Do you believe in Cricketing Gods? On a pleasant day at Lord’s, it certainly felt like someone up there was writing a script for James Anderson’s final spell in international cricket. Otherwise, how can you explain what transpired in the 44th over of the second innings of the England-West Indies Test?
Gudakesh Motie, the West Indies spinner, attempted the lofted-drive off an Anderson inswinger. There was no conviction behind the shot. So much so that the ball seemed to take an eternity to reach Anderson’s hands. And then he fluffed the catch. All that an embarrassed Anderson could do was sport a wry smile.
Just a few moments before that grassed chance, Anderson had bowled a corker of a delivery that was reminiscent of a sizeable portion of his 704 wickets in Test cricket. From mid-crease, Anderson got one to slant back into the right-handed Joshua da Silva, before it moved away late to catch the outside edge. In fact, the wicketkeeper-batter was aiming to nudge one through the leg-side but ended up nicking it behind to Jamie Smith.
Maybe the Cricketing Gods didn’t want his illustrious career to come to a close via a caught-and-bowled dismissal. Instead, they wished for a quintessential Anderson offering that befuddled some of the best in the business – right from the days when Inzamam-ul-Haq was caught in the slip cordon at the 2003 World Cup.
Eventually, it was Gus Atkinson, Anderson’s teammate, who completed the formalities, bringing to an end a professional career that spanned around 24 years. Just a while after bowling more than 50000 deliveries in international cricket, Anderson was seen playing with Ben Stokes’s kids. Those few minutes indicated that the golden sunset of Anderson’s career had arrived.
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Around 22 summers, 22 winters and 22 rainy seasons ago, a shy 20-year-old cricketer from Burnley was yet to bowl his first delivery in international cricket. He was instead plying his trade in domestic cricket. During the 2002 English season, there was already some talk in the county circles of a young bowler who was making heads turn with a burst of pace and swing.
At the fag end of that season, yours truly had a first glimpse of this promising fast bowler. In the evening, after another mundane day of attending the college, it was time to switch on the TV. Those days, Star-ESPN used to show a fair amount of domestic matches from England and Australia. And one of those games turned out to be a Norwich Union League one-dayer played between Lancashire and Hampshire.
The recollections from that game are of Anderson bowling at around 90mph and generating enough movement. He didn’t seem like a bowler who came from the stables of English cricket. Instead, it felt as if Anderson’s bowling method matched that of young Pakistani bowlers who would partake in tape-ball cricket – full length and attacking the stumps. The only difference being that Anderson swung the ball away from the right-hander, rather than the trademark inswingers that you expect from a Pakistan fast bowler.
Those days, Anderson also created a lot of whip with his action and his head was jerking quite a bit. That whiplash action perhaps pushes him slightly wider of the crease, helping him to create the famous inward angle before it moved away late from the unsuspecting batter. Over the years, Anderson went on to employ the index finger to push it slightly into the right-hander and then generate late away-movement. For the record, he scalped three victims. But there was no doubt that England had found a bowler who had burgeoning potential.
A few months later, it wasn’t exactly surprising to see Anderson’s name in an England XI for the tri-series game versus Australia at the iconic MCG ground. Anderson, who made his debut on the back of a raft of bowlers suffering injuries on that Australian tour, came in for some punishment at the hands of Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting before he finally dismissed the former, with the score reading 240.
Anderson bounced back by summoning up quick spells against Sri Lanka at the Gabba and WACA. After the completion of that tri-series, Anderson rose to prominence with his memorable spell against Pakistan in the World Cup, where he bowled a peach of an outswinging yorker to castle Mohammed Yousuf. Maybe, the cricketing Gods had just started to keep an eye on this young bowler.