• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

The Jimmy Anderson Appreciation Thread

vic_orthdox

Global Moderator
Someone who was seen as "injury prone" early in his career, has wound up with ten years of consistent cricket under his belt.
 

Kirkut

International Regular
Anderson has played 129 tests in his 14 year career, that averages to 9 tests per year. And maintaining a bowling average of 27 with this much workload is nothing short of praises. Plus he's a very fit bowler, I wouldn't be surprised if he can play till he's 38-39.

Having said that, the dearth of good players of swing bowling did help him. Especially in 2010s where I can't think of any batsman who plays swing well, Rahane? Amla? those guys are good but still not at Dravid or Crowe level. Anyways, he may not be an ATG but definitely a great bowler on par with Shaun Pollock.
 

Groundking

International Debutant
Anderson has played 129 tests in his 14 year career, that averages to 9 tests per year. And maintaining a bowling average of 27 with this much workload is nothing short of praises. Plus he's a very fit bowler, I wouldn't be surprised if he can play till he's 38-39.

Having said that, the dearth of good players of swing bowling did help him. Especially in 2010s where I can't think of any batsman who plays swing well, Rahane? Amla? those guys are good but still not at Dravid or Crowe level. Anyways, he may not be an ATG but definitely a great bowler on par with Shaun Pollock.
Longevity alone makes him an ATG for me, couple that with multiple back to back stunning years with the ball cements things.
 

Adders

Cricketer Of The Year
I request that the mods sticky this thread and close all other current Jimmy Anderson threads.

Harsh......make it happen.
 

stephen

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Anderson was always a decent prospect and it was good to see him finally come good a few years back. His biggest asset is his longevity which is unparalleled.

Best bowler in English conditions since McGrath retired and best English bowler in my lifetime.

He's 35 now, which is the age McGrath retired. It'll be interesting to see whether he retires on his own terms or gets dropped after he inevitably losses his nip (or takes 3 wickets @ 150 in the Ashes).
 

Adders

Cricketer Of The Year
Oh you're gonna be such a laugh a minute come Ashes time aren't you stephen. My early Ashes bet is that you get yourself a ban before the Gabba test finishes.
 

TheJediBrah

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Seems like a lot of people are using the Anderson reaching 500 event as a bit of an opportunity to point out that he isn't as good as many other modern bowlers, which isn't really necessary IMO.

His strength is his longevity, that's the point. Him being not as "good" as a bunch of these other guys shouldn't be used in an attempt to bring him down and denigrate the value of his achievement. Let him have his moment.
 

stephen

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Oh you're gonna be such a laugh a minute come Ashes time aren't you stephen. My early Ashes bet is that you get yourself a ban before the Gabba test finishes.
I tend to go soft on people when their side is being smashed ;).
 

Burgey

Request Your Custom Title Now!
No coincidence the Nathan Lyon Appreciation Thread is doing a lot better than this one......

Anderson deserves a lot of credit. 500 test wickets is a crazy amount, and for a pace bowler all the more meritorious. To think he got there after his first tour here is almost unimaginable, and a credit to him. The fact he doesn't look at the pitch when he bowls makes it all the more remarkable. His longevity and his excellence over the past few years especially have been massive. Good on him.
 

Burgey

Request Your Custom Title Now!
I request that the mods sticky this thread and close all other current Jimmy Anderson threads.

Harsh......make it happen.
Why would you ask Harsh to do that? He'll end up closing and archiving it.
 

Arachnodouche

International Captain
Most raw talent seen in a fast bowler since Wasim. Undoubtedly helped by the conditions in which he's played most of his cricket; one shudders to think what W might have achieved in similar conditions. But that's neither here nor there; the time for Jimmy The Vampire jokes is past, he is a legitimate great of the modern game.
 

stephen

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Most raw talent seen in a fast bowler since Wasim. Undoubtedly helped by the conditions in which he's played most of his cricket; one shudders to think what W might have achieved in similar conditions. But that's neither here nor there; the time for Jimmy The Vampire jokes is past, he is a legitimate great of the modern game.
Really? He has longevity but plenty of others have been more talented. Steyn for one.
 

Burgey

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Yeah but mate 500 wickets is 500 wickets. There are arguably a lot more talented blokes than McGrath over the years too, if your idea of talent is being able to bend it around corners. But McGrath is arguably the greatest fast bowler of all time. Not because he was the most "talented" like you're using it - he didn't get prodigious swing or bowl 160kph (though he was pretty rapid early on). He just got ****s out. The only currency which counts in cricket is runs and wickets. Of course, the fun of it is putting those things into context, but you can't deny a seam bowler who takes 500 wickets is bloody good at his job. He has to be.
 

Adders

Cricketer Of The Year
Yeah, most talented and best are not the same thing. There are a few people with the opinion that Anderson is more talented than Steyn (I presume because he can swing it both ways) but really, only an idiot would say Anderson is better than him.
 

Arachnodouche

International Captain
Really? He has longevity but plenty of others have been more talented. Steyn for one.
I love Steyn in full flight to bits, too, but Anderson can make the ball wobble at will, just like Wasim could. I understand talent can be measured by different parameters for a fast bowler but the ability to control swing and length at decent speed surely ranks above all others? Pace like Shoaib is a physiological event, seam movement depends on the wicket, but swing at speed has an element of purity about it.
 
Last edited:

TheJediBrah

Request Your Custom Title Now!
I love Steyn in full flight to bits, too, but Anderson can make the ball wobble at will, just like Wasim could. I understand talent can be measured by different parameters for a fast bowler but the ability to control swing and length at decent speed surely ranks above all others? Pace like Shoaib is a physiological event, seam movement depends on the wicket, but swing at speed has an element of purity about it.
lol wut
 

stephen

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I guess we have different views on what "talent" means. I would place Steyn as more talented since he was able to rip through the awesome Indian batting lineup in India on multiple occasions. He could make the ball talk in places others could not.

Anderson is the greatest swing bowler of his generation and to his credit has been able to adapt well enough to conditions foreign to him that he's not a liability like most swing bowlers would be. But there are others who have had more talent during his career, for my definition of talent (which I define as the ability to get blokes out in all conditions).
 

OverratedSanity

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Anderson's about as good a bowler as Cook is an opener imo. Both just a level below the very best, but great in their own right, and have remarkable longevity. England have been very lucky to have the two of them this last decade.
 

Top