James Anderson (cricketer)
 | |
Source: [1], 1 January 2006 |
2003 World Cup heroics
As a young player, Anderson's rise was incredibly quick; he represented the England national team before he was awarded his cap at county level, coming almost straight from club cricket and Burnley's 2nd XI. His ODI debut came on December 15, 2002 against Australia at Melbourne. He showed good promise in this series - a three-team tournament also including Sri Lanka - which earned him a place in the 2003 World Cup squad. It was here that he really broke into international cricket with a match-winning spell against Pakistan, where he took four wickets in day/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 off the penultimate over against eventual world champions Australia and England lost a closely fought contest.
In the summer of 2003, he made his first Test cricket appearance against Zimbabwe at Lord's, and become the 17th Englishman to collect five wickets in an innings on debut. His success continued in the subsequent one day tournaments against Pakistan, South Africa and Zimbabwe. In a matter of few months, he had become one of the biggest stars in English cricket. Continued alteration of hair styles, attractive looks, and up-to-the-minute outfits earned him comparisons with some of the most recognisable sport personalities around, including 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 600 runs. Even though Anderson managed to pick up another five-wicket-haul at Trent Bridge, and the series was eventually drawn with England winning the final Test at The Oval by nine wickets, the damage had already been done from Anderson's point of view. His place in the England team was now far from certain. He was selected in both the one-day and Test squads for the winter tours to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, but injuries left him able to play in only 1 of the 5 Tests on that tour. He bowled well below his potential to collect figures of 0-85 in his sole appearance. The Sri Lankan conditions - typically unhelpful for fast swing bowling - didn't help.
2004 - the slow decline
Fit and running by the start of the New Year, Anderson was now looking to press his claims for a recall to the side. He managed to do that with a berth in both the Test and one-day squads in the tour to the 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 against West Indies, Jimmy didn’t find himself much to do. Glamorgan paceman Simon Jones having recovered from the ligament tear he got in the 2002-03 Ashes took over Anderson's place as England's 4th seam bowler 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. He still managed to retain his place in the Test squad, and his next big break came when an injury to Jones forced the Welshman 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 four-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 his body language displayed a man devoid of confidence.
Despite poor performances, he again got selected for the winter tour to Zimbabwe and New Zealand. Much of the 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 three one-day appearance. The England management, however, continued to show faith in his ability.
2005 - back to basics
Travelling as a barely used reserve on the winter South Africa tour while seemingly struggling for form, Anderson was given another shot at redemption, as Jones was dropped for the 3rd Test against the South Africans after Jones had performed poorly in the second. Anderson, though, did even worse than Simon, collecting figures of 2/117 and 0/32 in his two innings. Anderson spent the summer with Lancashire; bowling regularly a quota of overs one would associate with a new ball bowler, something he had not done enough in his England stint. He was recalled to the England squad for the last match of the 2005 Ashes series, once again as a replacement for the injured Jones, but all-rounder Paul Collingwood was selected for the team. During the 2005 domestic season, Anderson took 60 wickets during the County Championship season, propelling Lancashire to the Division Two title, and also took 23 wickets in the National League at an impressive bowling average of 19.56, including three for 12 in the final match with Worcestershire Royals, which helped Lancashire to a 75-run win and to avoid relegation.
He played in all five of England's one day games in Pakistan, showing improvements in form to be England's joint-leading wicket taker in the series. While England's settled pace quartet of Andrew Flintoff, Stephen Harmison, Matthew Hoggard and Simon Jones, as well as the promising Liam Plunkett, seem likely to block Anderson's immediate return to the test side, he is still only 23 and is likely to play tests again.
2006 - Looking ahead
As the new year dawned James Anderson was selected for England A's tour of the West Indies. Two weeks before he left, he tied the knot with model Daniella Lloyd, whom he had met two years ago while on England duty in London. England players Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood and Geraint Jones, along with some of James's Lancashire team-mates, attended.
In February, days before the start of the first A-test between England and the West Indies, James Anderson (along with Alastair Cook and Owais Shah) was called up as an injury reinforcement to the England senior squad in India, after captain Michael Vaughan and fast bowler Simon Jones flew home with knee injuries and vice captain Marcus Trescothick departed for undisclosed "personal" reasons.