Can Anderson fulfill his potential?

Anderson since the time he burst onto the scene and impressed everyone with his swing, and pace for Lancashire, the lad from Burnley has been tipped by many as the one who will lead the bowling attack for England one day but Anderson due to a combination of injuries, and lack of faith shown in him by the selectors has meant that he still has to fulfill his undoubted potential but there is hope especially after he bowled with control, and aggression this season against both New Zealand, and Saffers.


It was in 2002 when I saw Anderson playing for Lancashire against Hampshire and troubling all their batsmen with his late swing, and pace still no one expected him to play as soon as he did for England but with England team hit by injury after injury down under meant that Anderson got his break and played for England in the tri - series in Australia in 02/03, yes he was hit around a bit by Gilchrist in the first match he played but he came back strongly against Lanka as he bowled with great control, and good pace which is not expected of someone who is playing in only his second one dayer as vetarns like Ataptu, and Jayasuriya looked all at sea against Anderson and as Ataptu rightly said after the match that Anderson has a big future ahead of him, he continued to show his class in the World cup especially at Cape town where he ripped apart the Pakistani batting line up with late swing and who can forget his delivery to Yousef which swung late and cleaned him up, it was a peach of a delivery and after the WC he showed his class yet again with a 5 wicket haul against Zimbabwe and took a hat trick against Pakistan in the onedayers, yes in the test series against Saffers that season he struggled against the likes of Smith and one has to say that it is a known fact that Anderson does struggle a bit against left handers, yet he did pick up a 5 wicket haul at Trent bridge which helped England to win the match.

Setbacks for Anderson

In Lanka in 03 big things were expected from Anderson but while playing squash he twisted his ankle and missed most of the series, then in Westindies Hoggard was rightfully preferred to him for his consistency as Anderson suddenly lost his way, at that time coaches also tried to change his action, yes Anderson's action is such that his head falls away at the point of delivering the ball but with that action he had got success before and he had got used to it, so it was tough on Anderson to bowl with a changed action as he lost his rhythm and subsequently his place in the side and when he was given the chance like in South Africa at Wanderers in 04/05 as expected he struggled which was because of lack of match practice and he was low on confidence but Anderson worked hard on his game and when he got the chance against India in 06 at Bombay as a result of injury to Harmison he showed his class by troubling the likes of Tendulkar, S'wag etc with late swing and pace, in that test he also bowled useful off cutters which showed that he was a quick learner.

Anderson suffers injury

Just when it seemed that everything was falling into place for Anderson another setback was waiting to happen as he suffered a stress fracture on his lower back because of which he was out of the game for about 3 months and when he came back he played only a few games in CC and some onedayers in the Champions trophy in India but to everyone's surprise he was picked in the x1 to play against Aussies at Brisbane and I still can't believe that England's management took that decision as Anderson was not match fit and as expected he was hit all over the park by Ponting and co. at Brisbane and worse was to follow at Adelaide where on a flt deck Anderson looked well short of confidence and Aussies took advantage of it and hammered him, after this test as expected he was dropped but in the last test at Sydney with a few matches under his belt he did a good job.

Anderson makes a comeback

In 07 he was dropped when Windies toured England but was picked against India as England yet again were ravaged by injuries and he made a fine comeback against Indians at Lords when he got a 5 wicket haul and troubled the likes of Tendulkar, and Dravid, yes he came up with a disappointing performance at Nottingham but at Oval he bowled well on what was a flat wicket. In Lanka later that year he was dropped after having one bad test which again showed lack of faith on the part of selectors but Anderson showed never say die spirit by making yet another successful comeback at Wellington against Kiwis in 08 when he got a 5 wicket haul, he continued to do well by taking loads of wickets against Kiwis this time at home and who can forget his match winning spell at Trent bridge, especially the wickets of Redmond, and McCcullum was a treat to watch as he got both those wickets by getting late swing as he cleaned both of them up. When South Africa arrived in England most of them thought that as usual he will be inconsistent and he will struggle but it was good to see that he proved his critics wrong by bowling consistent spells throughout the series and one has to think about the fact that he is one of England's best fielders as well, even his batting has improved which shows that Anderson is someone who works hard on his game. I would liked to add that Anderson has been criticised over the years for his inconsistent performances but without getting a fair run in the side one can't be criticised and it is good to see that at last he is getting a decent run in the side.

Looking ahead

So as England embark on a tour to India can Anderson do well in Indian conditions where it is tough to bowl for the quicks but the good news for England's fans is that Anderson this season has looked in good form and now he also gets a bit of reverse swing which plays such a major factor on subcontinental wickets and one has to add that on the last tour of India he showed that he can do well there. So Anderson must be full of confidence and must be looking forward to bowling at the famed Indian batting line up in their own backyard. In the end one can say that it has been a roller coaster journey for this talented swing bowler from Burnley but it looks like at last he is about to fulfill his potential.