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James Anderson takes historic 600th Test wicket as England wrap up 1-0 series victory

Nick Hoult
·24-min read
England's James Anderson (right) celebrates the wicket of Pakistan's Azhar Ali, and his 600th wicket in total during day five of the third Test match at the Ageas Bowl, Southampton - PA
England's James Anderson (right) celebrates the wicket of Pakistan's Azhar Ali, and his 600th wicket in total during day five of the third Test match at the Ageas Bowl, Southampton - PA

Finally James Anderson cracked a smile, held up the match ball to the smattering of people in the ground and breathed a long sigh of relief.

The king of the Dukes ball will surely be a Sir not too long from now for services to the art of pitching on offstump, swinging the ball both ways with minute sleight of hand and doing it all with an air grumpiness that comes with bowling more than 5,600 overs in Test cricket.

His 600th wicket provided a landmark moment on the final day of a Test summer like no other. It gave cricket followers a chance to forget about life in a global pandemic and instead revel in the joy of a great swing bowler making history.

It was 4.36pm, the Ageas Bowl floodlights had just flickered into life and the day’s play was 11 minutes old when Azhar Ali edged to Joe Root at first slip.

Root wrung his hands afterwards such was the pace the ball flew at him at head height, proving Anderson still has plenty of nip. Had Root dropped it, Anderson would probably have wrung his neck.

After four drops in 37 balls across two days, Anderson had been angry with the world as the weight of the 600 wicket milestone took its toll. “Luckily he is an upbeat kind of guy,” deadpanned Jos Buttler, one of the guilty four.

Anderson feared the worst when Storm Francis lashed the Ageas Bowl from the early hours until 11am, topping up an already high water table. A five-hour clean-up operation saved the final day’s play and prevented Anderson sweating on 599 wickets over the winter months.

He needed just 14 deliveries when play started at 4.15pm to become the first fast bowler to 600. Now overhauling Anil Kumble, with 619 wickets, is next on the list which would take Anderson to third on the all-time wickets chart behind Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan. There is the matter of 1,000 first-class wickets too. He is on 975, and he could be the last to reach four figures given the Twenty20-dominated world we live in.

There was not enough time to rescue a result from this match with the players shaking hands at 6.04pm; England eager to be freed from the biobubble and see families they have been away from for all but four days since June 23.

A 1-0 series win was England’s first for a decade over Pakistan but with two Tests ending as rain-affected draws, the weather sucked the life out of the series as a contest.

Thankfully, Anderson’s achievement gave a sense of purpose other than filling a couple of hours of airtime.

His first two overs were probing as he found his rhythm early, bowling with a strong wind up his back.

It summed up this summer. Jofra Archer was given the hotel end, running into a strong breeze, deferring to Anderson and continuing a theme that could have repercussions in Australia next year.

But it was a day about one thing only and with the second ball of his third over, Anderson found some extra lift outside offstump that surprised Azhar who poked at it and an edge flew quickly to Root, who took a sharp reaction catch.

Joe Root claims the all-important catch - AP
Joe Root claims the all-important catch - AP

Anderson has dismissed Azhar nine times now, the same amount as David Warner, Michael Clarke and Sachin Tendulkar. More than 50 per cent of his wickets have been top-four batsmen, taking down the best players in the opposition with the new ball, and reversing the old. Only Ian Botham and Stuart Broad have taken more wickets in total than Anderson since turning 30 (334) and it was his longevity that pundits lined up to praise.

The wicket came from Anderson’s 33,717th ball in Test cricket, and he took just seven more than Muralitharan who was the quickest to 600. His slip fielders owe Anderson that minor record.

Anderson’s reaction was the most animated he has been for weeks, pointing to the sky and hugging Root, one of eight Test captains he has played under.

His superb fitness has held up under the pressure of playing five Tests in six weeks but this has not been a vintage summer. The ban on saliva has made a difference and it took seven wickets in this match to lift his summer’s work to 16 at 25.50; respectable, but his lowest at home since 2007. He was cross in Manchester, angry at his performance in the first Test of this series and wounded by suggestions he was coming to the end.

He worked on a technical issue with his follow-through, his hunger for work still strong, and was rewarded with his moment in Southampton.

Once Anderson’s achievement was out the way, the rest of the day meandered to a draw. Root snatched a wicket, Babar Azam for a neat half-century, but after 19 balls with the second new ball, Root offered his hand to the batsmen and the Test summer was over.

