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Thank You James Anderson- Farewell Thread

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year

“As I walk towards them, it hits me cold. This isn’t a team appraisal, is it?” Anderson wrote.

“With each footstep towards the far side of the bar, each of their distinct silhouettes coming into view, the tram journey just gone is suddenly like a blissful past life, the outdoor sun sucked into a horizonless neon-red darkness.

“My brain is doing the maths and my heart is sinking as I go to shake their hands. 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 f–kers."


This is not a war hero's, or a mob boss's book, it is that of James Anderson, who played 188 Tests until he was 42 years old.

And has now nominated for the IPL.

Just after the same guy - Tuddy, aka Brendon McCullum - who 'shot' him in that room, had resurrected Anderson's Test career and not only that, allowed him to play golf at St Andrew's rather than perform his initial duties as a bowling coach.
 

Molehill

Cricketer Of The Year

“As I walk towards them, it hits me cold. This isn’t a team appraisal, is it?” Anderson wrote.

“With each footstep towards the far side of the bar, each of their distinct silhouettes coming into view, the tram journey just gone is suddenly like a blissful past life, the outdoor sun sucked into a horizonless neon-red darkness.

“My brain is doing the maths and my heart is sinking as I go to shake their hands. 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 f–kers."


This is not a war hero's, or a mob boss's book, it is that of James Anderson, who played 188 Tests until he was 42 years old.

And has now nominated for the IPL.

Just after the same guy - Tuddy, aka Brendon McCullum - who 'shot' him in that room, had resurrected Anderson's Test career and not only that, allowed him to play golf at St Andrew's rather than perform his initial duties as a bowling coach.
Whilst a lot of that is over dramatic tosh, I would point out that

1) Baz didn’t resurrect his career
2) Jimmy would probably have rather still been bowling than playing golf/coaching.
 

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
Whilst a lot of that is over dramatic tosh, I would point out that

1) Baz didn’t resurrect his career
2) Jimmy would probably have rather still been bowling than playing golf/coaching.
There'd be arguments for #1. Was dropped for the Windies series in 2022, then back for Baz's first series in charge mid that year. I admit my wording doesn't do it justice, but in saying that - not every coach appointed to that role would have brought back a 40-year-old Jimmy, then played him pretty solidly for two years more.

On 2, no doubt...but it was deemed, and a lot of people would agree, that it was Jimmy's time. They brought him straight back into the environment, and bent over backwards to let him fulfill a desire to play celebrity golf. To then turn around and act like they lined him up in a dodgy hotel room and set the firing squad on him, especially in the dramatic language used, is pretty lame, really. It doesn't give much credit to a leadership group that were prepared to back him right in, then invite him straight back into their coaching group (and yes I realise the book would have likely been largely written by this time).

I'd use this article as a classic example of never believing that people who seemingly have it all from the outside, automatically feel content on the inside. Jimmy Anderson has always had the impression of a guy who has a massive chip on his shoulder, for reasons I could never understand.
 

Molehill

Cricketer Of The Year
There'd be arguments for #1. Was dropped for the Windies series in 2022, then back for Baz's first series in charge mid that year. I admit my wording doesn't do it justice, but in saying that - not every coach appointed to that role would have brought back a 40-year-old Jimmy, then played him pretty solidly for two years more.

On 2, no doubt...but it was deemed, and a lot of people would agree, that it was Jimmy's time. They brought him straight back into the environment, and bent over backwards to let him fulfill a desire to play celebrity golf. To then turn around and act like they lined him up in a dodgy hotel room and set the firing squad on him, especially in the dramatic language used, is pretty lame, really. It doesn't give much credit to a leadership group that were prepared to back him right in, then invite him straight back into their coaching group (and yes I realise the book would have likely been largely written by this time).

I'd use this article as a classic example of never believing that people who seemingly have it all from the outside, automatically feel content on the inside. Jimmy Anderson has always had the impression of a guy who has a massive chip on his shoulder, for reasons I could never understand.
I think both Broad and Anderson were dropped/rested for that Windies series in an experiment to see if they were still needed. The answer was pretty conclusive.

As for the actual article, isn’t it simply a case of ramping it up to sell a few books? I suspect they’re all having a laugh about it.
 

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
You're saying they put that sort of language/description in the book to sell a few? That'll work. Not that he's selling his soul, but I personally wouldn't want such tripe in my book to earn a few more quid. That sits there for the rest of your days as a reminder you seemed all a bit bitter and twisted about a 188-Test career. And if I'm Baz reading it (not that Baz will care) I'd think it was lame reading for a guy you backed to the hilt
 

Pothas

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
There'd be arguments for #1. Was dropped for the Windies series in 2022, then back for Baz's first series in charge mid that year. I admit my wording doesn't do it justice, but in saying that - not every coach appointed to that role would have brought back a 40-year-old Jimmy, then played him pretty solidly for two years more.

On 2, no doubt...but it was deemed, and a lot of people would agree, that it was Jimmy's time. They brought him straight back into the environment, and bent over backwards to let him fulfill a desire to play celebrity golf. To then turn around and act like they lined him up in a dodgy hotel room and set the firing squad on him, especially in the dramatic language used, is pretty lame, really. It doesn't give much credit to a leadership group that were prepared to back him right in, then invite him straight back into their coaching group (and yes I realise the book would have likely been largely written by this time).

I'd use this article as a classic example of never believing that people who seemingly have it all from the outside, automatically feel content on the inside. Jimmy Anderson has always had the impression of a guy who has a massive chip on his shoulder, for reasons I could never understand.
This is ridiculous.

He is just describing how it felt to have his career ended, that is it. The fact he took the new job shows he doesn't really feel any real resentment against the people that did it.
 

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
This is ridiculous.

He is just describing how it felt to have his career ended, that is it. The fact he took the new job shows he doesn't really feel any real resentment against the people that did it.
So why is he carrying on like he's been taking out, execution style? It reads laughably. I like him as a bowler but far out, what a diva.
 

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
Sweet as. I don't understand why a guy who played up to 42 years old and 188 Tests would put such a carry-on in his book. It's seemed to a lot of people outside England that this guy has had so many successes in his life, but carried a boulder-sized chip on his shoulder up to his final days.
 

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
Sweet as. I don't understand why a guy who played up to 42 years old and 188 Tests would put such a carry-on in his book. It's seemed to a lot of people outside England that this guy has had so many successes in his life, but carried a boulder-sized chip on his shoulder up to his final days.
I normally not just agree with your posts, but enjoy them and look for them. But surely mate, this is just a bloke who wants to play forever realising the dream is over?
 

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
I normally not just agree with your posts, but enjoy them and look for them. But surely mate, this is just a bloke who wants to play forever realising the dream is over?
Fair enough, I might have got it wrong. I admire the guy, as a bowler. I guess it's just the fruity way it was told. No doubt everyone's going to be disappointed they're told it's over. And I've said this about champion bowlers before, they often don't know when the end is nigh, because they've spent their whole career believing in themselves.

I do feel like Jimmy had a pretty charmed run, I don't see any other country investing in someone until their 42nd birthday. And he was given the Windies series as a swan song. Contrast that with Neil Wagner, who got offered to be a touring drinks boy for his final series and then when there were injuries, he was overlooked for someone outside the squad.
 

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