Debutant had an unsettling start but showed on the pitch that he has an authority that belies his inexperience
Lord’s doesn’t have a James Anderson End; you’ll find that a couple of hundred miles north at Old Trafford. But if it did, it would be the one Ollie Robinson was bowling from first thing on Sunday morning. Anderson has preferred the Pavilion End right through his 18-year Test career, and has likely got through more work from it than any other fast bowler ever has from any single end in the history of Test cricket. He had his back to it when he bowled here for the first time, against Zimbabwe in 2003, and more often than not it has been that way since, through 23 more Tests, another 5,699 deliveries, and 105 wickets.
On Sunday, though, Anderson wasn’t on at that end, or the other, but was fielding at mid-on. It was an odd place for him. The clouds were out, the air was damp and sticky, so it felt a good morning for his sort of bowling.
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