England have won both series, Zak Crawley has announced himself in this game as a force for the future and apart from some dodgy weather, there has been some intriguing Test cricket over the last month and a half. England owe West Indies and Pakistan a debt of gratitude, and the biobubble has worked, saving English cricket from bankruptcy.

Anderson melts into the background now as white-ball cricket against Pakistan and Australia rounds off the summer. There is no Test cricket in the diary and in this uncertain world who knows what will happen. One thing is definite though, Anderson wants to be there when it restarts. “I absolutely love it, there is no better feeling than pulling the boots on and going out there.” The Anderson era is not over yet.

05:08 PM

James Anderson

Leads the team off, carrying a stump and the entire Pakistan touring party line up to congratulate him and his team-mates.

England win the series 1-0. 

05:06 PM

OVER 83.1: PAK 187/4 (Babar Azam 63* Fawad Alam 0*)

We're into the last hour so the umpires give the signal that we have 15 overs left in the game. After one delivery England approach Pakistan and end the game as a draw. 

05:03 PM

OVER 83: PAK 187/4 (Babar Azam 63* Fawad Alam 0*)

Two terrific strokes from Babar off a tiring Anderson go for successive fours, the first glanced through square, the second nailed through the covers as Anderson serves up a rare pie. He whips the next off his pads, exposing Fawad to three deliveries, two of which he defends but is beaten by the last that jags away. Fawad, who went 11 years between Tests, needs a red-inker to have a chance of prolonging this late international career resurrection. 

04:57 PM

OVER 82: PAK 178/4 (Babar Azam 54* Fawad Alam 0*)

Broad, as ever, shares the new ball and beats Babar with a jaffa first up that rips past the outside edge of his forward defensive. Broad appeals for leg-before for one that angles across the right-hander but it clipped the outside of his front pad as the batsman went for the tickle and was bowled from very wide on the crease. Two leg-byes and England don't bother with a review. The next ball is also angled across and Babar does tickle this one for a single> Broad comes round the wicket to Fawad, targeting the pads but he gets out of the way and lets it go down the legside .  

04:52 PM

OVER 81: PAK 175/4 (Babar Azam 53* Fawad Alam 0*)

Some swing for Anderson with the new pill. Babar defends and leaves then whips three through midwicket off his toes. Lovely shot. Gives Anderson a chance against Fawad and his two-eyed stance. He lets one go past then defends the last nicely. As if by magic, the clouds reappear above the Bowl. 

04:48 PM

OVER 80: PAK 172/4 (Babar Azam 50* Fawad Alam 0*)

Felt like England were drifting along, desperate to leave the bubble but then Root bags Shafiq at bat-pad and game on again. New ball available and 18 overs left. Anderson takes the new ball. 

04:44 PM

Wicket!!

Shafiq c sub b Root 21  Inside edge when propping forward to Bracey at short leg who scoops his hands under a low chance. FOW 172/4

04:43 PM

OVER 79: PAK 169/3 (Babar Azam 49* Asad Shafiq 19*)

A couple of singles from Bess's 21st over. Root has seen enough of Sibley and turns down Archer's offer to bowl left-arm spin and will bring himself back on. 

04:41 PM

OVER 78: PAK 167/3 (Babar Azam 48* Asad Shafiq 19*)

Good Lord. I'm a better bowler than Sibley and I'm at least twice his age and have a frozen shoulder. This is utter filth. Half-trackers, two no-balls, the ball almost bouncing twice a couple of times. So poor are his leg-breaks that he reverts to seam up halfway through. Shafiq slaps one of the half-trackers for two, drives a single and Babar stops laughing long enough to drive two through mid-on.  A historic double - Sibley's first and last over in Test cricket. At least it should be. 

04:36 PM

OVER 77: PAK 161/3 (Babar Azam 48* Asad Shafiq 15*)

Short ball from Bess sits up and begs to be hit so Babar obliges, cutting it in front of square for four. Next ball is pitched up so Babar punches it through cover for two. Babar likes to dance and advances on Bess's final ball, absolutely belting it over the bolwer's head for four. Ten off the over. Bess has 20-4-52-0 in this innings. 

Root throws the ball to Sibley who, we hear, is a leg-spinner. 

04:32 PM

OVER 76: PAK 151/3 (Babar Azam 38* Asad Shafiq 15*)

Root is going round the clock with his arm from noon to 3pm. The slingiest of them all is cut witheringly by Babar for four. The one at 1pm is whipped through midwicket for a single. 

04:31 PM

OVER 75: PAK 146/3 (Babar Azam 33* Asad Shafiq 15*)

Maiden for Bess to Shafiq. Tidy without being threatening. 

