England Test captain Ben Stokes gave a heartfelt tribute to James Anderson, who retired from international cricket after a long and successful career.
Anderson’s final match at Lord’s didn’t end the way he would have wanted it to but his achievements over the years spoke volumes about his greatness.
In his last Test match against West Indies, when Anderson tried to take the final wicket it was only for him to fail in an attempt to caught by Motie. However, he ended with a good figure of 1/26 and 3/32 in their respective innings despite this miss.
During the post-match press conference, Stokes said that England owes much of its success since 2003 to this guy who is now 41 years old and still trying to improve himself as a bowler as quoted from Sky Sports.
Anderson’s legacy as one of the all-time great fast bowlers of the game is beyond dispute while England will be missing him dearly.
“Sometimes you can be lost for words, if you give me fifteen minutes I still won’t be able to compliment him enough. He is forty-one and still always looking for ways on how he can become better,” The guardian quoted Stokes saying.
“Looking at how his career has gone, he has just kept getting better and better which is testament to his desire never to stop getting better. Every time he goes out there he wants to do something for us as a team and every time he has done that before going back into dressing room. A wonderful role model,” He added.
Gus Atkinson, new kid on block captured people’s attention during Anderson’s final match. Young pacer looks set lead English pace attack in future. For example, Atkinson had already established himself within the home circuit through winning seven wickets in first innings thus marking debutant on global stage.
The 26-year-old reflected on his childhood memories of visiting Lord’s as a child where Jimmy would be on the field playing cricket. He admired the veteran’s graceful run-up, smooth bowling action, and the ability to deliver the ball with pinpoint accuracy.
“It’s been an amazing week. I just want to say thanks to Jimmy, playing here in his last Test has been incredible,” said Atkinson.
“Growing up coming to Lord’s watching Jimmy running in from mid-off, it was like I’ve seen that so many times on the TV, so it was kind of cool. What’s so good with this group is you’re allowed to come in and be the player you want to be, and it’s helped me massively. To come out and do so well this week is fantastic,” he added.
Anderson who had been a pillar of English cricket called it quits after an extraordinary journey that started at Lords in 2003.
