Jimmy Anderson and the search for greatness

Many terms are overused in the modern era of sports media but perhaps none more so than GOAT : the Greatest of All Time. It seems that these days every team, nation and category of player has its own GOAT. But while we have become accustomed to the sight of this acronym, it remains unclear what separates the greatest from the great. Over the past few years we have been blessed to see some of the finest rivalries in sports history : Messi and Ronaldo; Federer and Nadal. Looking further afield, into the American sports market there is Brady and Rogers. In each case, the former is widely recognised as the GOAT, in spite of significant arguments for the latter being better. So, if the greatest is not always the best, what separates them from the rest?

For me, the answer lies not in their skills or their accomplishments (although of course these play a role) but rather in the difficulty they faced in achieving this excellence. Messi, for all his talent, was told he was too small to play football. Federer, in spite of age and injuries, continues to compete at the highest level. Brady is still the sixth-round draft pick who no one believed in. The very greatest are the over-achievers, who should not be able to win yet somehow do it anyway.

Cricket, of course, has its own rivalries. Either side of the new millennium there were two such duos : Warne and Murali alongside Tendulkar and Lara. More recently the fab four have dominated the batting landscape. Yet connecting these two eras is perhaps the two that most embodies the concept outlined above.

On the one hand, you have Dale Steyn, perhaps the best strike bowler to have ever lived. After establishing himself in 2006, for the next ten years Steyn dominated the fast bowling landscape, spending a ludicrous 2343 days as world number one. Only once in that time did he average over thirty across a year while Europe is the only continent where Steyn averages above thirty. All this while holding the second best strike rate among pacers (min. 200 wickets). And yet, despite the unprecedented nature of his domination, Steyn’s career trajectory followed that of most top fast bowlers. A rapid ascent preceding a decade of excellence before injuries brought him back down to Earth.

At the other end of the spectrum, however, there is James Anderson. Jimmy entered the England dressing room as a twenty year old on the back of just five List-A games, then enduring years of mediocrity as England attempted to change the action which got him there. Six years into his international career, Anderson averaged 33 (quite the contrast to Steyn’s 23 in the same timeframe). In the early years, he was often expensive and over-reliant on lateral movement, leading to struggles overseas. The Anderson of today is unrecognisable in comparison : metronomic, miserly and with complete control over a cricket ball. To counter his struggles abroad, Anderson mastered reverse swing and perfected a new wobble-seam delivery, two skills that must have bought him dozens of test wickets.

Last summer, Anderson became the first fast bowler to claim 600 test wickets

Source : Indianexpress.com

For most fast bowlers turning 35 is the beginning of the end, if the end has not already arrive, as it had for Steyn. Yet, since that day, Anderson has become virtually unstoppable. In this period he has taken 146 test wickets (and counting!) at an average of just 21 and averaged under 25 in every country barring Australia - where he bowled 223 overs at an economy of 2.11 as essentially the only functional part of an utterly useless team that narrowly avoided a second successive whitewash Down-Under.

In a way it is unfortunate that Jimmy has reached the pinnacle in terms of wicket-taking quicks as it means his greatness will always be assessed in terms of wickets and strike-rate, a category where no one can match Steyn. Anderson’s genius runs far deeper than his absurd wickets tally. It lies in his fitness, his dedication to the art of fast-bowling and his desire to keep moving forward, as an individual and a team. Even at 39, he’s still improving all the while filling in the cracks of a dysfunctional batting line-up. Just for that, he’s earned the title more than most.

Real Imagery of James Anderson

Source : Wikipedia