No-one makes a cricket ball talk quite like England legend James Anderson.
He is a magician with a ball in hand. Majestically swinging it around corners and getting it to move prodigiously off the seam.
And what impresses more than the Lancashire seamer’s genius is his incredible longevity, and even more so his desire to run in for his country at the age of 40.
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The swing king made his international debut 20 years ago today in an ODI against Australia at the MCG. He was smashed for 46 runs in his six overs, but dismissed the dangerous Adam Gilchrist for 124. Little did we know then that he would go on to become undoubtedly the greatest seam bowler that’s ever lived.
And two decades later he is still spearheading the English attack in Test cricket. In the current series against Pakistan, in which Ben Stokes’ side boast an unassailable 2-0 lead heading into this weekend’s final Test in Karachi, he has taken eight wickets at an average of 18.5 with an impeccable economy rate of just 2.2 on pitches unresponsive for seam bowlers.
The infallible opening bowler has made a career of pitching it up and making foes down the other end look silly. Montages of bails flying with batters playing massively down the wrong line circulate on social media all the time.
Unfortunately, so do jibes of ‘Clouderson’ from fans of other countries who insinuate England’s greatest ever can only do it when conditions are firmly in his favour. But cast your mind back to that first morning in Melbourne in 2010, Nagpur in 2012, or just a couple of weeks to his exceptional exploits in Pakistan. Not a cloud in sight and Anderson doing what he does best, sending batters packing.
Granted, he struggled overseas at times at the beginning of his career. But he has since mastered new ways to get wickets on batter-friendly wickets. He is arguably the great reverse-swing exponent currently in world cricket and he developed the wobble seam delivery to outfox unsuspecting batters.
Since 2017, he has taken five-wicket hauls in Adelaide, Bridgetown, Cape Town and Galle. Barely a home-comforts bully.
His remarkable record speaks for itself. Anderson has taken 675 Test wickets and has played 145 matches, a phenomenal achievement for a fast bowler. He also holds the record for pacemen across formats in international cricket with 962, and injury permitting he will be the first to surpass the 1,000 mark.
He stands head and shoulders above the rest in terms of seamers. Next best on the Test scene is long-time new-ball opening partner Stuart Broad way in the rear-view mirror on 566.
Only Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne have more. Murali’s 800 should be a stretch too far even for Anderson’s tireless body, but Warne’s 708 is within striking distance and all being well Anderson should surpass the late, great leggy’s tally during next summer’s home Ashes.
Over the last decade he has averaged a shade under 21 in England and just 20.62 in Asia, a perceived deathbed for seamers where spin stereotypically does the damage.
Since turning 35, he has taken 192 wickets at an average of 21.04 in 51 matches, which have included 10 five-wicket hauls. It boggles the mind.
Anderson has dismissed 500 different batters in Test cricket and only West Indies batter Shivnarine Chanderpaul (531) and Indian hero Sachin Tendulkar (603) played with more.
He is back to second in the world in the official ICC rankings for Test bowlers after England’s famous win in Pakistan, with Aussie skipper Pat Cummins the only player ahead of him.
And arguably the most impressive stat of all is he's taken more Test wickets since turning 30, 407, than greats of the game did in their entire careers. Curtley Ambrose, Ian Botham, Malcolm Marshall, Waqar Younis, Imran Khan, Dennis Lillee, Tim Southee, Allan Donald, Trent Boult and Mitchell Johnson are just a few in a long list of brilliant fast bowlers.
James Anderson is the GOAT when it comes to seam bowlers, fact. Like a fine wine which has aged to perfection over the years, we have to savour every last drop out of his incomparable career before he eventually hangs up his boots for good.
*18+ | BeGambleAware
