‘He bowled me one of the best balls’ - Brian Lara lauds James Anderson ahead of imminent retirement

Veteran England pacer James Anderson is all set to play his final international game. As England prepare for their Test series opener at the Lord’s Cricket Ground against the West Indies on Wednesday, July 10, the clash will be the final game of Anderson’s career. 

As Anderson prepares to retire, former legendary West Indies’ batter Brian Lara came forward to pay tribute to Anderson. Lara revealed that Anderson bowled one of the best deliveries that he had ever faced. 

It is worth noting that Anderson has 700 wickets to his name, and one of them came against Brian Lara. He took the wicket at The Oval in 2004, and Brian Lara came forward to hail Anderson for that delivery and his career. 

“He bowled me one of the best balls I have ever faced. He was the last English bowler to get me out. It was my last Test at the Oval against England. It was a little bit of an in-swinger that I shaped to hit through mid-on and it hit the pitch and straightened and it took my edge,” Lara said on BBC Breakfast.

England cricket pays tribute to James Anderson

Paying tribute to James Anderson, England Cricket took to X (formerly known as Twitter) and shared a montage of James Anderson. In the clip that has been going viral all over social media, there were several moments from Anderson’s career, highlighting his achievements and accolades that he has accumulated throughout his career. 

In a world where T20 cricket is on the rise, James Anderson recently came forward to reveal that Test cricket is what made him who he is today. He revealed the many lessons that the longest format has taught him.

"Test cricket is literally the reason that I am the person that I am, It has taught me so many lessons through the years, built my resilience to a lot of things. I think the fulfilment you get from putting in a shift in a day's cricket is different to anything else you can do in the game,” Anderson was quoted as saying by NDTV.