James Anderson does cricket proud

James Anderson's appearance in the new issue of the gay magazine Attitude has confirmed his status as one of our most admirable sportsmen: clever, charming and – above all – courageous, writes Simon Briggs in the Telegraph.

While same-sex marriages have become routine events across the civilised world, homosexuality in professional sport remains a forbidden frontier ...

"If there are any gay cricketers," Anderson told Attitude, "they should feel confident enough to come out, because I don't think there is homophobia in cricket. Football fans can be quite abusive and quite harsh, [but] cricket fans are generally quite placid."

This is probably right, even if one can imagine the beery hordes at the Melbourne Cricket Ground coming out with a few ugly chants. Yet most people are less worried about the fans than they are about their own peers.