Sir James Anderson is widely regarded as not only the greatest English bowler, but also one of the best fast bowlers the world has even seen. The master swing bowler was born today, July 30 in 1982 in the town of Burnley, Lancashire. Turning 44, the right-arm fast bowler is still going strong in the domestic circuit, captaining the Red Rose county in the County Championship, two years after he retired from the international game.

Making his First-Class debut in 2002, Anderson’s maiden professional wicket was that of England international and then Surrey captain Ian Ward. From then on, he did not look back. A year later, he made his England debut, against Zimbabwe at Lord’s where he also took his maiden five-wicket haul.

Anderson firmly established himself as England’s primary seamer in Test cricket in 2008 once Matthew Hoggard retired and with Steve Harmison also in the twilight of his career. 

The Lancashire seamer formed a deadly new-ball partnership with Stuart Broad whilst entering the 2010s, and starting a golden era in his Test career. In the coming years, Anderson would achieve many milestones which eventually saw him become the greatest fast bowler of the modern era. 

In 2015 in Antigua against the West Indies, the right-arm fast bowler got the wicket of wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin to claim his 384th Test wicket, surpassing the great Sir Ian Botham to become England’s leading wicket-taker in Test cricket. 

Three years later, Anderson rattled the Mohammed Shami’s stumps to not only hand England the victory at the Oval but to claim his 564th Test wicket, overtaking Glenn McGrath to become the fast bowler with the most wickets in the longest format of the game. 

During the dark days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Anderson lit up an empty Rose Bowl in Southampton to become the first seamer to take 600 wickets. Four years later he was picking up his 700th scalp when Kuldeep Yadav edged one behind to wicketkeeper Ben Foakes under the foothills of the Himalayas in Dharamashala. 

Anderson would go on to play 188 Test matches for England, the second-most in the history of the sport, taking 704 wickets. He only trails legendary spinners Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne in the list of most red-ball wicket in international cricket. 

Due to his excellence in Tests, it is hard to remember Anderson’s achievements in white-ball cricket. Do date, the Burney-born bowler is his country’s leading wicket-taker in One Day Internationals (ODIs) with 269 scalps from 194 matches. However, at the time of writing, spinner Adil Rashid is a mere 26 wickets behind the great seamer. 

Anderson did not play many T20Is in his illustrious career. Despite not playing a single game in the tournament, he did lift the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies, England’s first ICC honour. 

On October 28, 2025, Anderson was officially knighted Princess Royal at Windsor Castle for his services to the game of cricket.