‘I felt like an outcast’: Jimmy Anderson on cricket, Bazball and the future

“I’m not getting too dark here,” Jimmy Anderson says quietly as we return to a time when he was a solitary boy in Burnley, “but I remember sitting in my room thinking: ‘I wish I wasn’t me. I wish I was someone else.’ That’s not a great place to be at 14. I didn’t fit in at school or have a group of mates. The biggest thing for me then was the feeling of being lonely.

“I didn’t have close friends. We didn’t play cricket at school. I was seen as a bit of an odd person who liked cricket. Why would you like cricket when you can play football and these other amazing sports? I did play them, but obviously not to the same level as cricket. I just felt like an outcast.”

Anderson is 42 now but still carries the lean and hungry look of the greatest English Test bowler there has ever been. But he was hurt again in April when Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes ended his Test career. In his revealing and often moving book about cricket and life, which he wrote with Felix White, Anderson describes the encounter in jolting terms: “As I walk towards them, it hits me cold. This isn’t a team appraisal, is it? I feel like Joe Pesci in Goodfellas, ushered into a room under the impression that I’m going to get made, only to be shot. You fuckers.”

Andrew Strauss had tried the same cull in a 45-second phone call in 2022. Anderson refused to surrender and came back fitter and more determined. He writes: “I guess you’d rather be stabbed in the front than the back. This time, it’s different. It’s both kinder and harsher, more sympathetic and more ruthless and, worst of all, nauseatingly final.”

On a grey November morning in Soho I can feel the lingering sadness. Beyond his family and friends, Anderson loves cricket more than anything else. It means so much because it saved him when he was that reclusive teenager. He was just little James from Burnley then, the cricket geek who knew what it was like to be pinned down while a half‑eaten Cornish pasty was ground into his face. He also knew what it felt like when the blood spurted from his nose after a meaty head-butt.

“It did affect me,” Anderson says, “but I feel lucky I had the cricket club. I made friends down there and, without that, I’d have really struggled. So it’s not scarred me going forward. If anything, it made me want to succeed.”

Anderson played 188 Tests for England and took 704 wickets, more than any other pace bowler in history and behind only two master spinners in Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan. He not only succeeded in statistical terms because, over 21 years, Anderson turned bowling into both a sublime art and a gritty feat of resilience.

He pauses when I ask what would have happened to him without cricket. “It’s a great question,” Anderson says. “I’ve no idea. I did sixth form and thought of going to uni if I didn’t get a contract. I didn’t have a clue what I was going to do if cricket didn’t happen. It’s frightening because I’m sure there’re many people in that same position and they don’t have that something I loved with a passion. I feel so fortunate I had cricket.”

His wife, Daniella, was furious when England discarded him as a player. Is she still angry now that Anderson is back in the fold as the Test bowling coach? “I think so, yes. She’s been my biggest supporter from when we first met. I had injuries and she was the one who motivated me to get going again. She just felt it wasn’t the right way to have done things. She felt I should go on my own terms. But I think it’s easing now.”

Did Anderson feel similar anger? “I don’t think I was angry. I was just shocked. But, to be honest, I would have carried on for as long as my body let me. Maybe I needed that nudge to say now’s a good time to finish.”

Soon afterwards, Anderson played a county game for Lancashire in which he skittled Nottinghamshire with imperious bowling and figures of seven for 35. “I wasn’t out to prove a point,” he says. “I was thinking that this could potentially be my last-ever game for Lancashire so I wanted to make sure I bowled well. It was only afterwards when Ben texted me that I twigged.”

A familiar shy, rueful smile creases up his face as Anderson recalls the exact wording of that wry text from Stokes: “Did you really have to do that?”

“Sorry, mate,” Anderson replied.

The mutual respect and affection between Anderson, Stokes and McCullum remains. But was there a moment, amid the pain, when Anderson was tempted to reject their coaching offer? “No. If it had been completely cut out of my life I don’t think I’d have coped very well. The fact that they wanted me to stay in the group helped me. I’m still having the dressing-room environment, still seeing my mates every day, still having an impact on Test matches, but obviously in a very different way.”

View image in fullscreen Jimmy Anderson: ‘Hopefully four overs won’t feel too much after 20 years of Test cricket’. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

Anderson leans forward and his face softens. “I find it quite exciting that I’m getting to learn a different job and finding out more about myself and whether I’m any good at it. So it’s been pretty interesting and, as a coach, I can now see that the decision actually benefited the team because there’ve been more opportunities for bowlers to come in and do well. That’s exactly what they were trying to do with the Ashes happening in a year’s time. They want to make sure they’ve got enough players with the experience to cope.”

