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This piece from Andy Bull is fantastic
By the end he could do things with a ball that made the old bowlers whistle. Which is how his career will be remembered. He was the hardest-working bowler in the business, and the most skilful, a master of the old English tricks of swing, seam and cut. Sometime this summer, he will be asked if his record will ever be beaten, same as they did Trueman back in 1964. The honest answer, if he gives it, is probably not. They play fewer Tests these days and the Twenty20 circuit means the players have too many other temptations. Anderson’s fast-bowling records will stand like Muralitharan’s, and Don Bradman’s, for as long as the game is played. There’ll never be another.”
BREAKING NEWS:
James Anderson confirms he will finish his Test career at Lord’s, the first Test of the summer. Read his instagram post below:
The Jimmy Anderson goodbye will be the first Test at Lord’s in July.
More than 21 years after his first appearance there against Zimbabwe, and what a ride it’s been. pic.twitter.com/WmbmiMugfq
— Henry Moeran (@henrymoeranBBC) May 11, 2024 …And he has his first wicket! Ben Slater edging into the slips:
Plenty of eyes on Saqib Mahmood who is having his first bowl in the county champo this summer. He’s had a terrible time with back injuries but is still thought of as a real prospect to fill the impending Anderson shaped hole for England. He’s got three slips and a gully in place…
Lancashire are all out for 331 at Trent Bridge and Surrey have polished off Warks at the Oval for 343.
Jayden Seals is running amok against Glamorgan – the welsh side are now 50-4!
Lovely stuff from Jayden Seals, the bails flying upwards like a pair of quizzical eyebrows:
Does a first over of the day get much better than this?
Jayden Seales with some absolute beauties to Billy Root pic.twitter.com/64I6DwrvyX
— Vitality County Championship (@CountyChamp) May 11, 2024 Billy Root has had his furniture rearranged by the impressive Jayden Seales – he goes for just 5 to leave Glamorgan on 25-2 in response to Sussex’s 278.
Elsewhere – Glos have gone past 350 with a Marchant de Lange swipe for six. Northants will want to prise out the last couple of wickets sharpish and get out there with the bat.
At the Oval, Ed Barnard has notched up his sixth first-class century and his first for Warwickshire. His side were in trouble at 167-6 for yesterday afternoon but are now well placed at 343-9 on a green tinged pitch.
DingDingDing! 11am rolls around. Let’s do some cricket.
Have just watched this doozy, you should too:
An emotional day at Canterbury yesterday, i’ve just read this lovely piece from the classy quill of Andrew Miller:
But this was not a day for such crassly pointed details. This was a day designed to wash over you as a background to your life choices; to exist – as might have been the case when time itself was first corralled at the height of the Industrial Revolution – only as confirmation that this is your moment of leisure, and it’s yours to tailor as you please.
Watch the cricket, or don’t watch the cricket – it’ll still be there if you ever look up to check the score. Do the crossword, go for a stroll. Pat a dog, eat an ice cream. Loll on the grass banks while marvelling up at the pointlessness of the floodlights, which on a day like this seem as oblique and immutable as the Easter Island statues.”
Here are the current scores on the doors:
Division One
The Rosebowl: Hampshire 336-4 v Durham
Canterbury: Kent v Worcestershire 308-5
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire v Lancashire 306-8
The Oval: Surrey v Warwickshire 318-8
Division Two
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 21-1 v Sussex 278
The County Ground: Northants v Gloucestershire 338-8
There’s no shortage of reading material to keep you occupied until the bell clangs at 11am. Simon Burnton has been pondering life after Jimmy…
Last year, asked yet again about his potential retirement, Anderson said: “I feel privileged to have got in a position where I can make a decision because, as a bowler, it is usually taken out of your hands. It will be nice to go out on my own terms.” There are not many things that Anderson has looked incapable of, but perhaps making that decision was one. Now his choice of final moments has narrowed, but an August date with Sri Lanka and Old Trafford’s Anderson End seems a romantic choice. He was the 613th man to play Test cricket for England, and the next to make his debut will be the 713th. His was a hell of a century.”
Here’s Tanya’s round up of the action yesterday:
At Canterbury, Worcestershire, playing for the first time since the death of their young spinning all-rounder Josh Baker, lined up on the boundary edge alongside their opponents, Kent, before play for a minute’s applause in memory of the 20-year-old.
On a beautiful day, with the ice-cream van happily doling out cones, Gareth Roderick completed back-to-back centuries, gently tapping the embroidered 33 (Baker’s number) on his shirt with his bat, as he did so. Kashif Ali made 72 as Worcestershire ended an emotional day on 308-5.
Lancashire’s Keaton Jennings was furious with himself after top-edging to slip on 91 at Trent Bridge, while Tom Bruce collected his first half century in what has been a tough early summer, a rock-about innings containing ten fours and one six.
Nottinghamshire’s Dillon Pennington spoilt the visitors’ day with three quick wickets towards the end. Jimmy Anderson who, it was revealed, will step away from Test cricket at the end of this summer, was watching from the sidelines.
After a slow start to his Hampshire career since moving from Sussex this winter, Ali Orr made his first century for his new side. His steady 126 was brought to an end by Peter Siddle, pulling on county cap number five, this time running in for Durham. Callum Parkinson took three wickets and Tom Prest bish-bashed 65.
Surrey’s Jordan Clark kept tabs on Warwickshire on a queasy-green Oval pitch, with four for fifty, but Ed Barnard stitched together a lower-order recovery, 96 not out at stumps.
Division Two leaders Sussex were picked apart by Glamorgan’s James Harris (4 for 93) and Mir Hamza (4 for 70), though some clever accumulation by the tail added 138 from the depths of 140 for seven.
Siddharth Kaul, the Indian seamer called up for three Championship matches with Northants, picked away at Gloucestershire, but Miles Hammond steadied nerves with 112, reaching his first ton for two years with a six.
Preamble
James Wallace
Hello and welcome to day two of round six of the County Championship. We’ll get into the county stuff shortly, of course, but there’s only one story on everyone’s lips this morning – the imminent departure of James Anderson from Test cricket. By imminent I mean at some point this English summer. Our man Ali Martin broke the story yesterday:
Jimmy Anderson is set to bring the curtain down on his record-breaking England career this summer after face-to-face talks with the head coach, Brendon McCullum.
The Guardian understands McCullum recently made a whistle-stop five-day visit to the UK, travelling 11,000 miles from his home in New Zealand to meet Anderson and tell him in person, over a round of golf, that the Test team is looking to the future.
This primarily means building a seam attack for the next Ashes series in the winter of 2025-26, by which time Anderson will be 43. England play six Tests against West Indies and Sri Lanka this summer, including one against the latter on Anderson’s home ground, Old Trafford, in late August – and that will likely be it.”
Taha Hashim is currently on the rattler to Trent Bridge where Lancashire are in action against Nottinghamshire, he’ll be sending us insightful updates and reactions as he sniffs them out. I’m manning the tools today in place of Tanya, please do get involved below the line and email any thoughts and theories throughout the day.
The sun is shining here in south London and just beginning to set on one of the greats of English cricket.