The Lord’s test was not a nail biter. England won by an innings, but it was bookmarked by the retirement of James Anderson. A lot has been said and written about his 20 year career. It does not seem that long ago that he was shaking hands with Beefy having passed 383. But 704 is quite some total. “Remember me as decent”, what a line.

I wasn’t sure that he would stand the test of time. JA’s action was always fluid but I couldn’t really understand how his accuracy could be maintained as his head seemed to fall away and he was not looking at the batsman’s stumps. Well, clearly is has not mattered a jot.

I listened to two good podcasts last night : Tailenders and TMS. Matchin on a sofa in Jimmy’s house – good stuff, especially on remodelling the action; Tuffers and Finn putting in ther tuppence worth. A new era. Just like the tennis hey?

Interesting to hear Jim say he’s looking forward to playing a bit of 5-a-side football on Monday nights. No squash Jim? I read that biography some 10 years ago. 😉 Go well!

The Caribbean in June?

What do you expect when the IPL shunts everything about?

I would have liked to see some of the action live on US soil and on the continent of South America but it wasn’t to be this time.

England were 68 runs adrift of India in the semis, which is just a lifetime away.

South Africa were just 7 runs short of India in the final. Close.