Age and injuries were never a hurdle that was unlikely to be beaten as James Anderson set another stratospheric benchmark.
Few sportsmen have given Father Time a run for its money as the all-time green swing king, who has just picked up his 700th Test wicket in England’s fifth Test in his 23rd year as an international fast bowler, aged 41 years and 223 days. there is. against India in Dharamsala.
Only Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and the late Shane Warne (708) have more, but Anderson fades away among the non-spinners and may never be toppled due to the retirement of his closest rival Stuart Broad last year.
It’s doubtful Anderson would be where he is now without Broad, who owes much of his success to the Lancastrian. There is an indelible bond between the pair and their partnership sits comfortably alongside McGrath-Warne, Wasim-Waqar and Walsh-Ambrose as one of the best of all time.
There are those who try to belittle their achievements; their records in their own countries are embellished with more modest successes abroad. But statistics can obscure the bigger picture and Anderson was instrumental in England’s two biggest away wins in a generation.
Sir Alastair Cook was lauded for his insatiable appetite for runs in the 2010/11 Ashes, but the best wicket-taker was Anderson, whose impeccable control and crucial breakthroughs were described by England’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni as “the big difference”. He beat India in 2012 in a series where all other quicks faltered.
Sir Ian Botham’s 383 wickets are already in the rearview mirror and like the great all-rounder’s fine wines, Anderson has continued to get better with age. While he has taken 432 wickets at 24.13 since his 30th birthday, this average drops to an unbelievable 22.86 after he turns 35.
Let’s go back to December 2002, the start of his life in England, and Anderson was a terrifying pacer who swung the ball into corners and had impeccable seam control. He made an impression at the 2003 World Cup, scoring a five-for-one on his Test debut against Zimbabwe that year.
His career stalled for the next few years; This was because well-intentioned trainers tried to correct the deficiencies in his movement to prevent stress fractures in his back, leading to undesirable results such as stress fractures in his back.
He filtered out bad advice and, after being in and out of the side, his and Broad’s inclusion for New Zealand in March 2008 signaled a changing of the guard with the sacking of Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison.
The link was not instantaneous and England had to bide their time, but between 2009 and 2015 they formed a union that yielded four Ashes series victories during a golden period between 2011 and 2012, when they also climbed to the top of the Test rankings.
As Anderson’s career progresses, so does his meticulous planning for his craft. As their pace dropped, he focused on metronomic line and length to limit strikes, but he still had the ability to produce the odd ‘magic ball’. This was evidenced by his 500th Test scalp at Lord’s in 2017, when he anchored West Indies opener Kraigg Brathwaite’s place in the middle en route to a career-best seven figures of 42.
Later, Anderson admitted that she felt “not quite tearful, but emotional,” a break from her more naturally sullen and occasionally grumpy demeanor.
Apart from a heated clash with India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja in 2014, this feud was self-contained. Off the field, Anderson is a more reserved and thoughtful character, channeling his anger more productively.
He was part of the England team that reached the 2013 Champions Cup final but his white-ball career ended two years later following omnishambles at the World Cup. Although Anderson never actually retired, he was considered surplus to requirements even though no other Englishman could better his 269 ODI wickets.
The decision extended Anderson’s red-ball career. He has topped the Test bowling rankings on several occasions and broke the 900-mark mark within days of taking 100 wickets at Lord’s in August 2018 – the first pacer to score a century in a single field. A month later he surpassed Glenn McGrath’s 563 wickets to become Test cricket’s most successful fast bowler.
The chronic shoulder injury that forced his great rival Dale Steyn’s retirement has affected his daily routine so much that just brushing his teeth can become a burden.
Recurring calf complaints meant he missed almost the entire 2019 Ashes, while a broken rib sidelined him after a superb display in Cape Town that winter, but through it all Anderson remained unyielding.
Being left out of England’s post-Ashes tour of the West Indies in 2022 has brought fresh speculation that Anderson could eventually quit the tour but he has predictably returned with a vengeance and looks rejuvenated under the leadership of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.
Despite a poor Ashes in 2023 and Broad heading for the hills, Anderson moved on and eventually joined the 700 club. Warne may be in his sights now; After this, who knows?