The best way to sum up James Anderson's bowling is 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. When the force is with him, Anderson is capable of irresistible spells, seemingly able to swing the ball round corners at an impressive speed. New Zealand were blown away in Nottingham in 2008 (Anderson 7 for 43); the following May the West Indians looked clueless in 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).
And then there are the bad days, when the ball isn't coming out quite right and refuses to swing: Anderson can then sometimes look downcast, and the purists start murmuring about an action in which he seems to be looking at the ground at the moment of delivery, rather than down the pitch at the target as entreated by the MCC coaching manual. Even his pace, usually in the upper 80s mph, seems to sag on these occasions.
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 then 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: since then those off-days have dwindled.
Anderson's left-hand batting has 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.
Full name James Michael Anderson
Born July 30, 1982, Burnley, Lancashire
Current age 28 years 132 days
Major teams England, Auckland, 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
Batting and fielding averages
| Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | BF | SR | 100 | 50 | 4s | 6s | Ct | St | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tests | 54 | 72 | 31 | 513 | 34 | 12.51 | 1420 | 36.12 | 0 | 0 | 63 | 1 | 22 | 0 |
| ODIs | 133 | 56 | 29 | 159 | 15 | 5.88 | 404 | 39.35 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 36 | 0 |
| T20Is | 19 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1* | 1.00 | 2 | 50.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| First-class | 115 | 134 | 54 | 807 | 37* | 10.08 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 0 | ||||
| List A | 184 | 77 | 46 | 252 | 15 | 8.12 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 0 | ||||
| Twenty20 | 39 | 8 | 6 | 22 | 16 | 11.00 | 23 | 95.65 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Mat | Inns | Balls | Runs | Wkts | BBI | BBM | Ave | Econ | SR | 4w | 5w | 10 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tests | 54 | 99 | 11275 | 6227 | 196 | 7/43 | 11/71 | 31.77 | 3.31 | 57.5 | 11 | 10 | 1 |
| ODIs | 133 | 131 | 6564 | 5429 | 179 | 5/23 | 5/23 | 30.32 | 4.96 | 36.6 | 8 | 1 | 0 |
| T20Is | 19 | 19 | 422 | 552 | 18 | 3/23 | 3/23 | 30.66 | 7.84 | 23.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| First-class | 115 | 21582 | 11769 | 423 | 7/43 | 27.82 | 3.27 | 51.0 | 20 | 22 | 3 | ||
| List A | 184 | 8884 | 7136 | 251 | 5/23 | 5/23 | 28.43 | 4.81 | 35.3 | 8 | 1 | 0 | |
| Twenty20 | 39 | 39 | 831 | 1136 | 35 | 3/23 | 3/23 | 32.45 | 8.20 | 23.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Test debut England v Zimbabwe at Lord's, May 22-24, 2003
Last Test Australia v England at Adelaide, Dec 3-7, 2010
ODI debut Australia v England at Melbourne, Dec 15, 2002
Last ODI England v Pakistan at Southampton, Sep 22, 2010
T20I debut Australia v England at Sydney, Jan 9, 2007
Last T20I South Africa v England at Centurion, Nov 15, 2009
First-class debut 2002
Last First-class Australia v England at Adelaide, Dec 3-7, 2010
List A debut 2000
Last List A England v Pakistan at Southampton, Sep 22, 2010
Twenty20 debut Yorkshire v Lancashire at Leeds, Jul 14, 2004
Last Twenty20 Nottinghamshire v Lancashire at Nottingham, Jun 15, 2010
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