Test summer curtain raiser- Jimmy bows out and two debutants at Lord’s
Six summer Test matches get underway with a game that sees an English icon bowl his final deliveries
Test cricket returns to England this week as the West Indies kick off a three-match series against Ben Stokes’ side at Lord’s. The most famous ground in the world will make a fitting final host for one of the best the sport has ever seen.
James Anderson has been a near-constant fixture in English Test cricket since making his debut in 2003. Many have bowled with him in bowling attacks worldwide, but other than a strong and deadly relationship with Stuart Broad, no others have been able to keep pace with him.
His final match will see Anderson start with 700 Test wickets to his name, a feat that no other fast bowler has achieved in the sport's history. The mantle of England’s main ban with the ball will be passed on, just who will be able to even try to follow in the Burnley man’s footsteps remains to be seen. However, as one seamer calls it a day, another will make his Test debut.
Gus Atkinson is one of two players making their red ball bow for England, the bowler will be part of a cabal hoping to be the next Mr Reliable after the retirement of Broad and now Anderson. His inclusion is a welcome one, and without a doubt deserved.
England’s selectors have made some fairly big calls in terms of the squad for this summer. Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes have both been cut, with the latter perhaps feeling hardest done to out of the pair. Replacing Foakes is the second debutant for the opening clash with the West Indies, Jamie Smith. A Surrey player, Smith has been in the England conversation for some time now, and an opportunity to refresh the squad has seen him get his chance.
The side selected for the opening Test of the summer feels like a case of pieces falling into the right places. Shoaib Bashir has been given the responsibility of frontline spinner, making what will be his home Test debut after a successful debut tour in the baptism of fire that is India.
Chris Woakes is a traditional all-rounder of sorts. His Test career can be likened to Jekyll & Hyde in that on home soil he is pretty potent, but on tour, he rarely has much impact with the ball. In familiar conditions, Woakes is a key figure in that bowling attack as the most senior man behind captain Ben Stokes, and he will need to be ready to step up to the mantle as early as the Trent Bridge Test once Anderson calls it a day.
The blend of experience in this side of the team will hopefully complement each other, as it should in the batting department. England’s top six looks like it could settle fairly quickly on paper and is made up of players who have lined up with each other on many occasions. Smith at 7 has 3,434 runs at an average of just under 42 in First Class cricket, and in the age of wicket-keeper/ batter, this equates to a very handy lower middle-order option.
Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett have struck a good partnership at the top of the order, whilst the trio of Ollie Pope, Joe Root, and Harry Brook have shown over the years that they can get the big runs too.
England have named a good side to take on the West Indies, but it’s hard to suggest attention will be very far away from Anderson. A giant of the game will leave a legacy that will need to be filled, and waiting to see who will do this is far more exciting than it is worrying.
England squad for first two Test matches against West Indies
Ben Stokes (Durham) Captain, James Anderson (Lancashire) (First Test only), Gus Atkinson (Surrey), Shoaib Bashir (Somerset), Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Zak Crawley (Kent), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Dan Lawrence (Surrey), Dillon Pennington (Nottinghamshire), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Matthew Potts (Durham), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jamie Smith (Surrey), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)
