Anderson takes seven as England seals series 2-1

James Anderson claimed a career-best 7 for 42 as England won the third and final Test against Windies by nine wickets, taking the series by a 2-1 margin at Lord's on Saturday.

After the visiting side was bowled out for 177 on the third evening, England chased down the 107-run target in 28 overs with play extended past the scheduled tea break. Mark Stoneman (40 not out) hit the winning runs off Devendra Bishoo, with Tom Westley for company on 44.

Alastair Cook (17) was the lone wicket to fall in the England innings, trapped lbw by Bishoo -- the legspinner bowling for the first time this Test -- off the first ball of his spell, but that was as good as it got for Windies with the target a small one.

Both Stoneman and Westley, looking to seal their spots in the squad for the Ashes in November, made full use of the batting conditions, finding the boundaries with relative ease. While Westley's knock was laced with seven fours, Stoneman managed to find the fence on five occasions.

Earlier, Anderson, who eclipsed his previous best of 7 for 43 against New Zealand in Nottingham in 2008, become the first Englishman and only the sixth bowler in history to take 500 Test wickets during the course of Windies' second innings. Shai Hope top-scored for the visiting side with 62 off 144 balls before falling to a peach of a delivery from Anderson, who picked five wickets on Saturday to add to the two he took on Friday.

Play started in bright sunshine with Windies resuming on 93 for 3, a marked contrast to the grey skies that had encircled Lord's during the first two days. But despite the improved batting conditions, it only needed four balls for Anderson to strike.

Bowling from the Nursery End, where the eight-foot slope across the ground naturally takes the ball away from the right-hander’s off-stump, Anderson found Roston Chase's edge, with Jonny Bairstow, the wicketkeeper, holding on to a simple catch.

Anderson should have had another wicket when Jermaine Blackwood, on two, mistimed a drive but was dropped on mid-off, but the bowler eventually got his man. Blackwood, who survived an lbw appeal by successfully reviewing the decision off Stuart Broad, fell for five, caught behind off Anderson.

Anderson had picked up two wickets for four runs in 23 balls leaving Windies 100 for 5.

Shane Dowrich fell for 14 when trying to pull a Toby Roland-Jones delivery that climbed off a length, succeeding only in splicing an easy catch to Broad at mid-on.

Hope, 35 not out overnight, took 54 balls to score his first boundary on Saturday but a resounding cover-drive off Ben Stokes was worth the wait. A four off his legs against Roland-Jones then saw Hope to a 127-ball fifty.

It was yet another significant contribution from the 23-year-old Barbados batsman, whose twin hundreds had provided the backbone of Windies' series-levelling victory at Headingley.

Joe Root, the England skipper, brought himself on for the final over before lunch and the occasional offspinner's move nearly worked when the final ball of the session saw Jason Holder, the Windies captain, slice a drive. But Cook at gully was unable to react in time to hold what would have been a spectacular catch.

It didn't matter, though, as Hope and Holder (23) succumbed after the lunch interval, and the end came soon after.