From the moment I first saw Jimmy Anderson, more than 10 years ago when I was England captain, I was convinced he had what it takes to be something special. It was immediately obvious he had the tools to go to the very top.
We were going through the usual dark days of a losing Ashes tour and here was a young bowler who could swing the ball both in and out, late, with no discernible change of action.
His skills were something that you just couldn’t teach, and as a captain I had a soft spot for him from the start.
Brilliant: Anderson celebrates taking his 300th Test wicket as he dismisses Peter FultonToo much so, actually, at times — like the day in Port Elizabeth very early in Jimmy’s career when I preferred him to Andy Caddick for a crucial penultimate over of a World Cup game against Australia and Andy Bichel hit him out of the park.
I made sure I sought Anderson out that night to put my arm round him and apologise for my mistake because I was concerned that experience might do some damage to him at a formative stage of his career.
I shouldn’t have worried. Jimmy could handle it, as he has handled all the ups and downs he’s had since on his way to becoming the fourth Englishman to take 300 Test wickets.
Another wicket: James Anderson dismisses Hamish Rutherford at Lord's on FridayMuch was made of me saying in my book that I found it hard to get into Jimmy’s head when I was captain but I didn’t mean that as a criticism. Simply, he was so quiet that he never said anything when you talked to him and I was the type of captain who liked to get inside a bowler’s brain to see whether he needed an arm round the shoulder or a kick up the backside.
But that didn’t mean I didn’t enjoy captaining Jimmy. I certainly did. What you see is what you get with him. There is no ego. He hasn’t changed a bit since those early days and I am delighted for him that he has reached such a significant landmark. He thoroughly deserves it.
Yes, there have been some difficult times when he had issues with his fitness and attempts to change his action. It couldn’t have been easy for him to be 12th man throughout the 2005 Ashes series.
Happy days: Hussain celebrates with Anderson on the 2002/03 tour of AustraliaBut he went back to doing what he did best, which is something that Steven Finn needs to remember now. Anderson’s action wasn’t sufficiently broken for it to need to be mended and Finn is right to go back to his longer run-up now if that is what he is comfortable with. It is that which got him here in the first place.
I am convinced that Jimmy will now go on to beat Sir Ian Botham’s record of 383 wickets and become the first Englishman to reach 400. He is a product of the central contract age and as such has bowled the majority of his wicket-taking deliveries for England. That is exactly how it should be. Long may it continue.
addCustomPlayer('sd2if9dge3q31mizuyl6230gk', '', '', 640, 580, 'perfsd2if9dge3q31mizuyl6230gk', 'eplayer16');More... Anderson joins 300 club, but impressive New Zealand still have the upper hand after second day of Lord's Test Anderson joins heroes Botham, Underwood and Trueman as he becomes fourth English bowler to take 300 Test wickets