Jimmy Anderson is about to feature in his 10th Ashes series and, in the postwar era, no man has done so more times. Colin Cowdrey played 10 between 1954 and 1975, while Steve Waugh’s nine between 1986 and 2003 is the most for an Australian. Yep, here comes the latest longevity based landmark for old Jim.
There is a small matter of a minor groin strain to overcome first, Anderson requesting an extra match with Lancashire last week to get up to speed only to feel a twinge in the area. “Not a good twinge,” he says, meaning that while he could be ready for the Lord’s Test against Ireland that starts on 1 June, he may not be risked.
All being well, though, a remarkable cricketer who turns 41 on the penultimate day of the men’s Ashes should hit double figures in terms of series against Australia. While it doesn’t count towards the tally, Anderson also represents a link to the glorious summer of 2005 when the country went cricket gaga – he was an unused squad member for the epic denouement at the Oval.
So many wickets and records have fallen to Anderson since and he is no longer the shy, sometimes monosyllabic, character off the field he was back then and, provided England can maintain their scorching approach under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum over the past 12 months, he predicts only one outcome when the urn is up for grabs once more.
Anderson says: “Australia are naturally extremely competitive and aggressive. They’ll have discussed [our tactics] and have their own plans and ways of how they are going to cope. I just think if we do what we’ve been doing and play as well as we possibly can, I don’t think anyone in the world can cope with it.”
It’s a punchy assertion, coming during a promotional event for sponsors Radox at Old Trafford in midweek. That said, it is not likely to trigger the same response in Australia as when his old mucker, Stuart Broad, recently said the most recent 4-0 defeat in 2022-23 was in his mind “void” due to the Covid restrictions that turned the tour into a soulless trudge.
“I get his point with the Covid stuff,” says Anderson, smiling when this was brought up. “But for me. I’ve voided the last three away from home. Four out of five, I think. But no, that’s his way of coping with it. That is his coping strategy.”
How the two attacks deal with the scheduling of this summer’s Ashes series is a more relevant talking point. As Paul Hayward notes in the most recent edition of the Cricketer, this latest instalment encompasses five Tests played in the space of just 46 days – compared to 54 in 2005 – and, thanks to the Hundred, makes it the first home Ashes in 141 years without a match in August.
“I think playing all five is a little bit optimistic,” says Anderson, underlining the folly of this. “I think three, not just for myself – if you said to any of the bowlers three out of five, I think that’s probably more realistic, more sensible. If it’s four then great.
“The thing is, you’ve got to take it game by game. If we’re bowling 250 overs in the field in five days then you’re probably going to rest. There could be rain, we could bowl them out cheaply. You just don’t know, you’ve got to play it by ear.”
Assisting here would be the ability of Stokes to operate as England’s fourth seamer, a great unknown given the captain’s longstanding knee problem and a spell in the Indian Premier League spent largely on the sidelines.
Anderson says: “I think he’s conscious of the lack of help he’s given us seamers in the last few months and he’s working really hard to be a big part of the summer. It makes such a huge difference on the workload side and it gives the opposition something else to think about.
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“You can usually tell with the boots he comes on the field with – if he’s not got his bowling boots on it’s like: ‘Urgh, we’re in for a long session.’ We will keep our fingers crossed he can play a part with the ball.”
Stokes the captain is still a huge factor in England’s push for 20 wickets, something they have achieved consistently while a buccaneering batting lineup – scoring at an average of 4.7 runs an over in the past year – has captured more of the attention. Anderson, it’s fair to say, is loving his wickets asap approach.
“I think he’s been spot on so far,” says Anderson. “I can’t fault anything really. I think everyone knew that he was a leader, the way he trains, whether it’s the gym or whether it’s catching or batting or bowling the way he goes about his business – he is the ultimate professional; a born leader.
“[But] for me, it’s the finer details, not just on the field where his tactical nous has been spot on, but also his emotional intelligence off the field and how he talks to everyone in the group.
If he needs to put his arm around someone or fire someone up, he’s just got a really good way of doing that. So I’ve been really impressed.”
Asked if Stokes was the best of his eight Test captains, Anderson paused for a while and said “yeah” – before quickly qualifying that it is also hard to say definitively just a year into the project. Either way, with Anderson repeating the line that no team can cope with England if they play to their potential, his confidence is undimmed before encounter No 10 with Australia.