James Anderson 704 wickets

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Westend

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Mar 28, 2009
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Congrats

To James Anderson on a fabulous durable test bowling career. One of the greats for England. A good bowler but turn it up poms ...the best ever fast bowler ??....please :rolleyes:

A great fast bowler in English conditions but still averaged over 25 with the ball and averaged 34 with the ball in both Australia and South Africa

Compared to Glenn Mcgrath he got nothing imo

A good player but the English press just shit me to tears
 
He's not among the very best, but I have to salute his professionalism and longevity.

Initially, I didn't rate him - yeah, there was talent, but he was an erratic bowler who depended heavily on conditions.

Over the last decade, he became a very clever bowler who used both swing and cut effectively. Even when things weren't happening for him, he rarely got thrashed.

I wish him well in retirement.
 
I think it was the ECB that anointed Anderson as the greatest fast bowler. He has more wickets but that's the only area where he is ahead. For me, an avid watcher since the late 1960's I have a number of fast/fast medium bowlers that IMO were better. In no particular order these are:

Dennis Lillee, Glenn McGrath, Jeff Thomson, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Curtley Ambrose, John Snow, Bob Willis, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Allan Donald, Dale Steyn and there are more but age and time leave gaps in my memory.
 

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He is like the Brent Harvey of Cricket.

Excellent player and very durable.

But I don't think anyone serious would consider him in the best ever conversation.

Broad and Swann were always the bowlers that worried me more in that English team when they were all in their prime.
 
Yeh the ECB calling him the greatest ever is just ridiculous. He was a bowler that averaged close to 40 after 5 or so years. Basically took 12-13 years to get his average under 30. Easy pickings for our batsmen in his first few Ashes tours.

Incredible longevity that counts towards his standing in the game. Rested from a few tours towards the end of his career most definitely helped with this and thrusted him up the wicket tally.

In no particular order, I'd personally have Marshall, Lillee, McGrath, Wasim, Hadlee, Steyn, Ambrose, Imran, Waqar, Holding, Garner and Donald all ahead of him. Behind all of them in terms of average, strike rate, home/away comparisons. Wouldn't make a 3rd XI all time side.

I'd also point out that Bumrah, Rabada and Cummins will most likely be viewed as superior bowlers both at the peak of their powers and when their careers have finished.
 
The dude making his debut in that English side for Jimmy's farewell match took better match figures than Jimmy did in his 188 Test match career.

rOCrzcQYzia-cwm9PLKd-bZE2unKEG9tjNATihhE_AI.jpg


With that being said, Jimmy's career is obviously outstanding, to still be good enough to do at the top level at that age is remarkable.

Beautiful run up and delivery technique, smooth as silk.

And this is one of the coolest clips in all of cricket:

 
mouncey2franklin said:
The dude making his debut in that English side for Jimmy's farewell match took better match figures than Jimmy did in his 188 Test match career.

rOCrzcQYzia-cwm9PLKd-bZE2unKEG9tjNATihhE_AI.jpg


With that being said, Jimmy's career is obviously outstanding, to still be good enough to do at the top level at that age is remarkable.

Beautiful run up and delivery technique, smooth as silk.

And this is one of the coolest clips in all of cricket:

Click to expand...

That was funny. Mitchell would have his revenge though in Adelaide a few years later.

Anderson's spell with the pink ball in 17/18 in Adelaide was memorable.
 
revo333 said:
A very good test bowler when the conditions suited but 704 wickets isn't that impressive for the amount of tests he played and proves longevity in sport is mostly overrated.
Click to expand...
Probably the most impressive thing about Anderson's career was - his average, economy & strike rate kept improving the older he got.
After turning 35 he took 224 wickets @ 22.71

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revo333 said:
Doesn't mean much, A pile of pace bowlers have a better SR than Warne did.
Click to expand...
Nobody would ever say Warne's 700 wickets isn't that impressive because of the number of balls he bowled.

Anderson's 700 wickets is an outstanding effort, and the fact he could be a world-class bowler for 20 years is an achievement in itself.

Does it put him in the top echelon of fast bowlers? Of course not. But to say "700 wickets isn't that impressive" is just a graceless shit-canning of a bloke because he plays for another country.
 
big_e said:
Nobody would ever say Warne's 700 wickets isn't that impressive because of the number of balls he bowled.
Click to expand...

Of course they wouldn't, because most people watched Warne bowl and saw batsman defending for their lives trying not to get out to him.

'Does it put him in the top echelon of fast bowlers? Of course not'

What you said here proves that what I said wasn't outrageous at all and not really a shit canning.
 
big_e said:
Better strike rate than Shane Warne.
Click to expand...


43 more tests then Warnie as well and still fell 4 wickets short.
big_e said:
You understand how strike rates work, yeah?
Click to expand...

yeah , all spinners generally have a higher strike rate.

strike rates have become lower since T20 cricket - no one can bat for a day these days it seems as batsmen seem to play riskier shots (or so it feels).
 
...the best ever fast bowler ??....please
Click to expand...

No where even near it... Glenn McGrath is the best fast bowler I've ever seen, so economical, the pressure just built up on the batsmen and his record is good everywhere... Jimmy was to reliant on conditions.
 
Around the Wicket said:
I wouldn't even have him Top 10, he isn't even the best of his generation Dale Steyn I'd pick every day of the week.
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I wouldn't even have him in the best medium pace bowler to bowl in england

I would prefer Alderman any day of the week bowling in england over Anderson

and the great G Mcgrath
 
Westend said:
Congrats

To James Anderson on a fabulous durable test bowling career. One of the greats for England. A good bowler but turn it up poms ...the best ever fast bowler ??....please :rolleyes:

A great fast bowler in English conditions but still averaged over 25 with the ball and averaged 34 with the ball in both Australia and South Africa

Compared to Glenn Mcgrath he got nothing imo

A good player but the English press just shit me to tears
Click to expand...
I agree with you.

It's always a bit tricky when a player has an overall average that is good but either started or finished their career with excellence ...do you cherry pick the best bits? Someone like Botham wrecked his figures as he went on (his bowling average was 18 when he took his 100th wicket) whilst Gooch was a monster aged 36-40 but mediocre for the 15 years before.

After 46 tests Anderson had 156 wickets at 34.81 and an economy rate of 3.46.

From 2015 to the end he averages 22.63 and had an economy rate of 2.45.

That change in economy rate is insane, to put in perspective only 3 quicks in the top 20 or so wicket takers go for over 3 an over, one is Ntini who's probably the only non great bowler on the list and the other 2 are Waqar and Steyn who have the lowest strike rates and are pure strike bowlers.

That 2.45 is the other extreme, Ambrose is out on his own at 2.30, Pollock second at 2.39 Garner third at 2.47 and McGrath at 2.49. he's managed to hit a level that only the 2 standouts bettered over their careers.

I've seen a lot of English bowlers of his type, not overly tall, not overly quick, swing/ seam bowlers and they all end up averaging over 30 and they're all cannon fodder outside England for the most part. It took him a while but he learnt all he could do on flat pitches with no swing is to keep it tight.

In the end he just became Richard Hadlee, same height, same build, same skills but Hadlee became Richard Hadlee a lot earlier in his career than Anderson did.

If he'd done what he did in his last decade or so over his whole career he'd probably be on the cusp of sitting at the top table.

I'm with the other poster who has the likes of Lillee, McGrath, Marshall, Ambrose, Garner, Wasim, Imran, Donald, Steyn, Holding, Hadlee ahead of him. They are the best of the best that mob, I'd have Marshall at #1 personally but I wouldn't argue with different views.
 
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James Anderson 704 wickets

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