Are England Test cricket pair Anderson and Broad up there with the best?
Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, Ian Rush and Kenny Dalglish, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald; there have been some outstanding partnerships in British sport over the years. But do any come close to English Test cricket’s new-ball partnership of James Anderson and Stuart Broad?
The duo have a combined age of 76 and are still leading the England charge in this era of Test cricket.
When Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over as captain and head coach of the five-day game, they said from the outset that there would be a position in the team for Broad and Anderson despite many saying they were long past peak performance.
Anderson and Broad England’s best
Well, in England’s 267-run win against New Zealand yesterday morning, the duo cemented themselves as the greatest ever bowling partnership, and one of British sport’s best duos.
Broad took four wickets for 49 runs in England’s second innings while Anderson took four wickets for 18 runs – taking them way beyond Shane Warne and Glen McGrath’s record of 1,001 for wickets as a partnership.
Anderson has also taken at least one international wicket in every year since 2003 – an astonishing feat of longevity through the ages.
“We’ve got a 40-year-old and a 36-year-old setting the standard of what we’re about in the field in terms of energy,” Stokes said yesterday in Mount Maunganui.
“Those guys will bowl all day for you but you see them running around the field. Broady last night with that 10 over spell then every time that ball got hit past him he was sprinting after it to the field, all the way to the boundary. And Jimmy has always done that.
No710
“And then you look at what they do when they’ve got the ball in their hand and how many games they have won for England and probably will do going forward, they’re setting a great example not only for us in the dressing room but for anyone who wants to look at having a long career in professional sport.”
Anderson is England cap number 613 and broad is England cap 638 and the national team has seen nearly a century of players make their Test debut since Anderson made his debut in 2003.
In fact, England’s most recent cap, number 710 – 18-year-old Rehan Ahmed – was born after Anderson made his debut.
The durability of both Anderson and Broad is plain for all to see, and they continue to be pivotal to an England side that are in a superb spell of form.
The current regime, following on from a record in a previous administration of one win in 17, has won 10 in 11 – losing just once.
Being at the top of your game in professional sport is hard enough, doing so alongside another for such a long period of time is almost iconic. Broad and Anderson have done that, and they’re up there with the best partnerships in British sporting history.