Jimmy Anderson recently explained that fate is what keeps him sane, a crutch that helps him cope with the vagaries of the game. “You have to try to think that way,” he said, “because cricket is a game where you can bowl http://www.authenticcapitalshop.com/authentic-9-dmitry-orlov-jersey.html out of your skin and get no wickets, and you can bowl a pile of rubbish and get five-for.”At 35, he has grown to be pretty phlegmatic about it all but even his faith in the kismet of cricket must have been tested on Thursday afternoon, which he, and everyone else at Lord’s, spent waiting for a wicket which never came. At stumps, Anderson had 499 Test wickets. He needs one more to become the first Englishman to take 500.

Anderson says he does not pay these records any too much mind, that he has hardly been thinking about the 500, and that, so long as England win this match, he won’t mind whether he gets there or not. At least, that is how he likes to tell it. When he finally broke Ian Botham’s record and became England’s leading Test wicket-taker in 2015, the first thing he said was that “I’m thankful I’ve now got there and people can stop talking about it”. It is as if the more he and everyone else dwells on the coming achievement, the harder the final few steps become. These landmarks are best kept in peripheral vision, else you lose your footing along the way.On Thursday morning, though, it was looming into view, so close now it cast a shadow over the day’s play. Jason Holder won the toss and, deceived by the morning’s sunshine, chose to bat first. By the time play began, grey clouds had closed in over the ground, so thick the floodlights were switched on before long. The conditions were perfect for Anderson to take those three wickets he needed. And he had Kraigg Brathwaite caught – no, dropped – at slip in his second over. It was only a temporary setback. Brathwaite went in Anderson’s sixth over, caught behind by Jonny Bairstow.

A rain shower came soon http://www.authenticcapitalshop.com/authentic-92-evgeny-kuznetsov-jersey.html after that wicket fell. So Anderson had a break, then, refreshed, continued his spell. He spent eight balls torturing poor Kyle Hope, hopelessly exposed at No3. Hope was lunging forward at the ball like he had missed a step climbing stairs, and eventually got out waving his bat at the ball like he was flapping a tea towel at a passing wasp. He was caught behind by Bairstow, who dived across in front of Cook to do it. Anderson’s figures were now 7-2-10-2, wickets No498 and 499 taken in 12 balls, for no runs at all.

Anderson’s spell stretched on beyond, too. He was bowling to Shai Hope now. Hope, much the best of the West Indies batsmen in this series, was able to thread a couple of drives away through cover for four but he was beaten http://www.officiallaramsauthentic.com/Nolan-Cromwell-Jersey.html like a drum by the odd delivery. One wicked one in particular spat like a leg break from middle stump past the outside edge. Anderson had bowled 12 overs and taken two for 27 when Joe Root called an end to his opening spell.By the time Anderson came back, West Indies had only three wickets left, since Ben Stokes and Toby Roland-Jones had gutted their middle order. Of course Anderson needed only one of them. The crowd came alive as he came on and the atmosphere built in anticipation of the coming moment. The fans seemed almost to be holding their breath as he began his runup, ready to unleash it in a roar of celebration. Instead it came out in sighs, “ohs” of “wasn’t that close” and “ahs” of “how did he miss that?” as Anderson had Holder groping at a series of away-swingers.

Holder escaped to the other end, and Devendra Bishoo came on strike. West Indies have been using Bishoo as a nightwatchman, so he is not a bad batsman but the masterclass Anderson put on was wasted on him. Bowling from ar ound the wicket, he delivered a string of pearly away-swingers, most of which pitched on middle-and-off then fizzed past the outside edge of Bishoo’s dangling bat. In among them, Anderson threw in a couple of in-swingers too, which looked to be flying by wide till the ball came back late and shaved Bishoo’s off stump.It was rather like watching a http://www.officiallaramsauthentic.com/Kurt-Warner-Jersey.html great magician perform his most mind‑boggling tricks for a toddler’s birthday party. Anderson did get a wicket, in the end, with a catch off Stokes. He dived full-length to his left at third slip after Holder edged behind. That brought Shannon Gabriel to the middle, and he, inevitably, was bowled by Stokes’s first delivery, yahoo-ing his bat at the ball. 

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