James Anderson bowed out of international cricket on the winning side as England thrashed the West Indies by an innings and 114 runs on the third day of the first Test at Lord’s on Friday.
This was the 41-year-old veteran’s 188th and last Test before retiring from England duty, with Anderson’s tally of 704 Test wickets the most taken by any fast bowler in the history of the format.
“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,” he added.
Anderson looked uncharacteristically emotional before the start of play as he walked out to a guard of honour and a standing ovation from the crowd in his 188th and final test.
But the 41-year-old seamer quickly got to work and had Joshua Da Silva (9) caught behind in his second over of the day, finding just enough movement to draw the outside edge and pick up his 704th test wicket.
Anderson’s fourth wicket of the match dented West Indies’ slim chances of making England bat again and Da Silva was quickly followed by Alzarri Joseph (8).
Joseph decided to go down swinging, clubbing Gus Atkinson back over his head for four amid some wild swipes before he top-edged Atkinson to Ben Duckett on the leg-side boundary, taking the former to 10 wickets on his test debut.
Shamar Joseph (3) was not far behind Joseph, clean bowled by Atkinson as the tailender missed a straight yorker with an ugly hack across the line.
Gudakesh Motie (31 not out) put up some resistance and was involved in two of the highlights of the day, first driving Atkinson to the cover boundary to draw a long chase and full-length dive from Anderson to save a single run.
Motie then seemingly handed Anderson his 705th test wicket on a plate, driving the ball straight back to the bowler but he spilled it.
Anderson did not get a better chance for a final wicket and Atkinson wrapped things up when Jayden Seales (8) holed out to Duckett as West Indies were all out for 136 to fall to a heavy defeat inside barely seven sessions.
The two sides meet again in the second test of the three-match series starting at Trent Bridge next Thursday.