Joe Root, the former England captain, has expressed his heartfelt feelings regarding the retirement of his long-time teammate and friend James Anderson. Root, who has witnessed Anderson's brilliant career right from the beginning, shared his thoughts on playing with the legendary pacer and the impact his retirement will have on the team's future.

"For me, all I've ever known for England is playing alongside Jimmy and that's been for 12 years," Root said. "It's a bit of a weird one, seeing Stuart [Broad] go last year and [now] Jimmy. I'll terribly miss playing alongside him, but the fact that he'll be around for the summer will be great for the young bowlers coming through and for us to keep using that experience and everything else he has to offer the dressing room. I'm really pleased that he's been able to have the send-off that he deserves but also, it's in some ways, a little bit sad to see him go."

Anderson, who will take on a mentoring role for the England team ahead of the English summer, has been an important part of English cricket. Root has played 110 Tests alongside Anderson and captained him 46 times, trailing only Alastair Cook, who led Anderson in 49 matches.

Root also took a moment to commend the emerging talent of Gus Atkinson, who had an impressive debut Test match, taking 12 wickets against the West Indies. "When teams have gone out there, what they need for those conditions is someone like Gus that can bowl at the late 80s and early 90s [mph] and still move the ball around and make things happen at a high pace. It was great to see him come in and do that on such a slow wicket here," Root remarked on the young pacer's performance.