ICON Legends – James Anderson – Cricket Hero

As we continue in our ICON Legends series, it only feels right to honour James Anderson. Known as Jimmy throughout the cricket world, he’s enjoyed a remarkable career at the top level.

Like his mate Stuart Broad last year, he’s hanging up his whites. 21 years after making his Test match debut, Anderson is set to make his final appearance for England against the West Indies next month as the Caribbean side start a three-match series at Lord’s on 10th July.

As a generation of cricket fans prepares to mourn the departure of one of the greats, we’ve taken a look back at what makes Jimmy Anderson such an icon.

Bursting onto the scene

Having been born and bred in Burnley, there was only one club where Anderson was ever going to make his name. He made his first debut for Lancashire in 2002 and within a year he’d become the youngest-ever player to take a hat-trick for the club.

If that performance didn’t catch the attention of the cricket world, they’d soon know about him. Just a week later, Anderson made his Test debut for England against Zimbabwe at Lord’s and his opponents from that day likely still have nightmares about his bowling.

In the first of his 187 Test matches, Anderson stunned the crowd by taking five wickets in an astonishing debut performance. It was the first of his 32 career five-wicket hauls and it came 19 years before his last, proving his class until the very end.

In fact, Anderson has the most five-wicket hauls of any player in Test history. He continued to shine domestically and in 2004 he blew Worcestershire away with his maiden ten-wicket haul.

Smashing records for six

As would be expected for a player of his calibre, Anderson made a habit of breaking records throughout his career. He leads the way at the top of the charts for Test match appearances for England, with only Sachin Tendulkar beating him worldwide.

And, as expected, he’s also got the most Test match wickets in England history after hitting the 700 mark during England’s tour of India earlier this year. Anderson remains the leading fast bowler of all time, while only spinners Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan are ahead of him in the overall rankings.

With Anderson just eight wickets behind Warne, a romantic nine-wicket haul in his final Test match against the West Indies next month would push him up into second spot. While it’s unlikely, it would be typical of his talent to one-up his buddy Broad following his incredible sign off in last summer’s Ashes.

For such a phenomenal bowler, you wouldn’t expect Anderson to have many records with the bat. Having spent his career at the tail-end, the 41-year-old scored just 1,353 Test match runs, achieving just a solitary 50.

Yet, as comes with the lower order territory, Anderson also holds the record for the most times finishing a game not out having done so on 113 occasions. Not too shabby for a man that averaged less than nine runs a shift!

Becoming England royalty

There’s no question that Anderson is one of the greatest cricketers of all time. Through longevity alone he’s established himself as an icon of the sport and his bowling record speaks for itself.

Like all great sports stars, his career has been glittered with countless highlights. He was part of the England side that won the T20 World Cup in the West Indies back in 2010. Anderson has also been on the winning Ashes side on four occasions, while one of his crowning achievements was helping boyhood club Lancashire to the County Championship title in 2011.

Arguably his greatest performance in an England shirt came back in 2008 as New Zealand visited these shores for a summer tour. Anderson finished the series with 19 wickets and nine of those came in the final match.

In the first innings he bowled a remarkable 7-43, before ending the match with 9-98 to secure England a nine-run victory. That performance truly put him on the map and he went from strength to strength for his country.

As England visited Australia for the Ashes in the back end of 2010, expectations were low as we dreamed of a first series win down under in 24 years. But if you need some fast bowling to fire you back into form, there’s only one man you need to call.

Anderson was imperious throughout the series, taking a stunning 24 wickets. England triumphed as 3-1 winners and it remains the last time they won a Test match in Australia.

Like Broad a year ago, Anderson has given the world of cricket some time to come to terms with his departure. While his story in domestic cricket may continue, his international journey is over and there will always be an Anderson-shaped hole in the England side.

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