The West Indies' intention to pay tribute to England's legendary bowler
James Anderson
with a guard of honour on day two of the first Test at
Lord's
was derailed by an unexpected moment of jubilation.
Anderson, who has taken a record-breaking 703 Test wickets as a fast bowler and his playing his 188th Test, stepped out to bat on Thursday in what is his last match in the England jersey.
It is customary for the fielding team to form a guard of honour when a prominent opposition player is batting for the last time in a Test match. However, just before the 41-year-old Anderson walked out to a standing ovation from the packed crowd at Lord's, Mikyle Louis executed a brilliant run out to dismiss Shoaib Bashir, triggering exuberant celebrations among the West Indies players.
As a result, when Anderson emerged from the pavilion, only former West Indies skipper Jason Holder was present to greet him with a handshake.
At stumps on the second day, the West Indies trailed by 171 runs with only four wickets remaining, making it almost certain that this was Anderson's final innings with the bat for England.
"We spoke about it before he came out to bat, that we were going to give him a guard of honour," West Indies fast bowler Jayden Seales was quoted by AFP.
"Obviously the run out took us all the way down to Swiss Cottage (the neighbouring district in northwest London to St John's Wood, in which Lord's is located), so it was pretty hard to do the guard of honour for the great man. Luckily, Jason caught up with him."
However, as it turned out, Anderson had to return to the dressing room without even facing a ball as debutant Jamie Smith (70) was dismissed as the last England wicket to fall.
"I think the biggest missed opportunity was not seeing Jimmy face one off their left-arm spinner," said Smith.
"That's the one regret about my innings. I'm a bit disappointed I couldn't hit one more six to allow him his moment. It's been an honour to play alongside him in my first game. Everyone will miss him when he goes. If we're in a position where he has to bat in the second innings, I'd be a bit worried, so hopefully he can get wickets with the ball instead."
Anderson, England captain Ben Stokes and newcomer Gus Atkinson each claimed two wickets as the West Indies crumbled to 79 for 6 by the end of play on Thursday. This followed their dismal first-innings total of 121 in the opening match of the three-Test series.
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