Legendary Australian spinner Nathan Lyon said that it is surprising that England pace veteran James Anderson is retiring from the game, calling him the “best ever” fast bowler to have played the sport. Ahead of his final international match on July 10 against West Indies, England and Lancashire pacer James Anderson sent out warning signs as he was at his lethal best taking a seven-wicket-haul against Nottinghamshire on Tuesday, forcing a follow on.

Speaking on the Lancashire Cricket Website after Anderson’s spell, Lyon said, “He (Anderson) showed his class. No disrespect to the other bowlers in this game but you can see the class of Jimmy and the extra zip he gets off the wicket. I have said this before, I am very much surprised that England have tapped him on the shoulder. He is class, he is world-class. He’s probably the best to ever play the game as a fast bowler and his skillset, especially in England, is remarkable.”

He also said that during the game, it was weird to encourage Anderson, his arch-rival in international cricket during the County Championship as a teammate.

“I have obviously seen it on the other side. We had a little moment when we said it feels a bit sick for me to say “Come on Jimmy” and him saying “nice Garry”. That was a bit different but it is the beauty of county cricket I guess and it is pretty special to play with arguably the greatest bowler to ever play the game,” he said.

During the County Championship Division One game, Nottinghamshire was aiming to overcome a massive 353 scored by Lancashire in the first innings thanks to a fine knock of 187 by skipper Keaton Jennings in 259 balls, with 27 fours and four sixes.

But Anderson ran riot through the Nottinghamshire batting line-up, dismissing six of the team’s top seven batters for single-digit scores, sinking them to 40/6. Ben Slater did score a fighting 64 in 126 balls, with nine fours, but a showcase of pure class and authority by the 41-year-old legend bundled out Nottinghamshire for just 126 runs in 44.4 overs, giving Lancashire a 227-run lead.

Anderson ended with figures of 7/35 in 16 overs, with three of them maiden. His economy rate was 2.18.

In their second innings at the day three end, Nottinghamshire was 84/2, with Will Young and Joe Clarke (11* each) unbeaten. They trailed by 143 runs.

Notably, this was Anderson’s first first-class game since the fifth Test against India in the subcontinent conditions in March this year.

In 187 Tests, Anderson has taken 700 wickets at an average of 26.52, with the best bowling figures of 7/42. He is the third-most successful Test bowler of all time and statistically, longevity-wise, the best fast bowler to have played the sport. He has also taken 269 wickets in 194 ODIs for England and 18 wickets in 19 T20Is.

England men’s managing director, Rob Key, confirmed that the ageless pacer James Anderson will continue to be a part of their set-up by taking up the mentor’s role following his retirement from international cricket.

After his announcement, all eyes are on The Lord’s Test, which will be played on July 10. It will mark the one final time that he would don the Test colours and appear on the field.

But Key confirmed that it won’t be the last that fans would see of Anderson as he will stay with the squad for the rest of the summer as a mentor.

“Jimmy will continue in our set-up, and he will help as a bit more of a mentor. We’re trying to set up an elite coach development programme, which Jimmy wants to do, but we will have a look at the end of the summer,” Key said, as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.

“It might be something that he does not enjoy, or it might be something that he absolutely loves. But he has got so much to offer English cricket, so we do not want to see that go. But it is going to be quite an occasion with him bowing out at Lord’s,” he added.

The seasoned pacer has dominated red-ball cricket with his mastery in swing as well as reverse swing. He made his debut in the Test format against Zimbabwe at The Lord’s, and he will bid farewell to fans as a player at the same venue.

Veteran Australian cricket team spinner Nathan Lyon ignored India while choosing the finalists for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024 and said that he expects a summit clash between Australia and Pakistan. In a recent video, Lyon was asked to predict the two sides who may end up playing each other in the final of the competition and he said that his first choice is obviously Australia. He admitted that he was biased in the answer and added that he thinks Australia will face Pakistan. He picked Pakistan because he believes their spinners will have a good show in the tournament and he even namedropped star batter Babar Azam.

“For the T20 finals team, Australia obviously because I’m quite biased towards them. I think it will be I’m going to go with Pakistan. In those conditions, quality spin bowlers, but also electric batters like Babar Azam,” said Lyon in a video shared by Prime Video Sports Australia.

Lyon further predicted that this year’s tournament may see a team getting the highest total in T20I history and also backed Australia T20I skipper Mitchell Marsh to have a brilliant tournament.

“I think early on in the tournament we may see the highest score in T20. I’m going to go, Mitchell Marsh, I think the power that he has with the bat but also the skill he has with the ball in hand as well. So, go well Mitch,” he added.

Following is the list of the T20 World Cup 2024 semi-final picks of experts:

Ambati Rayudu: India, England, New Zealand, South Africa

Brian Lara: India, England, West Indies, Afghanistan

Paul Collingwood: England, West Indies, Australia, India

Sunil Gavaskar: India, Australia, England, West Indies

Chris Morris: India, South Africa, Pakistan, Australia

Matthew Hayden: Australia, India, England, South Africa

Aaron Finch: India, Australia, England, West Indies

Mohammad Kaif: India, Pakistan, Australia, England

Tom Moody: Australia, India, South Africa, England

S Sreesanth: India, Pakistan, Australia, England

Australia defeated India in the World Test Championship final at The Oval in June 2023. India, who were eyeing their first ICC trophy in a decade, got edged past by the mighty Australians by 209 runs. However, the road victory was not easy one for Australia as star India batter Virat Kohli was standing in their way. Pat Cummins and co gave a target of 444, where India got reduced to 164/3 at Stumps on Day 4. On the final day of the match, India needed 280 with Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane standing unbeaten at the crease.

Despite Australia being on driver’s seat, it was not a one-sided contest as everyone had hopes from Kohli. However, the Aussie bowlers bounced back and bundled out India for 234 and denied them another ICC trophy.

Speaking on the third season of ‘The Test’, a popular cricket documentary series on Amazon Prime Video, some Australian cricketers opened up about the Day 5 of the WTC final.

Steve Smith: “If you look at people chasing the total, Virat Kohli is up there with the best, if not the best.”

Justin Langer: “He’s been a killer against Australia.”

Nathan Lyon: “He is super competitive and doesn’t give you an inch. No one comes close to him.”

Scott Boland: “Going into that last day, we still thought that if they got on a roll, Kohli could still pull off that chase.”

In the WTC final, Australia batter Travis Head scored 163 in the first innings and ended up winning the Player of the Match award. Apart from this, he also guided Australia to the ODI World Cup 2023 title with a century in the summit clash against India.

The performance that Head has delivered over the past few months, he believes that the seeds of it were sown early in 2023 when he came with the Test team, a hard-fought series that Australia lost 1-2.

“I think a lot of of that has come from the Test tour last year, spending time here and working on things and also being a bit older, understanding my game and its blueprint and how you want to go about it and being content and my family being around, all those things,” said Head.

(With PTI Inputs)

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