"Have seen him smile more today than I have done for the last 20 odd years"- Stuart Broad on James Anderson's emotions ahead of final day for England
Legendary England pacer Stuart Broad feels his former teammate James Anderson smiled more before and during his international finale than his two-decade career. The 41-year-old finished his stellar career on Day 3 of the first Test between England and the West Indies that the hosts won convincingly by an innings and 114 runs.
Anderson enjoyed an outstanding farewell outing, picking up four wickets in the match. Anderson also finished as the third all-time leading wicket-taker in Test history and first among pacers with 704 scalps.
Meanwhile, Broad, who retired after last year's home Ashes is fifth all-time with 604 Test wickets.
Speaking on Sky Sports ahead of Anderson's final day in international cricket, Broad summed up the champion pacer's emotions.
"I have seen him smile more today than I have done for the last 20 odd years. So I think this Test match. I spoke to him before the test and I said, Obviously, your bowling looks after itself. You just go and do your thing we saw last night. You bowl two really good balls, see him up, nipping down the slope what he's done for all these years," said Broad.
He added:
"But try and take those moments to look up and look and see what you mean to people and look at the pavilion and the unique feeling that Lords gives you when the full house is here to see you bowl and thrive off that energy."
Anderson and Broad formed the most successful Test bowling pair with 1039 wickets in partnership in 138 matches.
"There will be a lot of emotion there, for sure" - Stuart Broad
Stuart Broad admitted that emotions will be sky-high when James Anderson dons the England jersey one final time before the start of Day 3 at Lord's.
Anderson finished his career with 188 Tests, second all-time, and a bowling average of 26.45 with 32 five-wicket hauls.
"There will be a lot of emotion there, for sure. I think, especially when you see a lot of friends here, a lot of a lot of family and supporters that have been with you for a long period of time," said Broad.
He added:
"You know, there definitely will be that feeling of when he's walking into the changing room like this is the last time I'm going to do this when you put your boots on, this is the last time I'm going to do this in an England shirt and, you know, I think that's actually a really nice feeling. I think it's a It's a lovely feeling when you do put on that shirt and you just soak everything in."
Anderson also ended his illustrious career with an incredible 991 international wickets, including 438 Test scalps at home.
He was pivotal to England's two most memorable Test series wins in Australia in 2011 and India in 2012.