In the Hollywood classic, All About Eve, a mature Broadway star, played by Bette Davis, finds her career and life under threat from a talented understudy, the eponymous Eve, played by Anne Baxter. It is not an analogy one can take too far, but it was impossible not to think along such lines as play unfolded on the first day of the first Test between England and West Indies at Lord’s. A full house was present on a dry but overcast and initially slightly bleak July morning, and it is no exaggeration to say that almost everyone present were thinking one thing: that this was the final Test in the career of England’s now truly legendary fast bowler, the 41-year-old James Anderson. That this was the case was confirmed by the roar of approval that greeted the news that England had won the toss and would field.
Of course the formalities had to be got through first, the anthems and all the rest of it. And this was no ordinary first day. Appropriate tribute had to be paid to England’s leading fast bowler. In a move which must have reduced even the most beetroot-coloured and privileged MCC members to tears the five-minute bell was rung by Anderson’s wife and daughters.
The great man himself seemed understandably affected: his first over went for an uncharacteristically generous nine. He was soon back to his typically miserly self. West Indies actually made a reasonably solid start. Captain Kraigg Braithwaite looked his usual reliable self, and the debutant Mykile Louis looked very good. (He is the second Test cricketer to have come from St Kitts – Joey Benjamin, the late England fast bowler, was the first.)
Everything altered with the first bowling change, when another debutant, Gus Atkinson, replaced Anderson. Braithwaite immediately seemed to relax, and attempting an unusually expansive drive to Atkinson’s second ball, he played on. This was a big blow as Braithwaite is easily the most experienced player in the top five. Atkinson had another wicket in his second over: after three overs he had two for none.
After lunch, by which time there had been some re-building, despite the loss of Louis, to a brilliant catch by Harry Brook off the bowling of a reassuringly sprightly Ben Stokes, things got even better for Atkinson. His ninth over was a triple-wicket maiden, including West Indies’ most experienced player, the all-rounder and former captain, Jason Holder, for a first-ball duck. He finished with seven for 45; Anderson’s best Test figures were seven for 42, also against West Indies, also at Lord’s, in 2017. He ended up with one here.
I had expected Matthew Potts to play in this match, but I can see why Atkinson was preferred. To put it simply, he is faster. He is not absolutely express but he is faster than the rest of the England attack. I do not know what his fitness record is – maybe he is injured as often as the others – but his run up and action look smooth and easy.
He was lucky, it has to be said, in the opposition. West Indies, frankly, had a dismal day. True, they lost the toss, but to be bowled our for 121 and to have conceded a lead of 64 by the close is woeful. You get the feeling that if Stokes were to declare in the morning the game would be over in two days.
The distinguished Trinidadian commentator Fazeer Mohammed, maintains that there is not a level playing field because West Indies only play two or three-match series and there is no opportunity to learn and improve. One knows what he means. The resources and opportunities available to the Big Three are embarrassingly far in excess of those available to say, West Indies and Sri Lanka – who have never played a five-Test series in their history. But be careful what you wish for. One fears that three Tests will be more than enough for everybody in this series.
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