James Anderson has been the spearhead of the English bowling attack in Test cricket for close to two decades now. His records, especially, on home soil are staggering. Out of his 686 Test wickets, 430 have come in England. Even at the age of 40, Anderson retains the ability to give batters sleepless nights.

Before Australia took on England in the first Ashes Test in Birmingham, their primary focus would have been to counter the 'Bazball' model of their opponents. However, the Aussie batters would have also spent their time with their batting coach and video analyst, trying to get their game plan ready against old foe, Anderson. The right-arm seamer came into the series after having a fine outing in New Zealand, where he picked ten wickets in two Tests.

However, Anderson failed to live up to his potential at Edgbaston, picking just a solitary wicket in the first innings of Alex Carey, and going wicketless in the second innings. It was also shocking not to see him take the second new ball in Australia's second innings as Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson started proceedings. He admitted that he didn't have a good game but also noted that the pitch had nothing much to offer for the pacers.

"It’s a long series and hopefully I can contribute at some point, but if all the pitches are like that I’m done in the Ashes series.," he wrote in the Daily Telegraph.

"There was not much swing, no reverse swing, no seam movement, no bounce and no pace. I’ve tried over the years to hone my skills so I can bowl in any conditions but everything I tried made no difference. I felt like I was fighting an uphill battle. There was a bit of rustiness but I gave it everything I could. Having played for a long time, I realise you can’t take wickets every game. Sometimes it is not your week. It felt like that for me."

James Anderson's impeccable numbers at Lord's

The second Test will commence on June 28, at the iconic Lord's Cricket Ground. While former Australian opener, Chris Rogers, felt that the rapid Mark Wood might replace James Anderson for the Lord's Test, dropping the veteran at a ground where he has tormented batters consistently for so many years, could potentially be one of the toughest calls that coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes might have to make.

Anderson is the highest wicket-taker at Lord's with 117 wickets from 27 matches with his best bowling figures (at the venue) of 9/43 at the historic venue.