21 years at the top is a tribute to Anderson’s fitness, skill and ability to learn. His subtle skills became more obvious as he ran in with the same rhythm and produce a probing delivery
England’s James Anderson walks through a guard of honour on his final Test appearance v West Indies at Lord’s on Friday. Pic/Getty Images
Jimmy Anderson retired as the greatest swing bowler the game has seen.
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There have been many other fine swing bowlers but none have plied their skill for such a long period at the highest level. Anderson had that rare ability to swing the ball both ways with very little change to his action.
Where other good bowlers gave the batsman a clue with their change of arm slot, Anderson was able to produce swing both ways minus the early warning signal.
This is a remarkable skill and it made Anderson an extremely tough opponent.
Sustained brillience
Twenty one years at the top is a tribute to his fitness, skill and ability to learn. There was also his desire to keep playing when big life changes like having a wife and kids could easily have surpassed the priority of Test cricket.
His subtle skills became more obvious as he continued to run in with the same smooth rhythm and produce a probing delivery on a testing line. He continued to do so no matter whether he was bowling to a right or left-handed batsman. That was another skill that set him apart from many swing bowlers—it made little difference what type of batsman he was facing.
At the 2009 Lord’s Test, along with Andrew Flintoff, Anderson produced a wonderfully consistent spell of bowling. There wasn’t a bad ball from either bowler and Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin played brilliantly just to stay in the fight against such a prolonged examination.
It’s difficult to explain how tough it is to maintain a high standard of swing bowling for an extended period.
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I had the good fortune to captain the prodigious swing bowling of Bob Massie at Lord’s in 1972. Massie claimed 16 wickets in a miraculous debut which involved sustained swing bowling where he made the ball swerve both ways with unerring accuracy.
This wasn’t a one-off performance as Massie took four wickets in the first innings of the next match at Trent Bridge and claimed 23 for the series in four Tests. He won a place in the Australian side by bowling Bill Lawry twice—no mean feat—in a WA v Victoria Shield match at the MCG.
Massie then played against the World X1 at the SCG in early 1972 and took seven first innings wickets, including the prized scalps of Garfield Sobers, Sunil Gavaskar and Graeme Pollock. Massie was no one match wonder as a swing bowler but his Test career lasted just 234 days.
Jimmy Anderson’s sustained swing bowling performance spanned 21 years and 188 Tests. That is a remarkable achievement involving skill and resilience.
On the 2010-11 Ashes tour, Anderson produced another of his sublime out-swingers to dismiss Ricky Ponting at the Adelaide Oval. That was Anderson’s best tour of Australia with 24 wickets but by claiming captain Ponting for a duck and sending the scoreboard into a two for nought frenzy, it put England well on the way to victory.
Despite Australia winning the next Test, by claiming the captain’s scalp at Adelaide, Anderson commenced England’s charge to a rare Ashes victory away from home.
The tributes for Anderson have been many, touching not just on his undoubted bowling skill but also his grumpiness, the changes of hair do and his stubbornness with the bat. It’s not surprising that he was occasionally grumpy, which resulted in the odd terse comment. Most people’s patience would be severely tested if they regularly charged in to bowl only to beat the bat and receive no reward.
Despite the occasional outburst Anderson retained his patience, which was partly responsible for his amazing success.
Strong desire to win
As retirement loomed the thing that stood out most in Anderson’s often reluctant comments was his desire to win. This was a crucial motivating factor in his success.
England will miss Anderson as it’s difficult to replace his rare skill. Importantly though Anderson’s career is now a celebrated one where he’s recognised as the best swing bowler the game has produced.
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