James Anderson - England

Full name James Michael Anderson
Born July 30, 1982, Burnley, Lancashire
Current age 30 years 340 days
Major teams England, Auckland, England Under-19s,Lancashire, Lancashire Cricket Board
Nickname Jimmy
Playing role Bowler
Batting style Left-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast-medium
Height 6 ft 2 in
Education St Theodore's RC High School; St Theodore's RC Sixth Form Centre - Burnley
Profile


For the first six years of James Anderson's international career, the best way to sum up his bowling was to paraphrase Mother Goose: when he's good, he's very, very good - and when he's bad he's horrid. Well, fairly horrid, anyway, because when the force was with him, he was capable of irresistible spells, seemingly able to swing the ball round corners at an impressive speed.
But in 2010 Anderson came of age in a staggeringly comprehensive fashion. No longer content with being unplayable when the mood caught him, he took the decision to shelve the "magic balls" and concentrated on hammering out a rock-solid line and length, with dot balls and maidens his new holy grail. The upshot was a scintillating year in which he proved unhittable in every sense, with an economy rate that ramped up the pressure in every spell, and a range of weapons that made him a threat on every surface.

A career-best 11-wicket haul against Pakistan at Trent Bridge was the prelude to a breakthrough tour of Australia in the winter of 2010-11. Anderson arrived to a torrent of doubters, who recalled his forlorn performance on the preceding Ashes four years earlier, in which he had taken five wickets at 82.60. But he left with a series-sealing 24 scalps at 26.04, and a reputation transformed. Deadly with conventional swing and seam, and with a new line in reverse swing as well, he had become arguably the most complete fast bowler in the world. In 2013, fittingly at Lord's, a ground where enjoyed much success, he became the fourth England bowler to reach 300 Test wickets when he had Peter Fulton caught at slip.
It had been a long journey to fulfilment. Anderson had played only three one-day games for Lancashire when he was hurried into England's one-day squad in Australia in 2002-03 as cover for Andy Caddick. He didn't have a number - or even a name - on his shirt, but a remarkable ten-over stint, costing just 12 runs, in century heat at Adelaide earned him a World Cup spot. There, he produced a matchwinning spell against Pakistan before a sobering last-over disaster against Australia.
Five wickets followed in the first innings of his debut Test, against Zimbabwe at home in 2003, then a one-day hat-trick against Pakistan, but his fortunes waned. For a couple of years Anderson was a peripheral net bowler. A stress fracture kept him out for most of 2006, but he still made the Australian tour and the World Cup. And suddenly, in the absence of the entire Ashes-winning attack in the second half of 2007, Anderson looked the part of pack leader again.
New Zealand were blown away at Trent Bridge in 2008 (Anderson 7 for 43) during a summer that earned Anderson the honour of being named among Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year. In May of that year, he made the West Indians looked clueless at Chester-le-Street (nine wickets in the match); and back at Trent Bridge in 2010 Pakistan's inexperienced batsmen could hardly lay a bat on him (5 for 54 and 6 for 17).
Anderson's left-hand batting also steadily improved from his early days as a fully paid-up rabbit: one of his unlikelier landmarks was going 54 Test innings before collecting a duck, an England record. At Cardiff in 2009 he survived for 69 nail-chewing minutes to help stave off defeat by Australia. He is also a superb fielder.
Like most modern international players, Anderson's appearances in domestic cricket are limited. He played in only two Championship matches as Lancashire won the title in 2011, although it entitled him to join his colleagues at Buckingham Palace in October to be presented with winners' medals by The Duke of Edinburgh.
He was awarded the Freedom of Burnley - his home town - in 2012, which was also his benefit year and in which he made one Championship appearance, in the defeat against Nottinghamshire at Old Trafford in May.
Anderson took nine wickets in each of the summer's home Test series, against West Indies and South Africa, and was outstanding on the tour to India, collecting 12 wickets as England won their first series in India since 1985. His 48 Test wickets in 2012 took his career total to 288, overtaking Brian Statham's 252 as the most successful Lancashire bowler in Test cricket, and 400 did not look out of reach.
Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	82	110	40	751	34	10.72	1933	38.85	0	0	93	2	45	0
ODIs	174	69	37	237	28	7.40	511	46.37	0	0	19	0	47	0
T20Is	19	4	3	1	1*	1.00	2	50.00	0	0	0	0	3	0
First-class	151	183	68	1153	37*	10.02			0	0			79	0
List A	227	90	54	330	28	9.16			0	0			56	0
Twenty20	40	9	6	23	16	7.66	25	92.00	0	0	3	0	8	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	82	151	17973	9256	307	7/43	11/71	30.14	3.08	58.5	17	13	1
ODIs	174	171	8609	7132	245	5/23	5/23	29.11	4.97	35.1	10	2	0
T20Is	19	19	422	552	18	3/23	3/23	30.66	7.84	23.4	0	0	0
First-class	151		29863	15481	567	7/43		27.30	3.11	52.6	28	26	3
List A	227		11019	8928	319	5/23	5/23	27.98	4.86	34.5	10	2	0
Twenty20	40	40	855	1190	37	3/23	3/23	32.16	8.35	23.1	0	0	0