From Burnley Club cricket to Lancashire to England cricket
team and 500 Test wickets. It has been quite a journey for James Anderson. I
first saw him bowl at MCG during the tri-nation tournament in Australia in
2002-03 season. He was not impressive. Then in the ICC World Cup, he nailed
Pakistan under the lights vat Cape Town and in the same year he bagged a
hat-trick against Pakistan in a three-match ODI series in England. But in Test
cricket, the stylish young man was yet to come of age.
Andrew Flintoff, Simon Jones, Steve Harmison and Matthew
Hoggard hogged the limelight more than the young prodigy and at times, he gave
me the impression, he was overrated. Even though, his start in white clothes
was brilliant, but time and again, he failed to live up to my expectations. During
the Ashes of 2006-07, Anderson took five wickets in Australia at 82.60 and was
taken to the cleaners by the mighty Australian batting lineup. It was a
horrifying moment for Jimmy.
Time moved on and Jimmy did not just sit idle being
satisfied with the tag ‘young talent,’ but kept working hard on his bowling and
injecting new skills to prove himself the one of the best in the business in
world cricket and at the fag end of last decade, the world started to discover
a new James Anderson, who runs in like a lion, delivers the ball after
completing a sexy action and makes the ball to torment the batters.
During the Ashes of
2010-11, Anderson took 24 wickets at 26. In 2012 in India, when England
achieved a historic series win, MS Dhoni proclaimed him the difference between
the two teams. In India, his late swing with the old ball put India on the back
foot and created a platform for Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar to go for the
ultimate kill.
Jimmy has proved himself as an all-condition-bowler. His
wicket taking habits are not just limited to Englihs conditions, but away from
home, he has been successful as well. Since playing against New Zealand in Wellington
in March 2008, he has taken 134 wickets at 32.66 in 40 overseas Tests compared
to 15 wickets at 59.53 before that.
Anderson is one of those bowlers who has rejuvenated the
art of swing bowling. You can watch him bowl that away swinger whole day
skipping a date or any important meeting. Those are a work of an artist and for
many a decade, critics and romantics have waited eagerly to watch a swing
bowler move the ball delightfully on the canvas of Test cricket. Again, he is
not a medium pacer but can generate pace and when the ball loses its shine, he
gets wider of the crease and bang it by moving it late.
With the ability to use the wrist, seam position, angle of
the crease and habit to pick wickets from any tracks in plenty, Anderson is one
of the all time best fast bowler in the history of English cricket. His partnership
with Stuart Broad is as lethal as the best dynamic duos in the history of Test
cricket.
James Anderson is a legendary English pacer. In the age of heavy bats and batting friendly wickets, his ability to fetch wickets consistently in Tests is staggering. In my book,
he is right there at the top along with Sydney Barnes, Fred Trueman, Bob
Willis, Ian Botham and co.
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
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