Birthday special: James Anderson – 3 lesser-known facts about the pace legend
England’s veteran bowling ace James Anderson is one of the most renowned names in red-ball cricket and is regarded as one of the greatest bowlers to have ever played the game. In an international career spanning nearly two decades, the bowling ace has broken numerous records on his way to a whopping 657 wickets in Tests and is showing no signs of stopping even at the ripe age of 40. While most of his accolades are well known to cricketing fans, on the occasion of his 40th birthday, we look over some of the lesser-known facts about the Lancashire man.
Anderson didn’t enjoy playing under Michael Vaughan
James Anderson was handed his debut by the then-English captain, Nasser Hussain, but he played the majority of his early years under the tutelage of Michael Vaughan. Anderson played 21 Tests under the enigmatic skipper, and in an interview with the BBC in 2012 he revealed that he did not like Vaughan as a skipper because of his lack of communication with his players in the dressing room.
Anderson came out in support of the LGBT community
The LGBT community has received strong support from sporting personalities over the last few years. But going back a decade, there was still prejudice against the community, and that is when James Anderson made a statement by showing his unconditional support for the LGBT community. Anderson posed for Britain’s largest-selling Attitude in September 2010 to ward off homophobia and later in an interview encouraged homosexuals cricketers as he believed homophobia had no place in cricket.
Anderson named Ricky Ponting as the toughest batter to bowl against
James Anderson has bowled to some of the greatest batters of this generation during his career and has even held his own against batting greats like Sachin Tendulkar, dismissing him nine times in 14 matches. When the Englishman was asked about his toughest opponent, he stated that it’s a tough choice since he played against some of the best batters of their time, but remarked that Aussie legend Ricky Ponting was the toughest he ever faced in an interview with Sky Sports in 2020.
