Category: England National Cricket

• Superchargers captain will ‘focus on Test cricket’
• Yorkshire batter not expecting a change of leadership

Harry Brook has played down talk of being an England white-ball captain in waiting, insisting he is focusing on Test cricket, leading the Northern Superchargers in the Hundred this summer and not expecting a change of leadership any time soon.

Rob Key, the director of England men’s cricket, is reviewing the white-ball set-up after a lamentable 50-over World Cup last winter was followed by the recent T20 World Cup in which Jos Buttler’s side reached the semi-finals but lost three of their four games against major opposition, including the eventual winners, India, in Guyana.

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• Seamer took four months off to process ‘tough’ period
• Jimmy Anderson’s retirement ‘puts things in perspective’

Chris Woakes has said that experiencing Jimmy Anderson’s Test send-off, at the end of a difficult few months following the death of his father earlier in May, had reminded him to cherish his time at the pinnacle of the sport, and the need “to enjoy every moment” because “it doesn’t last forever”.

Woakes took four months off cricket between February and June, returning to play two games for Warwickshire in the County Championship and another two in the Blast last month before joining up with the England squad for the West Indies series. He took one wicket as England won the first Test, also Anderson’s last, by an innings and 114 runs.

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Former captain now the most experienced player as young talents emerge in wake of Jimmy Anderson’s farewell

As England’s path to victory over West Indies in the opening Test became a procession, a few miles away at Wimbledon and a bit more distantly at Euro 2024 other sports provided greater drama and demanded greater attention. And, as always at Lord’s, many let their seats stand empty and relocated to one of the venue’s champagne-themed breakout areas, there were moments when cricket felt perhaps a little incidental.

In this context, the outpouring of gratitude and emotion that followed the game’s conclusion and marked Jimmy Anderson’s retirement was inspiring and reassuring, a reminder of how the game and those who play it are cherished.

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England's Test captain, Ben Stokes, explained how special it was to be a part of Jimmy Anderson's final Test match, calling him a "GOAT of the game" after Anderson called time on his international career while being the third-highest wicket taker in Test cricket history with 704. "I feel very fortunate to have been able to have played as much cricket as I have done with Jimmy," Stokes said. "Everyone who gets an opportunity in an England shirt should look to emulate [Anderson's career.] His career has just got better and better over the years."

• Jimmy Anderson signs off with wicket in England’s innings win over West Indies

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• West Indies great: ‘I don’t want to hear about it’
• Ambrose backs tourists’ attack to cause problems

Curtly Ambrose believes the West Indies possess the fast bowlers to derail Bazball this summer – not that the great man has much time for the label personally.

Speaking before the three-match Test series that gets under way at Lord’s on Wednesday, Ambrose dismissed England’s ultra-aggressive approach under Ben Stokes these past two years as little more than a “fancy name” and believes it could well be shown up as such.

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• Captain wants remodelled side to be winners in Australia
• First Test at Lord’s will be Jimmy Anderson’s swansong

England’s Test summer belatedly starts against West Indies at Lord’s on Wednesday, with Ben Stokes admitting that his focus is not just on the Richards-Botham Trophy that is immediately at stake but on the more distant goal of the Ashes. “We’re not focusing on that over what we need to do here. We’ve got a lot of Test cricket to play before Australia,” the England captain said. “But we had to make some decisions around what we think is best for the team going into that series.”

The four-month gap since England’s last Test, against India in March, has given their management time to take stock and plan for the future. The results include the enforced end of Jimmy Anderson’s international career, the promotion of Jamie Smith as wicketkeeper at the expense of Ben Foakes, even though he is preferred in that role for their county, Surrey, in red-ball cricket. Shoaib Bashir becomes first-choice spinner at the expense of Jack Leach, despite being his understudy for Somerset.

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The greatest seam bowler England has produced gave us sexy cricket – enjoy this selection of masterpieces

Before Jimmy Anderson arrived in 2003, most English swing bowlers were hard-faced brawlers who harassed the outside edge. Anderson introduced us to sexy cricket: the boyband looks, the Freddie Ljungberg-tribute hair and most of all the stump-busting outswingers to the right-hander. That delivery defined the first phase of his career, when he was erratic but exhilarating and there was sometimes a whiff of accidental magic. The most spectacular demonstration was at Trent Bridge against New Zealand in 2008, when Anderson took seven for 43 to settle the game and the series.

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The old warhorse took seven for 35 on his return to Lancashire to reward fans who turned out in the rain to see their hero

A sharpened pencil of a man in a No 9 shirt took the new ball from Southport’s Harrod Drive End immediately after Lancashire’s captain, Keaton Jennings, declared on Tuesday morning. After two days of waiting – and Monday’s play completely washed out – the spectators wrung themselves dry and sat up tall in their fold-up chairs around the boundary.

They didn’t have to wait long. Jimmy Anderson’s 19th ball of the English summer – in his first spell since the Dharamsala Test, his first spell for Lancashire since May 2023 and his first spell since he was ushered stage left by the England management in May – angled into Haseeb Hameed’s bat and bounced back on to the stumps. And that was only the beginning – in an opening spell of 10-2-19-6, he dismantled Nottinghamshire, a hush descending on the crowd each time he paused at the top of his run-up, before they exploded when he pocketed a wicket, and another, and another.

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Having witnessed the paceman’s England bow, there is plenty still to admire in the warhorse as he gears up to say goodbye

He’ll finish where he started: at Lord’s with Rob Key looking on admiringly and a Labour prime minister residing in Downing Street. Some 21 years ago, when Tony Blair was in charge and Key was batting at No 5 for England, a shy, young whippersnapper from Burnley, James Anderson, made his Test debut against Zimbabwe.

It’s a long time ago and quite a lot has changed since then: on that weekend at the end of May 2003, Paul McCartney was performing in front of 100,000 fans in Moscow’s Red Square, preparations were in hand for the first ever Twenty20 matches on the county circuit and Phil Tufnell was about to win I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! What remains is the prospect of Anderson bowling for England in a Lord’s Test match – one last time.

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