James Anderson | England

Full name James Michael Anderson

Born July 30, 1982, Burnley, Lancashire

Current age 26 years 312 days

Major teams England, Auckland, Lancashire,Lancashire Cricket Board

Nickname Jimmy

Playing role Bowler

Batting style Left-hand bat

Bowling style Right-arm fast-medium

Height 6 ft 2 in

Education St Theodore's RC High School; St Theodore's RC Sixth Form Centre - Burnley

James Michael "Jimmy" Anderson (born 30 July 1982 in Burnley, Lancashire) is an English cricketer. He plays first-class cricket for Lancashire County Cricket Club and since bursting onto the scene in 2002/03, before his first full season of county cricket, Anderson has represented England in 30 Test matches and over 100 One Day Internationals.

A right arm pace bowler, Anderson made his international debut at the age of just 20. On England's 2002/03 tour of Australia, Anderson was drafted into the squad from the England A team due to an injury crisis. When he played his first ODI he had only played five senior one day matches. Anderson went on to feature in the 2003 ICC World Cup and made his Test match debut against Zimbabwe at Lords the next summer. Later in 2003 he experienced a dip in form and confidence against South Africa. After this he was in and out of the team and experienced numerous injuries, including a stress fracture of the back which kept him out of action for most of the 2006 season. He returned to action and features regularly in England's Test squad. He is a regular strike bowler in England's one day team. With no ducks in 48 innings, he is currently 6th on the all-time list of players batting in test cricket before or without scoring a duck.

Early and personal life

James Anderson was a pupil at St Theodore's RC High School, Burnley. He played cricket at Burnley Cricket Club from a young age. His childhood dream was to be a cricketer, and at the age of 17, after a growth spurt, Anderson was one of the fastest bowlers in the Lancashire League. He stated that "I've always bowled seam, but when I was about 17 I don't know what it was but I just started bowling fast all of a sudden".
Just months after his international debut he had become one of the biggest stars in English cricket. Continued alteration of hair styles, attractive looks, and up-to-the-minute outfits earned him comparisons with some of the most recognisable sport personalities around, including David Beckham. He is a supporter of Arsenal FC and says he clashes with his Burnley FC supporting family.
In 2006 he married his model fiancée Daniella Lloyd, whom he had met in 2004 while on England duty in London; he stated that marriage has made him "a much happier person". The service was at a church in Hale, with the reception at the Lowry HotelSalford. Guests included Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood, Geraint Jones, Chris Read and Gareth Batty, along with some of Anderson's Lancashire team-mates. On 8 January 2009, Daniella Lloyd gave birth to a baby girl called Lola Rose. in

Profile

A strapping, genuinely quick fast bowler, James Anderson had played only three one-day games for Lancashire in the 2002 season - he'd played more for his club Burnley - before being called into England's VB Series squad the following winter as cover for Andy Caddick, following an impressive stint at the Academy in Adelaide. An amazing 10-over stint in century heat at Adelaide, which cost just 12 runs, earned him a place in the 2003 World Cup, where he produced a matchwinning spell against Pakistan, before suffering a sobering last-over disaster against Australia. At this stage, however, his star was very much in the ascendancy, and when selected for the first Test of the new home season, he took five wickets in his debut innings almost to order.

An ODI hat-trick - the first by an English bowler - followed against South Africa at The Oval, but from that moment on, his fortunes began to wane. South Africa's Test team made his new go-faster hairstyle seem a little foolish, and though he retained his place for the winter tours to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in 2003-04 and South Africa the following year, he was reduced to the most peripheral of net-bowling roles - and a shadow of his former self on his rare appearances in the middle. He seemed well out of the frame until injuries led to his recall at Mumbai in 2005-06 where he played a key part in England's success. But no sooner had he returned home than he broke down with a stress fracture of the lower back, ruling him out of the 2006 season.

A see-saw winter followed in Australia - he was thrown back in at the deep end for the series opener at Brisbane and suffered acutely for his lack of match practice as England were thumped by 277 runs. By the one-day series, however, he had rediscovered some of his best form, only to be rested as a precaution ahead of the World Cup. Shortly before England's opening match he broke his finger and although he played through the pain he was never at his best. He wasn't alone in that, but not for the first time the way he had been managed was in question.

He and Stuart Broad spearheaded a young England attack in place of the out-of-form Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard for the second Test of England's series against New Zealand in the winter of 2008, and it appeared to inspire him. His 5 for 73 helped England square the series, and though his old waywardness returned with depressing inevitability in the final Test, he was back among the wickets three games later against the Kiwis at Trent Bridge, when his hostile full-pitched late swing accounted for each of the first six wickets to fall. In addition, his batting - for so long superfluous - started to come into its own, as a brave career-best 34 against a rampant South Africa at Headingley would later prove. By the time he bowled England to victory with 9 for 125 against West Indies at Chester-le-Street in May 2009, he had completed 48 Test innings without ever being dismissed for a duck.