Congratulations to James Anderson, named as England's player of 2011-12 for his international exploits in all three formats. As England have risen up the rankings, he has had plenty of competition, even if some of the 2011 superstars lost some of their sparkle in the desert sands against Pakistan earlier this calendar year. As he approaches 30, the boy from Burnley has matured from his wild and wayward youth, blitzing batsman one day, being pasted over the park the next. His consistency has enabled him to lead the England attack in Tests and ODIs, even the new-fangled Twenty20, becoming widely respected as the foremost exponent of pace and swing in the world. Others may be quicker but Anderson is one of the hardest to hit, moving the ball both ways but in first-class cricket has arguably the deadliest inswinging yorker of them all.
I remember about ten years ago when Anderson was making his name for Lancashire as a young tyro fast bowler. Alongside Andrew Flintoff, he gave the county a real fillip in the bowling department. He also had the looks and the hairstyle which gave the marketing men and women at the ECB and media organisations something to boost cricket's image with the young of both sexes - and this was just as T20 was also about to make its first appearance blinking in the English summer sunlight. I remember playing a peripheral role in a BBC TV promotional campaign for its cricket output, then already restricted to radio. Anderson was used in a monochrome slow-motion indoor sequence which pandered to the old notion of fast bowlers as the mean and moody stars of the sport. Not sure whether it really worked, especially given that ever since, all the TV highlights, and entire T20 matches, are given over to batsmen hitting boundaries.
He was first James, then Jimmy, before reverting to James again. Was this his preference, or a brand image? I don't know. His exploits in county cricket earned him a sudden call-up for the VB one-day series in Australia. His debut came at the MCG on 15th December 2002, when he and Richard Kirtley were amongst the men carted about the ground by Gilchrist and Ponting in their pomp. Five days later, he impressed with 2-23 in 8 overs against Sri Lanka, then in January bowled six maidens against the Aussies, although to be honest they had an easy win. In the 2003 World Cup, his 4-29 embarrassed a star-studded Pakistan and a poor showing against Australia again didn't prevent him becoming a regular in the one-day side.
He had a relatively easy start to his Test career against Zimbabwe that summer, although South Africa proved to be tougher opposition. Around 2005, the arrival on the scene of Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and Matthew Hoggard caused Anderson to slip out of the Test side and in 2006 he missed the entire summer with a stress fracture which could have damaged his career permanently. While missing out on the Ashes celebrations, he was to knuckle down, focus on a smoother action, much as Dennis Lillee had done three decades earlier, and win his way back into favour.
Since 2008 he has done great things for England, home and away, passing the wicket landmarks of 250 in Tests and 200 in ODIs. His averages in all forms of international cricket are just over 30. Not world-class spread over a decade, but his performances in the past year have made him into England's best of a very good bunch. To be recognised as England's best player, above even Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad, is testament to the Lancastrian's standing not in the ICC world rankings - where he rose to second behind Dale Steyn - but in the opinion of cricket fans and his peers.
England v South Africa brings the promise of many exciting encounters, and to compare the merits of Anderson, Broad, Steyn, Morkel and Philander is one of them. Don't be surprised if James Anderson, on his home pitches, comes out on top.
