11 degrees of separation - from James Anderson to the first ever Test match in 1877

England fast-bowling great James Anderson called time on his extraordinary Test career during the first match of the series against the West Indies at Lord's, finishing his journey at the Home of Cricket.

The 41 year old ended his career with 704 Test wickets in a 188-match career, numbers that will almost certainly never be matched.

The longevity and numbers of Anderson are truly remarkable. Very few players now even dream of playing Test cricket for two decades, while Anderson did that with great passion despite being a fast bowler.

He could have continued for a few more years, such is his fitness and dedication, but had to be urged to call it a day and allow England to blood the next generation of pacers.

And thus finished the career of a truly great Test cricketer. Anderson was the last link to an era that is behind us, where almost all teams had players who had played more than 100 Tests and had been around for 20-odd years.

His career takes us back to a period when Test cricket was still the benchmark for any aspiring cricketer and T20 cricket was just beginning to make an appearance. And if we dig a little deeper, we can go further back.

In the picture gallery above, we link Anderson to the previous generation of England Test cricketers, going back all the way to the first ever Test match between England and Australia in Melbourne in 1877. Each player in the gallery made his debut with a legend of the game from the preceding era.

To view the next image in the gallery, simply swipe or click on the arrows.