Big picture: Anderson enters the end-game
It’s been an emotional week already for the grand old men of British sport. At Wimbledon on Thursday, Andy Murray unleashed the waterworks as he bade farewell to Centre Court, with a final acceptance that his flesh was now too weak to sustain his indomitable spirit.
By contrast, that same afternoon at Saint Vulbas, and then at Silverstone three days after that, Mark Cavendish and Lewis Hamilton proved what a champion’s mindset can still achieve when the fates finally decree that you have suffered purgatory for long enough.
But, as Anderson himself might remember from the circumstances of his own England debut – on this very ground 21 years and a handful of weeks ago – international sport has, at some point, to return to being a young man’s game. Back then, it was Andrew Caddick who never played for his country again, even after claiming ten wickets in England’s previous Test at Sydney in January 2003. If opportunity doesn’t knock at some point for a new generation, then stagnation and frustration become the only true measures of progress.
That’s not quite where England find themselves after a torrid winter tour of India. But, in the wake of their 2-2 Ashes draw and a careless share of the spoils in New Zealand in February, Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum find themselves in unusually urgent need of a series win – a strange state of affairs for a team whose initial success was largely down to their disregard for the end-game.
What can West Indies do to knock that future off its stride? Potentially, more than many other teams might muster. For if England’s approach, in essence, has been about an overdose of good vibes, then they are coming up against a team with a proven ability to raise their own game against these particular opponents.
Either way, West Indies are not letting the sentiment of the occasion deflect them from their mission, with more than one player expressing their intention to “ruin” Anderson’s farewell. Hopefully the weather doesn’t get there first in the course of an unsettled forecast for the week ahead. There’ll be enough moisture doing the rounds at Lord’s by the time he’s bowled his last.
Form guide
England LLLLW (last five Tests, most recent first)
West Indies WLDLL
In the spotlight: Gus Atkinson and Shamar Joseph
Yeah, yeah, so there’s really only one fast bowler on anyone’s lips right now, but seeing as Anderson loathes the spotlight, it makes sense to pass it over to two of the newest kids on the Test block.
Team news: England ring the changes
No Bairstow, no Foakes, no Tom Hartley, no Mark Wood. Only two of those names are likely to feature again for England as Bazball 2.0 prepares to be unleashed. Instead, re-enter Harry Brook at No. 5, back in situ after missing the India tour due to the death of his grandmother, and welcome aboard the Surrey pairing of Atkinson and Jamie Smith, whose credentials have been bigged up ever since Rob Key witnessed his astonishingly rapid hundred for England Lions in Sri Lanka two winters ago. He does not keep wicket for his county – awkwardly, the man he has replaced has that honour. But then, neither does Shoaib Bashir command a first-team place at Somerset. England are more excited about the ceiling of such players’ potentials, rather than the facts of their current professional status. Mind you, the opposite holds true for the returning Chris Woakes, the reigning Compton-Miller medallist after his heroics in last summer’s Ashes. He’s no more a long-term pick than Anderson, but he does command an average of 11.33 in five previous Tests at Lord’s. Seeing as England haven’t won a full series since 2022, getting that W on the board is still a priority.
England: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Jamie Smith (wk), 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Gus Atkinson, 10 Shoaib Bashir, 11 James Anderson
West Indies 1 Kraigg Brathwaite, 2 Mikyle Louis, 3 Kirk McKenzie, 4 Alick Athanaze, 5 Kavem Hodge, 6 Jason Holder, 7 Joshua da Silva (wk), 8 Gudakesh Motie, 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Shamar Joseph, 11 Jayden Seales.
Pitch and conditions: Cold and damp is the order of the day
The weather promises to be cold, intermittently showery and distinctly underwhelming. All of which augurs pretty well for the quick bowlers on display, given the old cliché of Lord’s being a venue where you look up, not down. Even by the old ground’s flat-decked reputation, however, this season has been taking the Michael – as Glamorgan’s Sam Northeast can attest after overhauling Graham Gooch’s legendary 333 in April, the previous highest score ever made in NW8. Jayden Seales had a similarly brutal run-out for Sussex against Middlesex at Lord’s in May, when a total of 18 wickets fell in four days.
Stats and trivia: Anderson eyeing his final place in history
Quotes
“This week will all be about Jimmy, and rightly so. But I can tell you that his main focus is about going out there, taking wickets and trying to win this game for England. I’m sure when we’re done here this week, that’s when everything else will take over. But he’s desperate to go out there and put in a winning performance for England.”
Ben Stokes on Anderson’s swansong
“It’s a young group, especially the batsmen, they have a lot of time to learn because obviously playing Test cricket it takes a while to really understand. You’re always learning on the job, but it’s a very decent team, for sure.”
Kraigg Brathwaite backs his side to compete
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket
Content Source: www.espncricinfo.com