked on an applauded as Anderson, sheepishly, but with pride, cap in hand and a ginger wave, walked through such tangible respect from his England team mates, and the Caribbean visitors, after taking more wickets than any other fast bowler in the history of the game.

Seats taken in the Mound Stand - the one designed with what looks like while sails on the roof, bars on the concourse, framed by lovely sandstone brickwork - the general hubbub of a Test morphed into a focused support for Anderson.

There was a Test match to win. With the Windies being six down in their second innings and still 171 behind, the result was pretty much assured.

It was just how we got there in the 64 minutes that were to follow that mattered to the majority of the near 30,000 sellout in north west London.

The noise swelled once Gus Atkinson (who was to take an impressive 12 wickets in the match) had bowled the last ball of the existing over, carried from Thursday after taking a wicket with the final ball of the second day.

Could Jimmy somehow get another five-fer and have his name inked onto the fabled Lord’s honours board once more? Could he take a wicket with his final ball in Test cricket - as his best mate in cricket, Stuart Broad, did last year when bowing out at the Oval?

Anderson raised hopes of snaffling five wickets on his final game when he showcased a superb outswinger that moved late that saw Josh Da Silva become what was to be Jimmy’s 704 and final Test wicket.

Underlining the talent and craft Anderson has displayed over the course of his long career, as the angle led the Windies’ batter to attempt play the ball down the leg side, when of course, there would be an element of late swing - which turned out to be fatal. As it has been for more than two decades.

We cheered, while, just like Jimmy no doubt, we attempted to savour the moment, knowing the end of an era was nigh.

Jimmy Anderson in the Lord’s Long Room prior to walking out onto the ground and a guard of honour from both sides. CREDIT: Twitter/Unknown

Shortly afterwards, tails up, and the noise levels rising, racing in from the Nursery End, we groaned when Jimmy - who has always been a fine catcher and fielder with 107 catches during his career, the seventh most by an England cricketer - put down his one handed effort when Gudakesh Mote offered up a return, Anderson should have really caught, as he dropped to his haunches in frustration allied with disappointment.

However, with the end in sight after 21 years, Jimmy laughed at the chance missed, and perhaps a little at the absurdity of it all.

And because we love Jimmy - and will do for all eternity after his unstinting commitment, talent, achievements, and yes, hard yakka - we laughed too, knowing that possibly he, and us, had lost the chance of writing perfect history.

And so it proved that Atkinson was to take 12 wickets in the match - as well as a five-fer that we cheered loudly - not least, because having followed Jimmy’s career for two decades, we all knew just how difficult such a feat really was, not to mention a nod to the days when life wouldn’t always be so carefree and easy for the impressive Atkinson in a white England shirt.

It was fitting that Atkinson, Anderson’s possible long-term replacement was handed the player of the match award - just as it is fitting that there is no sentiment in cricket, nor in sport - after having taken the fourth-best figures of a Test match debutant in the history of the game, not to mention the best figures at home since the great Alec Bedser’s debut in 1946. No pressure for Trent Bridge next week then.

But the morning was all about Jimmy.

Humble, hard-working, self-deprecating, talented, terrific Jimmy.

And as he walked off, cap in hand after another good day’s (morning’s) work, arm and right hand gingerly raised in modest appreciation of the applause received, and of the love given to such an icon, we soaked it all up, in the knowledge that there will never be another Jimmy Anderson.

Knowing that the game of Test cricket will be just that much poorer for that sad but inevitable fact.

Jimmy Anderson bows out at Lord’s on Friday on 704 wickets. CREDIT: Twitter/Unknown

……..

Memories, Facts and figures

Tony Blair was still PM when Anderson made his Test debut at Lord’s against Zimbabwe back in 2003.

As an aside, to underline his longevity, I was actually at the ODI match, the week before he made his one day bow at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in December 2002.

I had attended Australia vs England at the Sydney Cricket Ground, a week before, when, improbably Nick Knight hit an unbeaten 111 but slipped to a seven wicket defeat.

Yet it was the Test arena where Anderson was to shine, even if those early years were more of a struggle than a success, missing, as he did the seminal 2005 series against the Australians.

Among the numerous Test matches I watched Jimmy play, I was privileged to be at Trent Bridge - as I will be next week - to witness the second best bowling figures of his career - 7-43 - against Brendon McCullum’s New Zealand, where under overcast Nottingham skies, he was virtually unplayable.

Or being at the same venue in 2013 for the first Ashes Test, when he helped bowl England to a narrow 14 run victory with relentless effort during a heatwave.

Nor watching Jimmy get 5-65 vs India in 2022, before heading off to watch Arsenal lose 2-0 to newly-promoted Brentford, the latter as painful as the former was satisfying.

Not to mention being at Trent Bridge again (what was it with that wonderful venue?) in 2014 when he hit his highest Test score, 81, against India.

And I will go to my grave insisting that he would have reached a Test century had lunch not got in the way to disrupt his rhythm.

I could go on and on.

So many memories gleaned from watching such a wonderfully talented, yet, such hard-working cricketer.

I even interviewed Jimmy in the Lord’s Pavilion at the close of play during a Middlesex vs Lancashire county game a few years back, where I found him to be intelligent, articulate, passionate and knowledgeable, as well as possessing an endearingly bone dry wit.

Improving With Age

After turning the tender age of 35, Anderson accelerated his achievements, taking 224 wickets at 22.71, meaning nearly a third of his 704 Test victims came five years after his 30th birthday.

In doing so, Anderson also improved his average from more than 28 to just over 22 - helping him to a final Test average of 26.45.

As Anderson matured in the last decade of his career - testament to his commitment and relentless desire to learn, to improve, to become a better bowler - in his last 42 Tests outside England, his overseas average dropped to an excellent 24.10 - not that far from his home average of a miserly 21.63 in the same period.

Another indication of his steely eyed resolve to excel on any surface, in any region, was the fact his average on the sub-continent dropped to 23.56 in the last decade, with his overall average 27.51 in difficult conditions not conducive to a seam bowler.

And let’s not forget his incredible control and mastery of the ball.

While his career economy rate stands at 2.79, since 2014 Anderson leads the way from the 26 bowlers who have taken more than 150 wickets during that time, with a rate of 2.47 runs per over.

Stunning. A true outlier.

Owing to his inspirational dedication to the art, his love of the sport, and his determination - and relish of hard work.

There will never be another Jimmy Anderson.

I, like so many lovers of this wonderful game, are so grateful for the chance, the honour and the privilege of watching plenty of Anderson’s long and illustrious career.

Thanks Jimmy, go well.

………..

SATURDAY’S DAILY LIST

I) Make sure I catch my early train from Kings Cross St Pancras Eurostar to Berlin, via Brussels and Cologne.

II) Check into my hotel before midnight on Saturday, hopefully

III) Either catch up with pals dotted around Berlin and drink until dawn. Or go to bed absolutely knackered after all my comings and goings over the last month.

IV) Wake up on Sunday morning with the unbridled anticipation of covering the biggest match of my career in journalism, in anticipation of a final for the ages. While hoping football finally comes home for the England men’s team