England legend James Anderson walked into the sunset after bidding adieu to his 21-year-long Test career. Anderson won his 188th and final Test cap for the Three Lions in his team's opening game against West Indies, beginning on July 10.
The stalwart picked four wickets in the Test and ended his career at 704 wickets. He boasts the record of being the only pacer in the Test history to pick 700 scalps with his long-term partner in crime Stuart Broad being a distant second on 604 scalps on the pacers' list.
The 41-year-old cricketer left the stage set for new entrants after making "peace" with the management's decision to retire him who wanted to "move on". But is he the oldest player ever to play a Test match at the iconic Lord's?
Anderson's longevity is hailed by many. The fact that he is a pacer and played with such high tenacity in his late 30s and 40s makes him one of the oldest Test players in recent memory. However, he is not the oldest to play a Test at Lord's.
According to ESPNCricinfo, there are surprisingly as many as 20 players older than Anderson to feature in a Test at the iconic England venue. The oldest player Test player here is former England skipper WG Grace, who was almost 48 when he led his team in a Test way back in 1896 against Australia.
There are more players senior than Anderson in age to play a game at Lord's including England's Jack Hobbs (43), Australia's Warren Bardsley (43) and South Africa's Old Dave" Nourse (45), among others.
According to the same website, he is the oldest pacer with actual pace to feature in the Test at the London-based venue as Old Dave" Nourse was a medium pacer.
Anderson picked four wickets in his last Test to end with a tally of 704 scalps in the format. He is third only to Muthiah Muralidaran and Shane Warne, both of who have 800 and 708 wickets in the red-ball format. He missed out on overtaking Warne in this tally.
The 41-year-old is also the leading wicket-taking pacer in International cricket, staying nine short of the elusive 1000 mark at 991 scalps across formats. Again, he is third to Muralidaran and Warne, who have 1347 and 1001 wickets, respectively.
