A fine performance in the field on the second day at the MCG was overshadowed by their evening top-order collapse but that didn’t take anything away from another James Anderson masterclass.
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All five bowlers contributed at one point or another to restrict Australia to 267 and a first-innings lead of 82. James Anderson, who turns 40 next summer, was sublime.
In one miserly six-over spell in the morning session, he took 1-1 – an analysis that included the all-important wicket of Steve Smith for 16. He finished with figures of 4-33 from 23 overs – another stellar performance from Anderson away from home in 2021.
Occasionally criticised for the disparity between his records at home and away, Anderson has actually fared better away from the UK than at home this year. After his first-innings performance at Melbourne, his 2021 record away from home now reads 21 wickets at 12.95 and includes impressive performances in Sri Lanka, India and Australia – three locations not famed for their swing-friendly conditions or excessive cloud cover.
Even looking further back in his career, Anderson’s exploits away from home are unfairly maligned. His overall career record includes a five-year spell between 2003 and 2007 where he battled injuries, indifferent form and changes with his action. Discounting that period, his overall average drops from 639 wickets at 26.48 to 577 wickets at 25.12, and away from home that record falls from 237 wickets at 30.36 to 222 wickets at 28.39.
Since 2008, Anderson averages less than 30 with the ball in Australia – his average of 29.22 is very similar to Dale Steyn’s 28.77 during the same period – and doesn’t average more than 33 in any country in the world. In Asia, he averages 26.01 with the ball since 2008 – among visiting seamers with more than 30 wickets in Asia since 2008, only Dale Steyn and Tim Southee average less.
Over the past seven years, Anderson has taken 107 wickets away from home at an average of 23.35 – nobody in the world has taken more away wickets at a lower average than Anderson in this period. In the 12 away series Anderson has taken part in since the start of 2015, he has averaged less than 30 in nine of them and averaged less than 20 in six.
While his overseas record might have been a legitimate blot on his copybook in his early days, that slight has morphed into myth. Anderson is a world-class bowler in all conditions and has been for some time.
