| James Michael Anderson
Now 23 year old James Michael Anderson, or more prevalently, Jimmy Anderson, first appeared on the international cricket scene in the winter of 2002. What then appeared as the perfect Cinderella story in the form of a sudden , unexpected rise from Burnley 2nd XI right up to England test side, it all folded rather quickly, just one season later.
First selected to play for the England one day outfit in the VB Series against Australia and Sri Lanka after an impressive run with the EnglandAcademy side, Anderson impressed in his maiden series with a string of promising spells. That earned him a place in the World Cup squad that followed next. It was here that he announced his arrival in its true sense with a match winning spell against Pakistan where he took four wickets in day and night game to collect the man of the match award. But where there are highs, there are also lows. In what proved to be England’s last match of the tournament he conceded 23 runs of the penultimate over against eventual world champs Australia and England lost a closely fought contest.
At that time though, hope was in abundance. In summer next season, he made his test first appearance against Zimbabwe at Lord’s, and become the 17th Englishmen to collect five wickets in an innings on debut. The wickets continued to pile for him in subsequent one day tournaments against Pakistan, South Africa and Zimbabwe. And all in a mater of few months, the flaxen Lancashire man was poised to become English Cricket’s next big allure. Continued alteration of hair styles, attractive looks, and up-to-the-minute outfits earned him comparisons with some of the most recognizable sport personalities around, including a sticky tag of Cricket’s David Beckham. The frenzy was however not to last forever.
Another young man, South Africa’s captain, Graeme Smith, put Anderson and England to the sword as he made back-to-back double hundreds in the first two tests of a series where he eventually ended up making more than six hundred runs. Even though Anderson managed to pick up another five wicket haul at TrentBridge, and the series was eventually drawn with England wining the final test at the Oval by nine wickets, the damage had already been done - Anderson’s place in the England team now was far from certain. He got selected in both the one-day and test squads for the winter tours to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka but injuries plagued his participation to full extent, as he played just 1 of the 5 tests that season and bowled well below his potential to collect figures of 0-85 in his sole appearance.
Fit and running by the start of the New Year, Anderson now was looking to repress his claims for a recall. And he managed to do that with a birth in both the tests and one-day squads for the tour to Caribbean. That tour was a significant one in English cricket history, as England managed to end, what supporters and some commentators called “35 years of hurt”. As Michael Vaughan’s men celebrated becoming the first English side since 1969 to win a test series in the Caribbean Jimmy didn’t find him self much to do. Glamorgan paceman Simon Jones having recovered from the ligament tear he got in Ashes 2002 took over Anderson’s place as England 4th seamer and impressed forcing Anderson to remain on the fringe, carrying around drinks and bowling in the nets.
He did feature in a handful of the one day matches however, but did not do anything like his previous heroics. Somehow he still managed to retain his place in test squad, and his next big break came when an injury to Jones forced him out of the last 3 tests of what had been an unusually long but very successful summer for the English side. Overshadowed by the success of his team mates, Anderson despite being in the eleven hardly got enough overs, and barely took wickets. It was clear now that Anderson had now not only lost all his form and rhythm, but consequentially all his confidence as well. Perhaps that is why even despite his 4 wicket haul in the final test of the summer, in which England had won all 7 tests they played, he had not silenced all his critics, and looked an unsure man him self as well by way of body language.
Perhaps it would have been better for him at that stage had been dropped, and allowed to focus on his basics, something which young players can over look sometimes when they are fast tracked into test cricket, like Anderson had been in his career. Nevertheless, he again got selected. Much of post season talk however was dominated by the “to go or not to go” Zimbabwe controversy, England eventually did end up in Harare, after a brief stop over in Namibia. Anderson once again struggled in his 3 one-day appearances as new bald hair style also did not initiate any change of fortunes. England management though continued to show unwavering faith in his ability, something he could have, on reflection now, done without.
Tagged along unnecessarily while clearly not ready or prepared, and basically struggling big time, England gave him another shot at redeeming him self when Jones was dropped for the 3rd test after a mixed bag performance in the 2nd in his favor. Jimmy though did even worse then Simon, collecting figures of 2/117 and 0/32 in his two innings. That was that, he has not played any international cricket since. And in all the ho-ha of whether or not Kevin Pieterson, seemingly English cricket’s next Big White Hope, would be selected, it’s last Big White Hope, was dropped, though this was a barely noticed occurrence. Anderson is now back in the Lancashire set up; bowling regularly a quota of overs once would associate with a new ball bowler, something he had not done enough in his England stint.
Wheather we can blame Anderson’s decline on central contracts that prevented him from gaining crucial first class exposure while he was being wasted serving 12th man duties.. or if bowling coach Troy Coley must be questioned for tinkering with his natural action and turning it into something he was not used to and consequentially not comfortable with …or slightly differently if we want to chose Nasser Hussain’s assessment of Anderson as being an “unworldly young man happy to let others make decisions for him”…It is up to individuals to decide what caused the downfall of talented out swing bowler; the fact remains that that he suffered. One can hope though, that it’s all not over for him, and by way of some proper bowling for Lancashire, that can guide them to first division again perhaps, he might find him self in the reckoning once again.
Last edited by Zainub : 12-06-2005 at 08:02 PM.
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12-06-2005, 07:46 PM
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