How Auckland kick-started an England legend’s career
Andrew Voerman about ‘one of the best decisions of my career’ as he prepares for his fourth test series in New Zealand at 40.
England cricket legend Jimmy Anderson says it was one of the best decisions he’s ever made. He was in Hamilton in March 2008, preparing for 12th man duties in the first of three tests against the Black Caps, when word came through that the Auckland Aces needed a seam bowler for their State Championship clash with the Wellington Firebirds.
Their original target, Chris Tremlett, was unavailable due to injury, so when the offer of a firstclass match came Anderson’s way, he leapt at it – and from there, his test career took a remarkable turn.
‘‘I thought rather than sit here in Hamilton and run the drinks for a week, I’d try and get some cricket in,’’ Anderson tells the Sunday News, having returned to Seddon Park for a warm-up match this week ahead of Thursday’s start of a two-test series against the Black Caps.
‘‘It was probably one of the best decisions I’ve made in my career. I went there, didn’t set the world alight really, but I bowled quite a lot of overs, so when I got selected in that next test match, I was ready and raring to go.’’
Before Auckland, Anderson had played in 20 of a possible 64 tests since his debut, against Zimbabwe at Lord’s in 2003. A stress fracture in his back was a factor, as was the form of the Fab Four from the 2005 Ashes triumph over Australia – Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard and Simon Jones.
After Auckland, he played in 87 of the next 92 and 129 of the next 144, until a calf injury ruled him out of the final four tests of the 2019 Ashes, shortly after his 37th birthday. He has played in 28 of England’s 46 tests since then, including eight of the last 10, and is expected to take the new ball when they face the Black Caps in Mt Maunganui on Thursday.
Anderson is one of the greatest swing bowlers in the history of test cricket. He is the game’s leading pace-bowling wickettaker, with 675 scalps to his name from 177 tests across a 20-year span. He will turn 41 during the fifth test of this year’s Ashes end in July, but hasn’t ruled out being on England’s next tour of Australia, at the end of 2025.
So how did he come to play for Auckland at Eden Park Outer Oval in 2008, in a team featuring a young Martin Guptill and Colin de Grandhomme?
You could blame the Indian Cricket League – the Twenty20 competition that was swiftly superseded by the Indian Premier League. Auckland lost Andre Adams and Daryl Tuffey to it that summer and also had Chris Martin and Kyle Mills away with
the Black Caps, so chief executive Andrew Eade and coach Mark O’Donnell decided to think outside the square.
NZ Cricket boss Justin Vaughan was powerless to stop the move, though he made it clear he wasn’t thrilled with
Auckland’s ‘‘creative approach to the rules’’. ‘‘We would be happier if they gave a chance to a young New Zealand bowler, because we can see a scenario where Anderson bowls himself into form and then helps England win the deciding final test.’’
Cricket Wellington chief executive Gavin Larsen was more explicit, telling the Dominion Post: ‘‘We can’t get our heads around this. It really hits me in the pit of my stomach.
‘‘To paint the worst-case scenario, James Anderson takes seven for 30 against our boys, Auckland have bowled him into form and before you know it he’s opening for England next Thursday.’’
Larsen might have given the Firebirds a bit more credit. Anderson bowled 38 overs at Eden Park Outer Oval, but only took 2-95 as Wellington won by an innings and 95 runs.
Grant Elliott had just been selected in a Black Caps squad for the first time, but was released to play in the State Championship when he didn’t make the XI in Hamilton. Reflecting on the match, where he made 108, his highest first-class score to that point, Elliott says: ‘‘I don’t remember many games, but I do remember that one. We were like, what are we doing, helping this guy to get into form?’’
It took just nine days for Larsen and Vaughan’s nightmares to become a reality, as England coach Peter Moores reacted to a first-up defeat in Hamilton by making a pair of changes for the second test in Wellington.
Out went Harmison, who only played four more tests, and Hoggard, who never played again. In came Anderson and Stuart Broad, who had never played together previously, but have now done so in 132 of England’s 177 tests over the past 15 years.
After the tourists put 342 runs on the board at the Basin Reserve, Anderson removed each of the Black Caps’ top five batters on his way to finishing with 5-73 in the first innings, then took 2-57 in the second as they won and levelled the series.
‘‘I do remember the Wellington game well, because it was quite a big moment,’’ says Anderson.
‘‘For the coach to leave out Matthew Hoggard and Steven Harmison and bring in me and Stuart Broad was a big thing for us. It was a big vote of confidence.
‘‘I’d made my test debut five years previous to that and you never know how many chances you’re going to get. I thought ‘this could be my last chance at this’, so I wanted to just give it absolutely everything. When you get five wickets, it gives you that confidence and it all sort of springboarded from there.’’
Elliott went on to make his Black Caps debut in the third test at McLean Park in Napier, which England won to complete a comefrom-behind series win.
‘‘You’re thinking, well, if he had come in from the cold, there’s no way,’’ says Elliott. ‘‘He probably blew the cobwebs out against us. Sometimes bowlers just need overs in their legs and that’s what we gave him, which was crazy.’’
In all his years as a senior cricketer, Anderson has only ever played for three teams – England, his country; Lancashire, his county; and Auckland, on the other side of the world.
‘‘I didn’t know what to expect,’’ says Anderson. ‘‘I just remember trying to do my best for the team, but obviously I had an ulterior motive, trying to get into the test team.
‘‘I was fortunate to get the opportunity, so I was grateful for that.’’
But did he hold on to any of his Auckland kit?
‘‘Absolutely. I’ve got a little sort of study that’s got all my caps in it and the Auckland Aces one is right there with all the others.’’
‘It was probably one of the best decisions I’ve made in my career.’ JIMMY ANDERSON