More to come for Anderson
19-May-2013
On the ground where he made his debut 10 years ago, James Anderson reached 300 wickets when he removed Peter Fulton on the second day against New Zealand. In his column for the Mail on Sunday he reflects in his achievement and is still struggling to take it all in.
Being at Lord's, where I made a less-than-perfect start to my Test career, surrounded by very good mates and hearing that lovely applause from the crowd made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I will never forget any of it. And there were other reasons why it was such an intense moment. There have been times in my career when I thought nothing like this would ever happen or could, when I'd been injured or dropped and wondered whether I would ever play for England again.
In the Guardian, Vic Marks says that, unlike the other four England bowlers to reach 300 wickets, Anderson has time on his side for many more
Admittedly, Botham was only 29 but he had already given his body a bit of a hammering - this, of course, is a reference to a back rebelling against such a heavy on-field workload. He reached 300 in seven years; he played Test cricket for eight more but in his last 30 Tests he took only 78 wickets at 37 apiece. In essence he became a batting all-rounder.
Willis at 34 had ruthlessly bullied his body to keep bowling fast. With his action, of which not even Heath Robinson would have been proud, he would not have got past first base with today's array of multi-qualified ECB coaches and physios looking on. Willis would play nine more Tests after his grabbing his 300th, taking 25 more wickets. As for Trueman, 33 when his colleagues decorously shook his hand at †he Oval, there were just two more matches against New Zealand in 1965 and that was it at Test level.