England’s greatest Test match bowler is once again officially the world’s finest after James Anderson usurped Pat Cummins at the top of the rankings.
Anderson’s seven-wicket haul against the Kiwis in the win at Mount Maunganui was enough to take him back to No.1 for the sixth time in an extraordinary career that is showing no sign of slowing down.
At 40 years of age Anderson is the oldest man to top the charts since Aussie leg-spinner Clarrie Grimmett would have theoretically done so back in 1936 at the age of 44. Grimmett played his final match against South Africa where he took 13-173 to leave on the highest of highs, while Anderson still has more he wants to achieve in the game, not least in this summer’s Ashes.
He will go toe-to-toe once more with Australia’s captain Cummins, who had just celebrated his 10th birthday when Anderson was picking up the first of his 32 five-wicket hauls on debut. Now in his 20th year of international cricket, the England star is still going strong with 202 wickets since turning 35 at an astonishing average of 20.56.
England are contemplating resting him from the second Test in Wellington after he and the other two pace bowlers all complained of soreness following their 267-run victory. Ollie Robinson is the only pace bowler to have played all four matches this winter with Anderson on three and Stuart Broad on just the one after missing the Pakistan tour for the birth of his child.
It perhaps makes it more likely that Anderson and/or Robinson will be given a break with Ollie Stone and Matthew Potts waiting in the wings in Wellington. The World No.1 will not want to miss out though on a ground he has performed well at in the past, taking 10 wickets across two matches at an average of 22.
It was during the first Test that Anderson’s career average dipped below 26 for the first time since his second match in 2003, and it arrived along with a new record tally of 1,009 wickets as a partnership between him and Broad, overtaking Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath. And if they are kept apart this week, the smart money would be on them adding a few more to the ledger in the summer under Ben Stokes.
"They're the GOATs, aren't they?” said the captain. “I can't see that record being broken for a very long time. Warne and McGrath were an unbelievable combination, but I think the way in which Test cricket is going now with everything else open to players, I can't see that record being broken any time soon. I can't ever see it being broken."
Of Anderson, Broad added: “I feel very lucky and blessed to have been born in the same era as Jimmy because certainly without him, I wouldn't have been able to be at the other end taking wickets in the partnership that we've had.
"I've learned so much from him throughout my career and it's probably the reason I'm still going at 36 - the way that he's done it and been a great leader to follow."