 

04:28 PM

OVER 74: PAK 146/3 (Babar Azam 33* Asad Shafiq 15*)

Root tries one of his round-arm variations to Babar a couple of times. He defends the first bit cuts the other one through point for two. Sir Andrew Strauss thinks England need a bit more intensity and intent, not just wasting time until the new ball is due. 

04:26 PM

OVER 73: PAK 144/3 (Babar Azam 31* Asad Shafiq 15*)

Shafiq runs two off an open face down to third man but Bess then ties him up with more dip and flight for five dot balls.  

 

04:23 PM

OVER 72: PAK 142/3 (Babar Azam 31* Asad Shafiq 13*)

Root comes on to hurtle through a few overs to get to the new ball. He runs back to his mark after each delivery - at lest until Babar chassés on to the dance floor and chips an on-drive high and handsome for four. 

04:21 PM

OVER 71: PAK 137/3 (Babar Azam 27* Asad Shafiq 12*)

Bess has work to do to confirm a place on the winter tours whenever and wherever they may be. Shafiq nurdles a single. Jack Leach deserves another chance soon. And a leg-spinner for Australia? Adil? Parkinson? (The) Crane(s are back)?

04:15 PM

OVER 70: PAK 136/3 (Babar Azam 27* Asad Shafiq 11*)

Asad Shafiq plays tip and run to cover for a single and the umpires call on the twelfthers for drinks. 

04:11 PM

OVER 69: PAK 135/3 (Babar Azam 27* Asad Shafiq 10*)

Babar drops to one knee to complete a glorious cover drive for four off Bess. The spinner tries to adjust from overpitching and goes too far, dropping an inch or two short and Babar goes on to the back foot to chop a cut for a single through point, Shafiq uses his feet to on-drive Bess for a single and pinch the strike. 

04:06 PM

OVER 68: PAK 128/3 (Babar Azam 22* Asad Shafiq 8*)

Double change - enter Stuart Broad who was limping in the field earlier but has presumably loosened somewhat. Broad's pace is understandably down but his length and line are exemplary for five balls. Babar tucks two through square leg from the one that wasn't. 

04:01 PM

OVER 67: PAK 126/3 (Babar Azam 20* Asad Shafiq 8*)

Bowling change - Bess replaces Archer. Babar cuts one that didn't bounce enough for that shot and bottom edged it between slip and keeper for four. Poor Bess. Babar shows his class with another routine legside flick, twisting his wrists as if opening a throttle. 

03:58 PM

OVER 66: PAK 121/3 (Babar Azam 15* Asad Shafiq 8*)

A single apiece to point. Shafiq plays and misses at one that would normally elicit an Anderson scowl. Not today.

Here's a better picture of Anderson's joy:

Anderson - Alastair Grant/Pool via REUTERS

 

03:54 PM

OVER 65: PAK 119/3 (Babar Azam 14* Asad Shafiq 7*)

Thick edge from Babar as Archer is given a more orthodox field, running it through gully for two. Better line and length from Archer, not so much powder-puff and well-signalled 'enforcement'. Some movement too with his fuller length.   

 

03:50 PM

OVER 64: PAK 117/3 (Babar Azam 12* Asad Shafiq 7*)

Babar uses the angle when Anderson strays on to his pads to whip a single off his pads. Anderson tries to york Shafiq but he drops his bat on to it sharply and chisels it out for two to deep backward square. After that radiant smile, Anderson has his game face back on. The Sky team is making the rafters ring with praise for him. He deserves nothing less. Shafiq again uses the angle to work two more off his legs. 

03:46 PM

OVER 63: PAK 112/3 (Babar Azam 11* Asad Shafiq 3*)

Archer continues, this time to Shafiq who defends with a straight bat and judicious leaves. Third maiden for Archer in this spell, 

03:43 PM

Anderson's historic wicket

 

03:42 PM

OVER 62: PAK 112/3 (Babar Azam 11* Asad Shafiq 3*)

England's record wicket-taker has taken his 600th Test wicket in his 18th summer as a Test cricketer. Fantastic delivery, Azhar was stunned by the bounce and the ball flew off the shoulder as he tried to steer it through gully. Root grabbed it in front of his face. Asad Shafiq squeezes a thick edge down to third man for three. 

03:37 PM

Wicket!! 600 up!

