He's Been A Tease, But Jimmy Is Worth Wait

Derek Pringle casts his forensic eye over the highs, and occasional lows, in the long career of England’s spearhead

- Derek Pringle

Jimmy Anderson has already boldly gone where no other England Test bowler has been before, so this was always likely to be a day for the numerologists. Needing three wickets to reach 500 Test victims he took just two as Ben Stokes upstaged him with a virtuoso performance of swing bowling after taking a career-best 6-22.

For those seeking to witness momentous history it was a day of burlesque tease as Anderson came within a wicket of reaching the milestone. It began expectantly though when news broke that West Indies had won the toss and would bat, the buzz among the crowd being whether he would reach his goal before lunch, a crucial juncture at Lord’s for those who want to actually witness events on the field.

In that regard he taunted us all mercilessly by taking two wickets in quick succession in the opening session, though there had also been an early drop at first slip by Alastair Cook, the team-mate who has served alongside Anderson most often for England.

As an opening batsman Cook is used to following the flight of a cricket ball at its most capricious. It was not even three overs old when Kraigg Brathwaite touched one with his outside edge, though Cook’s hands, ill-positioned at Headingley where he also clanged a couple off Anderson, could not cling on.

While slow reactions were at fault up North, here he moved his hands too quickly, so that they ended up being too low. The ball rarely sticks when it hits the hard part of the palm, presumably made harder in Cook’s case from the farming duties he now undertakes on his wife’s farm.