NO BAWL

'My mind is only on winning ...that's what I'm trying to focus on to stop myself crying'

- MIKE WALTERS

JIMMY ANDERSON'S first over in Test cricket went for 17 runs but it has taken him another 21 years to "make peace" with the final curtain coming down.

Eight Prime Ministers ago, Anderson was a young pup charging in from the Pavilion End at Lord's and Zimbabwe opener Dion Ebrahim tucked into the assortment of overpitched gifts.

But the Burnley Boomerang recovered to take Mark Vermeulen in his third over.

Another 699 Test wickets have followed and there will not be a dry eye in the house when Anderson takes his encore against West Indies in the first Test at the Home of Cricket starting tomorrow.

Approaching his 42nd birthday this month, it seems odd that England are pensioning off a supreme technician who took 7-35 for Lancashire against Nottinghamshire last week in the County Championship.