Azhar c Root b Anderson 31  Brilliant - he's done it. Extra bounce - it kicked up and surprised Azhar who nicked off high to the solitary slip. FOW 109/3

03:37 PM

OVER 61: PAK 109/2 (Azhar Ali 31* Babar Azam 11*)

Archer has a first dart at Babar and begins round the wicket, targeting his ribs with short leg in a bit closer. He defends one off his hip, ducks a couple then plays another back-foot drive, this one through the onside. Didn't middle it but it still earns him three past mid-on. Root posts a leg gully for Azhar who bypasses him by flicking a single finer off his thigh pad down to fine leg. 

03:33 PM

OVER 60: PAK 105/2 (Azhar Ali 30* Babar Azam 8*)

Babar defends Anderson without breaking much sweat then rocks on to his back foot to thump a drive through cover for three. The rain robbed him of the boundary as the outfield is as slow as refrigerated molasses. 

03:29 PM

OVER 59: PAK 102/2 (Azhar Ali 30* Babar Azam 5*)

Rubbish from Archer - admittedly in horrible conditions for a pedigree quick. England are making a workhorse out of a thoroughbred. Azhar defends a straight one, ducks three loopy bouncers and sways out of the way of another. These two are fantastic batsmen - why would 85mph bouncers on a dead pitch worry them? Azhar takes on the pull when Archer slants one across the right-hander from round the wicket but bottom edges it into his ribs. He gives them a rub then resumes. Another maiden unworthy of the honour. 

03:24 PM

OVER 58: PAK 102/2 (Azhar Ali 30* Babar Azam 5*)

Babar plays a wristy Ranji leg-glance to flick a single behind square. Anderson has a mid-off and mid-on about parallel with the non-striker and a slip. Old ball, dead pitch field. Last night's reverse has been killed by the moisture but there is a touch of movement for Anderson. Azhar solidly defends three then opens the face to defend to gully. No fielder there so they run a single. 

03:20 PM

OVER 57: PAK 100/2 (Azhar Ali 29* Babar Azam 4*)

Jofra Archer will open the bowling, round the wicket to Azhar. He has a field set for chin music - no slips, a gully, deep fine leg, deep backward square, forward short square and is running into a strong breeze. No bounce even though he's banging it in and Azhar just lets two trickle harmlessly by and defends two more. Archer comes back over but sticks to the half-track length and Azhar ducks the tame bouncer. He's having trouble with his run-up in this wind. "Will this wind be so mighty as to lay low the mountains of the Earth?" Er ... no but it has neutered Jofra. Maiden but not a very virtuous one. 

Anderson will have the wind at his back. 

03:13 PM

The players are out

The hover cover is departing. Calisthenics have ceased and Jimmy Anderson is taking a seat after hurling a medicine ball around for a few minutes. Five hours and 15 minutes after the scheduled start, we are about to start.  

02:57 PM

Pails of sawdust

Are being strewn. If it stays fair we could have 42 overs' play to come this evening. England need eight wickets to win the series 2-0 and climb above Australia in the World Test Championship. 

02:48 PM

Further inspection at 4pm

With the intention if it continues to improve, particularly the area in front of groundsman sheds, to resume at 4.15pm. 

02:42 PM

As we await the results of the latest inspection

Here's a statistical treat:

 

02:09 PM

A further inspection at 3.35pm

Kicking the can has become a national pastime. 

02:04 PM

Inspection underway

The umpires are stamping and pushing their feet down on the bowler's run-ups. It doesn't look like there is water coming to the surface. Soft rather than the previous squelchy. The square is fine. 

01:52 PM

Ten minutes before the inspection

The covers are off and there's an orangey-yellow thing breaking through these oyster skies. 

12:59 PM

One inspection begets another

The umpires will have another look at 3pm. 

12:41 PM

The inspection is underway

The covers are still on the square and the soppers are concentrating on the outfield, particularly the run-ups. 

12:02 PM

Uh, oh!

It's raining again. 

10:42 AM

Pitch inspection at 1.40pm

Presuming the rain does not return. Stand down for two hours and we'll report back then with any updates. 

10:28 AM

It has stopped raining at the Ageas Bowl

Rob Key has walked on to the square and while there are puddles on the run-up areas, the covers have done their job. Plenty of water on the outfield to sop up but good prospects of play in a few hours if the rain stays away. 

10:20 AM

Interesting piece from Tim Wigmore here

No chance to shine:  Brilliance of Anderson and Broad in English conditions has come at a cost: denying rest of the bowling attack a chance to develop

10:00 AM

News from the ground

Well, from TMS to be precise. It will take between four to five hours to mop up the outfield for it to be sufficiently fit for play once the rain stops. Looks like a 5pm start, then!

