Joe Root admitted that he will “terribly miss” playing alongside James Anderson after the pacer retired from Test cricket after England defeated West Indies in the first Test at Lord’s Cricket Ground on Friday.
Anderson bagged four wickets in his last Test match and retired with 704 wickets to his name, the third most after Shane Warne (708 wickets) and Muttiah Muralitharan (800 wickets).
Root has played 110 Test matches alongside Anderson and has captained the English pacer 46 times, which is the second most after Alastair Cook (49).
"For me, all I've ever known for England is playing alongside Jimmy and that's been for 12 years," Root said.
"It's a bit of a weird one, seeing Stuart [Broad] go last year and [now] Jimmy. I'll terribly miss playing alongside him, but the fact that he'll be around for the summer will be great for the young bowlers coming through and for us to keep using that experience and everything else he has to offer the dressing room.
“I'm really pleased that he's been able to have the send-off that he deserves but also, it's in some ways, a little bit sad to see him go."
After the first Test against West Indies ended, Anderson thanked the Lord’s crowd for getting the memorable farewell before saying that he was proud of his achievements.
“It’s been an amazing week, been overwhelmed with the reaction of the crowd and everyone around the ground,” Anderson told Sky Sports. “I’m just proud of what I’ve achieved.”
When asked about his future plans, the 41-year-old confirmed that he will stay with the team through the summer to help the young pacers as England continue to increase their position in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 points table.
“I’m going to stick around for the rest of the summer with these guys, trying to help around with the bowling as much as I can. We’ll see where life takes me after that, I haven’t thought that far ahead,” Anderson said.
- James Anderson
