The retiring James Anderson received a Guard of Honour from England and West Indies players when he stepped out at Lord's for his potentially last day in Test cricket on Friday, July 12. Both teams' players honoured the legendary fast bowler as the crowd applauded with a big cheer.
England needed only four wickets to win the opening Test match on Day 3 and fans packed Lord's stands to bid farewell to Anderson. West Indies struggled to show any resistance and were bowled out to 136 in 47 overs as Gus Atkinson completed his five-fer in the second innings and finished the match with 12 wickets on his debut.
Anderson gave England an opening with Joshua Da Silva's wicket in the third over of the day. He also bowled out Shamar Joseph but it was Atkinson who stole the attention with the last wicket to complete a five-wicket haul. England won the match by an innings and 114 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series at home.
Anderson, 41, finished his glorious career with 704 wickets in 188 Test matches, the third-best figures after legendary spinners Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne. Anderon appreciated the crowd after England's big win and then revealed his emotions and feelings in his final post-match interview.
"Obviously this morning was quite emotional with the two teams lined up and the reaction from the crowd was pretty special," Anderson told Sky Cricket after the game. "But yeah, I'm still trying to hold them [tears] back now, but I think I'm just really proud of playing for 20-odd years. [It] is an incredible effort, especially for a fast bowler.
"I'm just happy that I've made it this far. Happy that I've been lucky enough to stay injury-free pretty much throughout my career. And yeah, play for England. It's the best job in the world, so I've been privileged to be able to do it for a long time."