09:48 AM

Sir Geoffrey Boycott's All-time England Test XI

Lies within his piece from this morning in praise of Jimmy Anderson which puts his career in historical context. What's yours? I can only honestly do those that I've seen in my half-century on the planet: Gooch, Boycott, Gower, Pietersen, Stokes, Botham, Flintoff, Knott, Swann, Underwood, Anderson. Bit all-rounder heavy ...

09:36 AM

Torrential rain overnight

And the outfield, according to Sky's Ian Ward, "is a bog". Without sunshine there's only so much mopping up can achieve. My 2pm start optimism looks wildly cock-eyed. Anyway ... hope springs and all that.

Meanwhile ... what were you doing a year ago today? Ben Stokes was making history. Here's Scyld Berry on that monumental knock:

It might not have been the greatest Test match, because there have been 2357 of them, but Ben Stokes’s match-winning and series-saving 135 was unequivocally the finest ever played for England because of the immensity of the pressure he was under.

Two of the hitherto finest innings for England were played at Headingley - Graham Gooch’s 154  against West Indies in 1991 and Ian Botham’s 149 - but neither faced such a fourth-innings crisis as Stokes did, with England 1-0 down in the Ashes and unable to regain the urn if they lost, and only Jack Leach to help him score the last 73 runs to win.

Stokes had scored only 61 at this stage, when England had nine wickets down. He had been as dormant as a volcano, because Australia’s bowling had been so good: after 66 balls he had scored two runs. But therein lies the secret of all of Stokes’s miraculous innings: he plays himself in before attempting the impossible, in this case, England’s highest ever successful run-chase (332 the previous record), and their highest match-winning stand for the tenth wicket by far.

Three Yorkshire elements had played a vital part in softening up Australia ahead of Stokes’s assault. One was Joe Root who had blocked and blocked on Saturday afternoon to put lead in the boots of Australia’s four bowlers, forcing their quicks into fifth and sixth spells. Root faced 322 balls for his 77 - and, thereby, teed up the tired Josh Hazlewood for Stokes to smash for 19 in one over.

The second local element was Jonny Bairstow, who helped Stokes by upping the tempo when Australia took the second new ball. Stokes had been stuck - England could not score a run for the first 25 minutes of day four - but Bairstow sensed the moment to counterattack, and pressurised James Pattinson in particular. Four overs suddenly cost 36. One of Pattinson’s cost 13, and even though only four of them came off Bairstow’s bat, the extras - like five wides - betrayed Australia’s first anxieties.

The third Yorkshire component was the crowd, who did the same unnerving job on the Australian fielders which the Hollies stand at Edgbaston usually does, though not in this series when England went 1-0 down. They cheered Root and Bairstow parochially, then roared on Stokes to power England towards the line.

Before the volcano exploded, England had to undergo their first run-out of this series when Stokes started for a single then sent Jos Buttler back, too late, as Buttler was beaten by Travis Head’s dive and underarm direct hit. There was to be no repeat of their match-tieing stand in the World Cup final. It was Stokes’s fault, and seemed to make him dig ever deeper.

Jofra Archer chipped in with a couple of slogs, if not slog-sweeps, against Nathan Lyon before being caught at deep square. Those runs helped because Stokes, as a lefthander, had been shackled by Lyon ripping his offbreaks out of the rough. It was going to be high risk to launch against Lyon, and Stokes bided his time until Leach was his final partner, and had to.

Stuart Broad is built like Graham Dilley but could not replicate the assistance which Dilley had given to Botham in 1981, when his 149 gave Australia something - too much - to chase. So Leach strode to the wicket, for the ultimate test of nerve and character, to which he responded perfectly.

Stokes, finally, launched his hail of sixes like molten lava. He had pulled Pat Cummins into the Western Terrace during his 61-run reconnaissance but now every bowler was taken down. He smote Lyon straight for six - high risk perforce - to bring up England’s 300, and in the same over played his most amazing stroke, a reverse-sweep for six, the ball warmly received on the Western Terrace.

Ben Stokes of England walks from the ground on 135 not out after winning the test match for England during day four of the 3rd Specsavers Ashes Test match between England and Australia at Headingley on August 25, 2019 in Leeds, England - Getty Images Europe

His second most astonishing stroke was the scoop for six, against Cummins no less, bringing England’s target down to 40. Next it was Hazlewood’s turn to be thrashed for that 19 off an over, when Stokes pulled a four and swept a six - and this was not just brawn and talent and a superman’s motivation, but brain too, because he was targeting the Western Terrace as the shorter of the two square boundaries.

