From Raw Pace To Refined Swing: Beer-Guzzling James Anderson Aged Like Fine Wine

When Christopher Nolan’s brother, Jonathan Nolan, came up with the iconic line, “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” he would have never imagined the scenario of a fellow Englishman breaking away from this prophetic tradition.

On 12 July 2024, 18 days before his forty-second birthday, James Anderson retired in grand fashion at the Lord's Cricket Ground, London, the place where he began his Test match journey against Zimbabwe in 2003, an aeon ago in cricketing parlance.

Before Anderson burst onto the scene, Bob Willis was the last genuine fast bowler from England. Most bowlers relied on pitching the ball up at 125-135 kilometres per hour (kph) and generating movement in a conducive atmosphere.

The Devon Malcolm experiment had failed, and Naseer Hussein, an instinctively aggressive captain, did not have enough armoury in his bowling attack to challenge the Australians in their den. When Anderson bowled raw pace in his limited overs debut (in Australia), Hussein saw a gun bowler.

After his debut against Australia in Melbourne, Jimmy was picked for the 2003 World Cup, played mostly on the seaming tracks of South Africa. Anderson bowled fast and even generated movement off the track.

With five wickets on Test debut, excellent limited-over performances, and frequently changing haircuts, Anderson became a feature on fashion and sports magazines. For English cricket, their golden boy had finally arrived.

With the growing spotlight, Anderson and the English cricket setup forgot Jimmy’s actual strength. Known for bowling at a high pace, Anderson was not a genuine quick, to begin with. In his early teenage years, he focused on controlling seam and swing.

As his hormones peaked, Anderson developed raw pace, and somehow coaches were able to convince him that he was made for it.

However, reality struck. During the four-Test series against South Africa at home, Anderson performed poorly when he focused solely on pace. His only five-wicket haul came when he emphasised moving the ball.

Thereafter, the demands of bowling full tilt started to take a toll. A knee injury, a tendon injury, and then a stress fracture threw him off the radar and he had to work on his bowling action.

Jimmy missed the golden 2005 Ashes series due to his poor form. Just when critics were starting to write about Anderson’s possible swansong, he came out as a swing bowler with excellent control in the 2007 series against India.

If anything, the series was a prelude to one of the best bowling careers to come. Anderson bowled at around 135 kph, with movement in and off the deck. Most dismissals were in the form of either bowled or caught in the slip cordon.

The world acknowledged Anderson’s skills in English conditions, but a big question mark still lurked over his overseas performances.

Anderson responded by seaming the ball off the deck in hard and challenging Australian conditions. He played a critical role in the English team conquering Australian shores in the 2010/11 Ashes.

The returning Australian side of 2013 saw Anderson lead the English Lions. Jimmy never looked back from here. After the 2015 World Cup, he became a full-time Test cricketer.

The swansong, which finally came, should not be about the numbers. But here are a limited few that describe how Anderson aged like fine wine.

– His bowling average after age 35 is 22.71.

– Since 2014, he has picked 357 wickets at 22.71.

– His average away from home after 2014 is 23.80, compared to 36.16 between 2003-13.

Though superlative, these numbers won’t tell how much Anderson dominated the top batsmen of his era. Jimmy scalped Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Clarke, and Kane Williamson nine times.

He is among the very few bowlers against whom Virat Kohli struggled with his technique, becoming a victim seven times.

Anderson commanded inswing, outswing, reverse swing, and seam movements. The lanky bowler’s command over his wrist was probably second only to Wasim Akram. With an old ball, Anderson had become a menace for Tendulkar.

In the words of Tendulkar, "With reverse swing, Jimmy Anderson was possibly the first bowler who bowled reverse swing also reverse."

Anderson did change the course of the game with his swing bowling, but the spirit of an out-and-out pacer never left him. The man led the English team’s sledging department. Many recall how Clarke threatened to break his bone, but very few recall that the sledge war was started by Anderson himself.

To Mitchell Johnson’s sledge about not getting wickets, he responded by clean-bowling Johnson’s teammate.

An altercation with Ravindra Jadeja seemed close to a physical fight. Even when Kohli got the better of him in a Test series, Anderson was quick to respond that Kohli was not tested enough in Indian conditions. Steven Smith even termed Anderson as one of the greatest sledgers of the game.

Anderson’s fighting spirit never took a day off. Even in his last Test, he is irreplaceable in the English bowling line-up. Coach Brendon McCulum and Captain Ben Stokes had to ask him to step down just to give the next generation of bowlers a chance.

Dropping Anderson did not strike their minds. Anderson had to accept his end despite feeling like a person in the best shape of his life at nearly 42.

Anderson won’t play county cricket in 2024, probably because he will take up the role of a bowling coach for the national team. It will be a rare moment when a fast-bowling coach will actually be able to showcase how to swing and move the ball in real-time. A coach competing with active players — a thrilling prospect.

For his grandkids, Anderson has earned the right to tell them he lived the Fight club line, “I ran. I ran until my muscles burned and my veins pumped battery acid. Then I ran some more.”

That is probably among his top bragging rights, retiring as a fast bowler at age 42.