by Age and injuries have not been enough roadblocks as James Anderson has set another stratospheric benchmark, one that is unlikely to ever be beaten.
Few other sports figures have given Father Time such a run for their money than the evergreen swing king, who is 41 years and 223 days old and is in his 23rd year as an international fast bowler just after his 700th Test wicket get in England’s fifth Test. against India in Dharamsala.
Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and the late Shane Warne (708) are no more, but Anderson is out of sight among the non-spinners and may never be affected, with nearest challenger Stuart Broad retiring last year.
It is doubtful that Anderson would be where he is without Broad, who owes as much of his success to the Lancastrian. The pair are indelibly linked and their partnership sits comfortably alongside McGrath-Warne, Wasim-Waqar and Walsh-Ambrose as one of the best ever.
There are people who seek to lower their achievements, that their records have been compiled in domestic conditions with less success abroad. But statistics can hide the bigger picture and Anderson was instrumental in two of England’s biggest wins for a generation.
Sir Alastair Cook took the plaudits and his insatiable desire to run in the 2010/11 Ashes but Anderson was the main taker, described by Mahendra Singh Dhoni as “the difference” as England ruled him immaculate and their key measures. beating India in 2012 in a series where all other recklessness came under pressure.
Sir Ian Botham’s 383 wickets are long ago in the rearview mirror and like the all-rounder’s fine wines, Anderson has gotten better with age. Since his 30th birthday he has taken 432 wickets at 24.13 and that average is going to a barely credible 22.86 after turning 35.
Rewind to December 2002, the start of his England career, and Anderson was a fearsome soldier who turned the ball around corners and had impeccable control. He impressed at the 2003 World Cup before taking five wickets in the Test against Zimbabwe later that year.
His career stalled in the next few years, in part because stress fractures in his back were an unintended consequence of well-meaning coaches trying to fix problems in his act to prevent stress fractures in his back.
He filtered out the bad advice and after being in and out of the side, including Broad on New Zealand in March 2008 marked a change in the guard as Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison were brought out.
The bond was not instant and England had to bide their time, but they formed a union that produced four Ashes series wins between 2009 and 2015 during a golden period that also saw them climb to the top of the Test rankings between 2011 and 2012 .
As Anderson’s career progresses, so does his meticulous planning of his craft. As his pace dropped, he focused on line and metric length to restrict batters although he was still able to produce the odd ‘magic ball’. That was evident with his 500th Test scalp as he pulled off the stump of West Indies center Kraigg Brathwaite in 2017 en route to career-best figures of seven for 42 at Lord’s.
Afterwards, Anderson admitted he felt “not teary but emotional” – a break from his more natural, and sometimes grumpy, demeanor.
Apart from one heated confrontation with India’s Ravindra Jadeja in 2014, that hostility was self-contained. Anderson is a more self-effacing and thoughtful character off the field and puts his mind into a more productive way.
He was part of the England team that reached the 2013 Champions Cup final but his white-ball career ended two years later after the World Cup disaster. Although Anderson never retired, he was considered surplus to requirements even if no other Englishman can better his 269 ODI wickets.
The decision extended Anderson’s red-ball career. He topped the Test bowling rankings on several occasions, breaking the 900-point barrier a few days after taking 100 wickets at Lord’s in August 2018 – the first paceman to take a century at one venue. A month later he surpassed Glenn McGrath’s 563 wickets to become Test cricket’s most successful fast bowler.
A chronic shoulder injury, which was a factor in the great retirement of competitor Dale Steyn, has affected his daily routine so much that even brushing his teeth can become a burden.
Recurring calf complaints saw him miss almost all of the 2019 Ashes and a broken rib sidelined him after a stellar display in Cape Town that winter but Anderson remained unbowed throughout.
Left out of England’s tour of the West Indies after the Ashes in 2022 there was fresh speculation that Anderson might retire but he is likely to have returned with a vengeance and appears to have been rejuvenated under the leadership of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.
Despite the combination of a bad Ashes 2023 and Broad heading for the hills, Anderson keeps going and is finally in the 700 club. Warne may be in his sights now – after that, who knows?