Hazlewood, the hitherto unsloggable Hazlewood, was not going to be released yet from his torment - that of a cricketer knowing he is losing the game for his side. After four and six off his first two balls, Stokes pulled another six - into the Western Terrace of course. England wanted - desired, craved, yearned for - 18 to win.

During this epic onslaught Stokes had three pieces of luck. First, no tea break intervened to disrupt his flow, as nine wickets were down and the interval delayed. Second, he was dropped. Third, Australia wasted a review wantonly, or desperately, so they had none left, when they would have won by one run.

Lyon conceded only a single to Stokes off five balls, while Leach brought the house down by blocking the last. Cummins again, with 17 to win, and here the second piece of luck, when Marcus Harris ran in from third man but could not hold on. Stokes chastened? He pulled the next ball for four, and straight-drove the next for four more in his most regal stroke. Eight to win after another single off Cummins, and two blocks by Leach which Stokes, on his knees at the non-striker’s end, could barely watch.

Australia were caught in the headlights, as they were more than once in 1981, mesmerised by the force which is an allrounder whose time has come; the element of inspiration has not featured in their methodical game-plans. Paine tried nothing new, so Stokes launched Lyon again and watched - on his haunches - as the ball cleared Marnus Labuschagne at long-off: had Labuschagne caught it, he, not Stokes, must have been player of the match. A single to tie, which Stokes tried to run after reverse-sweeping - and, amid tumult, Leach would have been run out when sent back if Lyon had not fumbled the throw.

James Anderson had been dismissed by the second last ball of the Sri Lanka Test here. Not Leach who steadfastly pushed a single to level the scores. Without further ado Stokes smote through the covers to bring fielders to their knees, and spectators to their feet, achieving what had been impossible, and levelling this series.

Leach’s single, in what was the final over, was his crucial contribution to the stand of 76, and Stokes’s 74. The third piece of luck was Paine wasting his last review on Leach who was nowhere near LBW to Cummins. When England needed two to win, it transpired that Stokes would have been given out on review when he missed a sweep at Lyon. Fate, and Joel Wilson, were understandably on Stokes’s side.

Idle to compare this climax with that of the World Cup final: that was white ball and this was red. Suffice they were both unique moments in a sport which seems ever more capable of epic finishes. The fourth Test begins at Old Trafford on Wednesday week, and Stokes is already the equal of Botham in 1981, or Andrew Flintoff in 2005, and perhaps with more to come.

09:24 AM

Good morning

Stuart Broad's ambition after putting his feet up for the best part of two days to enjoy that special fifth-wicket stand between Zak Crawley and Jos Buttler was to wake up in his won bed this morning. Weeks of quarantine even in relatively luxurious digs will do that. Sadly, for him, he has had to postpone his return to Nottingham for 24 hours but if the apocalyptic weather forecast from last night proves not to be as dismal as expected - and the signs for a brighter afternoon are decidedly more positive now - it will not prove too much of a disappointment.

Pakistan will resume at some point on 100 for two with their two best batsman - Azhar and Babar at the crease. They are 210 runs behind and need to survive however much play is possible to complete the series with a 1-0 defeat, which, given the circumstances of their midsummer arrival, isolation, lack of practice, English conditions, rain and a swinging ball, is not too shabby at all.

It would be a treat to see a proper Babar innings like the ones at Lord's on the last tour or Brisbane and Adelaide nine months ago but the focus will all be on Jimmy Anderson today in his 18th summer as a Test cricketer and one short of becoming the first pace bowler to take 600 Test wickets.

Chris Silverwood, England's head coach, was full of praise for his strike bowlers last night. “He’s an inspiration, isn’t he? Six hundred Test wickets. Wow! To have two of them in there [Anderson and Stuart Broad] above 500 - it’s an amazing effort. He's worked so hard to do it and he's brilliant around the place.

"He’s constantly helping the other bowlers. It would be brilliant to see him get over the line tomorrow. It’s superb to have one of the best in the world sat in your dressing room, playing for your country - it is absolutely amazing.” Indeed it is.

On to the forecast - the Met Office predicts the deluge will ease after 12 noon and, given it will likely take 90 minutes at best to mop up, if the rain holds off we might see some play around 2pm? We will keep you updated as best we can with the prospects of play throughout the delay.  

Weather forecast for Southampton - Met Office