Exit Anderson, Enter Atkinson?

Few games love statistics as much as cricket. And when you have a bowler playing his 188th test match, he becomes a statistician’s delight. If James Michael Anderson were a chemical element, he would probably have been an alchemist’s favourite, being experimented with to create gold. As it stands, he has come to exemplify the gold standard for England’s aspiring pace bowlers, not just by his longevity but his quality as well.  

The mind boggles when one looks at the sheer career span of Anderson. He’s been around forever, making his debut against Zimbabwe way back in May 2003. His first test was test match number 1646, his last is number 2538. Of the 892 tests in this span, he played in a staggering 21%. This is also a tribute to the emphasis England has put on test cricket. 

Back when Anderson bowled in a test for the first time, India was still recovering from a world cup final defeat. Ganguly, Dravid and team had yet to scale the heights they would see in Australia and Pakistan in 2003-04. The Greg Chappell chapter of Indian cricket had yet to open. Dhoni was still unknown. A fifteen year old kid called Virat Kohli, living in west Delhi, was probably wondering how to balance his studies and cricket. 

Today, as we look back - Anderson’s second test victim, Health Streak, who was also the captain of the Zimbabwe team back then, has passed away now, albeit prematurely of illness. The legend of Dhoni was built and passed into the hall of fame. Virat has retired from one form of the game already. Boys born when Anderson bowled his first ball in test cricket are old enough to marry now, in India. 

In all this time, Anderson played under eight test skippers. His first test captain, Nasser Hussain, has been in the commentary box for so long that people don’t even recall his playing years. Another one - Alistair Cook made his debut, made an impression, became a top class champion batsman, then captain, broke all records for most test runs for England and retired. When Anderson began, Tony Blair was ensconced as UK’s prime minister. Brown, Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak have come and gone. And Starmer is now trying to make sense of the job. In the meantime, Anderson just went on, and on. His 188 tests stand a heady comparison to Sachin’s 200, but being a bowler and a pacer at that, Anderson’s physical feat may stand a shade higher. 

Sadly, Anderson is probably the last of an increasingly extinct species – a long lasting pace bowler focused on test cricket. Over the last two decades, we have witnessed cricketers quitting due to a variety of reasons - they have little motivation to play for, because they do not want to be away from their family for long periods, because they get psyched when they tour (ask Marcus Trescothick), get injured or lose form and fade away. Amidst all this, Anderson has soldiered on. 

Just to compare in an Indian context – Kapil Dev played 131 tests, Ishant Sharma 105, Zaheer 91 while among the current crop, Shami has managed 64 till date and Bumrah is at 36. It is unlikely to either Shami or Bumrah will touch a century of matches. They might lose fitness, lose form, lose pace or in simple terms, lose the motivation to keep training their bodies and minds to go on and on. That is exactly what makes Anderson a modern day marvel. One that England will truly miss!

And of course, just as he is all set to leave, comes another young man. Angus ‘Gus’ Atkinson was about five years old when Anderson bowled his first ball in test cricket. On July 10, 2024, he bowled alongside Anderson in the first test against West Indies at Lords. Anderson’s last test, Atkinson’s first. Both right arm pacers, both exactly 6 feet, 2 inches in height. And Atkinson staked a claim to being a future attack leader in the very first innings that he bowled. Even in this, he emulated Anderson, who had taken a 5 for in the first innings he bowled, to Zimbabwe. Also at Lords. 

Atkinson went on to take 7 wickets in his first bowling innings. He narrowly missed the record for England’s best ever bowling figures on debut. That record still rests with Dominic Cork, 7 for 43, also against the West Indies. Also at Lords, back in 1995. 

Of course, Atkinson’s haul was against the West Indies of today – a far cry from the team of the 1990s, never mind the champion team of the 70s and 80s. Cork’s 7-for haul, coming in the second innings, included opening batsman Sherwin Campbell (2882 total test runs in 52 tests at an average of 32), Jimmy Adams (3012 test runs in 54 tests at 41), skipper Richie Richardson (5949 test runs in 86 tests at 44) and Keith Arthurton (1382 test runs in 33 tests at 31), apart from some bowlers. 

In comparison to that, Atkinson’s first innings haul included skipper and opening batsman Kraigg Brathwaite (5513 test runs in 89 tests at 34), Kirk Mckenzie (170 test runs in 3 tests at 28), the elegant southpaw Alick Athanaze (168 test runs in 4 tests at 24), combative all-rounder Jason Holder (4587 test runs in 64 tests at 29), wicket-keeper batsman Joshua Da Silva (992 test runs in 26 tests at 26), Alzari Joseph (616 test runs in 32 tests at 12) and Shamar Joseph (57 runs in 2 tests at 28). How many of the current batsmen would have been considered in the 90s team can be seen as a hypothetical question, but I fancy the answer is: None! At best, Brathwaite may have been able to sneak in with the drinks trolley. 

Atkinson went on to take 5 more wickets in the second innings, adding to the thrill of the statisticians. In this feat, he equalled the most wickets taken by an England test debutant, a record held alone by Fred Martin, who had conceded four fewer runs than Atkinson. And of course, Martin’s record came way back in 1890, so no one even recalls his face. Atkinson it is, the man of the match and the moment!

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Back to Dominic Cork - he finished with 131 wickets in 37 tests – good figures no doubt, but not the kind a person with a 7 wicket haul on debut would have been satisfied with. What does the future hold for Atkinson? Is his debut a flash-in-the-pan or an average career like Cork or will be a star strike bowler for his team? Will he be able to play even a quarter of Anderson’s tests? Reality will be seen in the future, especially when the next Ashes begins. Until then, Atkinson will enjoy bowling at the West Indies batsmen…