England and Anderson head to New Zealand in a couple of weeks and then, next summer, they face India at home before the almighty challenge of trying to win the Ashes in Australia. Does Anderson think there’s enough time to remodel England’s bowling attack into an efficient and remorseless unit by then? “It’s going to have to be. I think we’ve got enough experience with Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer potentially, and then the guys that are coming in. Gus Atkinson has done really well, and so has Brydon Carse and Matthew Potts. They’re getting experience all the time and if they’ve got 12 Tests under their belts that’s great. It doesn’t have to be 50 Tests. We’ve got a nice mix with different types of bowlers for different conditions. If everyone’s fit it’s going to be difficult to narrow [selection] down.”

Archer could be a crucial bowler next year but his career has been blighted by injury. “I’ve not been involved with white-ball cricket,” Anderson says but “it seems like he’s doing well. They’re being careful and, if we can keep him fit, the Ashes is a definite opportunity. The only worry is whether the injuries have scared him away from Test cricket and he thinks: ‘Can my body cope?’ But if Jofra works hard enough, and he’s managed well, he would be huge for us in the Ashes.”

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Atkinson took 12 wickets on his Test debut against West Indies at Lord’s in July, in a match which marked Anderson’s final commemorative game for England. The 26-year-old, according to Anderson, “has got it all. Pace, skill and he picks up things really quickly. I’ve worked with him a little bit and he’ll say: ‘Right, I want to learn an in-swinger’ and within 12 balls he’ll have it. That’s a great trait. He’s got amazing ability and a great temperament.”

Anderson was with England on their recent tour of Pakistan where they won the first Test with admirable intent before folding disappointingly in the next two matches. McCullum has had a transformative impact on English cricket over the last two years, as his positive and simple messaging to enjoy the game above all else liberated the players. But will it be difficult for the coach to retain the freshness of his approach as England face a daunting year?

“He’s very good at reading the room,” Anderson says of McCullum. “If he feels we’re a little tense, then he’ll relax the group. If we need a little bit more energy, then he’ll find it. But it’s been an interesting period where we have maybe gone away from that ultra-aggressive style led by Ben Stokes. He was getting criticism for being over the top in attacking so maybe he’s gone slightly away from that and he’s trying to find that balance of being entertaining and aggressive while still winning.”

It sounds as if Anderson, a Test-match traditionalist, is advocating a return to Bazball in its purest and most attacking form? “I think so, yes. It can be difficult in Pakistan to play in that positive, aggressive way. But the last time we went to Pakistan [in 2022] we scored 500 in a day, so there’s definitely scope for us to try and get back there.”

Stokes, who is such a galvanising and upbeat captain, seemed unusually frustrated in Pakistan. “Having missed a few games through injury he was really keen to get back but it’s tough in those conditions. I don’t think he was overly frustrated – it was just that we had chances in the last Test and didn’t take them. But I’m sure he’ll be looking forward to New Zealand and he will be there earlier to see family. If he was frustrated in Pakistan, hopefully he’ll be more relaxed over there.”

View image in fullscreen The many highs of Jimmy Anderson’s England career. Composite: Tom Jenkins, Getty Images

Anderson will keep bowling in the nets in New Zealand as his decision to make himself available for the IPL sees his name being entered in the upcoming auction. “I bowled a bit in Pakistan and then in the indoor school at Old Trafford to keep ticking over. I’m sure I’ll bowl more in New Zealand because I feel great. Over the last eight years, if I didn’t bowl for three months it didn’t matter. My muscle memory just takes over and it’s all there. The important thing, as I’ve got older, is taking care of the fitness side and that’s something I’ve really looked after. If I do play some T20s, hopefully four overs won’t feel too much after 20 years of Test cricket.”

He is also hoping to play other forms of franchise cricket and Anderson grins helplessly at the prospect of his return to limited-overs action starting in the IPL. “The feedback on social media has been amazing. I didn’t expect it to kick up this much of a fuss. But I really want to experience it because everyone says it’s an amazing tournament.”

As cricket envelops him again in its comforting embrace, Anderson looks suddenly rejuvenated. The hurt fades a little more as he anticipates a future which includes coaching in Test cricket while playing again in a completely fresh T20 environment. “I’m definitely excited but it is taking a bit of adjusting,” he says. “I’m trying to figure out which direction I want to go while getting the right balance in my life as I think about all that’s happened and what might happen next.”

Jimmy Anderson’s Finding the Edge is published by Bonnier Books

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