DHARAMSALA: It was a moment that many cricket followers were waiting for in great anticipation. After countless spells in his career that has spanned well over two decades, veteran England pacer James Anderson was on the verge of a monumental feat for the last few weeks or so. That wait finally ended on Saturday.
On his 15th day on the field in the Test series against India, his 657th ball of the tour, at the foothills of the Dhauladhar Range, Anderson scaled a new peak — 700 Test wickets.
Fittingly enough, it was a typical Anderson dismissal. He first put Kuldeep Yadav on the backfoot with a short of a length delivery and then bowled a full one that slightly moved away, taking the outside edge of the bat on its way to Ben Foakes' gloves.
Anderson’s arms went aloft with the widest smile on his face as Joe Root embraced him as the entire stadium stood on its feet applauding him. They knew they were in the presence of greatness; witnessing something no one had ever seen before. Anderson soaked it all in, raising his bowling arm with the ball in hand.
There he was, the first fast bowler in the history of the sport to take 700 wickets. The only bowlers above him are two legendary spinners, Shane Warne (709) and Muttiah Muralitharan (800). The only pacer closer to him in the list is his erstwhile partner-in-crime — Stuart Broad — with 604 Test scalps. No one is even in the vicinity of catching up. The next active pacer on the list is Tim Southee with 380 wickets.
A career average of 26.52 and a strike rate of 56.9 after 21 years of Test cricket in itself is remarkable. And he has been able to do so predominantly because of his fitness. The world knows everything about his skill, there is nothing that needs to be said about it. But it's the way he takes care of his body, understands its needs and still remains one of the slick-looking cricketers in the world at 41 tells how much work goes into it.
That is why, despite becoming a Test cricketer long before Shoaib Bashir was born, Anderson is still here. He knows where he stands in cricket's hall of fame. He has done it innumerable times. When he asked the young off-spinner, who took five wickets in, to lead the team off the field at the HPCA Stadium on Saturday, he knew this moment would mean more and do a world of good to the young offie's confidence in what has been a long, tiring and deflating tour.
Now, despite all the accolades and record, there is some criticism of Anderson, and rightly so. His away average goes up to 30 — only Kapil Dev, Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma from the top-ten pacers lie North of 30. As he has grown older, he has not been a regular in the playing XI, and he has been rested and used as minimally as possible. For example, even in this ongoing tour, Anderson bowled 110 overs in seven innings — almost 15 overs per innings — when two inexperienced spinners Tom Hartley (27 overs per innings) and Bashir (33.4 overs per innings) shared the bulk of the load. This is perhaps the first time in a long time he played four consecutive Tests, but barely bowled spells that were longer than five overs and it took him as many as seven innings to get to his tenth wicket of the series.
The England Cricket Board has also played a significant role in ensuring his longevity. His last T20I game was almost 15 years ago, the last ODI game was the quarterfinal defeat against Bangladesh in the 2015 ODI World Cup. He hasn't played a domestic T20 game since 2014, and has featured in 14 List-A games in the past nine years. Anderson has focussed and played just one format — Test cricket.
Every year, he has been playing a handful of county games in the lead up to the home season so that he has some game time under his belt before the Test matches begin. And England cricket has allowed him to do so. They have protected, nurtured and cherished him to get the best out of him despite the criticism. They have done so, perhaps, with valid reason.
Once in a generation comes an athlete who would blow your breath away and show the world that they are special. That they would go on to achieve things that no one else has. In fact, the only other cricketer, who had one primary skill, to be protected and cherished as much as Anderson was by their respective board (BCCI) was Sachin Tendulkar. That Anderson is 13 matches away from going where Tendulkar went — 200 Test matches — sums it up. Maybe, Tendulkar should have retired earlier than he did. Maybe, England should have moved on from Anderson a long time ago. But their respective countries sealed them in a bubble wrap as and when needed and kept playing them because they knew what the world now knows as well. That Tendulkar is the greatest batter India has ever produced. And, of course, James Anderson is the greatest bowler to have played Test cricket for England.