Sir James Michael "Jimmy" Anderson (born 30 July 1982) is an English cricketer who played for England between 2002 and 2024. A right-arm fast-medium swing bowler, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the sport. He continues to play for Lancashire and has served as the fast-bowling mentor of the England cricket team.
Anderson made his Test debut in 2003, having first appeared for the England One-Day International side in 2002. He represented England in ODIs until 2015 and in Twenty20 Internationals between 2007 and 2009. He was part of the England squad that won the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in 2010. He retired from international cricket on 12 July 2024.
Among fast bowlers, Anderson is the leading Test wicket-taker of all time. He became the first fast bowler to take 600 Test wickets and, in March 2024, the first to reach 700, finishing with 704 Test wickets. He is England's record Test wicket-taker and has played more Test matches than any other England cricketer, and the second most of any player after Sachin Tendulkar. With 991 international wickets, he stands third on the all-time list. He is also England's highest wicket-taker in One Day Internationals, with 269 dismissals. In his early years he was regarded as a fast swing bowler before evolving into a fast-medium specialist.
Anderson held the top position in the ICC men's Test bowling rankings across six separate spells between 2016 and 2023. In February 2023, he became the oldest player to top those rankings. He is among a small group of fast bowlers, following Maurice Tate and Gubby Allen, to play Test cricket into their forties. On the occasion of England's 1,000th Test in 2018, the England and Wales Cricket Board named him in the country's greatest all-time Test XI. As a batter, he shares with Joe Root the world record for the highest tenth-wicket partnership in Test cricket, at 198.
Adapted from the English Wikipedia article on James Anderson