AN array of colours, the roar of the crowd - James Anderson had never known or played in an atmosphere like the one which greeted England and Pakistan for their match in Cape Town.

"I've been to Premier League football matches and a play-off final at Wembley with 45,000 Burnley fans, but I'd never experienced an atmosphere like that before.

"It was unbelievable," he said.

"There must have been about 20,000 fans in the stadium and about 15,000 of those were English.

"The stadium itself was magnificent with Table Mountain in the background."

During that match, Anderson was elevated to hero status following his return of 4-29 off 10 overs - the second best figures by an English bowler against Pakistan in the World Cup, and also at a neutral venue.

By that stage, the England camp had been able to try to put the nightmare of death threats behind them. With a fixture in Zimbabwe against the hosts, scheduled to be England's first game of the tournament, they were accused of being seen to support Robert Mugabe's controversial Zimbabwean regime.

The locals didn't approve, and the trauma of events over Christmas had been hard to shake off.

"There was a letter sent to all 30 members of the original World Cup squad and we saw it one day in a dressing room in Australia," Anderson explained.

"It was there with our names on it. Reading it was scary at the time, and just before a game as well. But we were told later that it was a hoax so we weren't too worried about it.

"Then we found out the organisation that sent the letter did exist, so we were shocked after being told by the head of police in South Africa that there was nothing to worry about.

"The letter said something along the lines of 'if you go to Zimbabwe, you will go home in wooden boxes, and how safe will your family be as well?'

"Basically they had groups of the organisation all over the world.

"We had an urgent meeting with the chairman of the ECB and chief executive.

"After we'd been deciding whether to go to Zimbabwe or not, they made the decision for us in the end, but it should have been done months before."

A month after the game in Zimbabwe should have gone ahead, it's a subject that clearly still riles the 20-year-old, who admitted the whole experience made him mature very quickly.

"The only thing the ICC were bothered about was us playing a game of cricket," he said.

"They said, as a team of cricketers, we could have gone in there and played a game and we would have been safe. But they couldn't guarantee the safety of the crowd outside the ground and couldn't guarantee our safety after the World Cup.

"Politics shouldn't be affecting cricket, and we shouldn't even have been asked to decide in the first place.

"Everyone had an equal say in the matter, and I had to do a lot of growing up in a short space of time.

"It detracted away from the tournament, which was a shame because it was the first World Cup for a few of us and we were pretty excited."

Two weeks after the World Cup had got underway with South Africa v West Indies in Cape Town, England were eventually able to play their first game, against Holland in East London.

Anderson, who found out he had been selected on the morning of the game, helped his side cruise to victory by taking 4-37 in a man of the match performance.

"The conditions were good for a bowler because the ball was swinging," he said. But the best was yet to come from the pace ace.

After an all-round indifferent performance but, nevertheless victory against Namibia, England went into their showdown with Pakistan oozing confidence.

"That was another incredible day because that was our first really big game of the World Cup," said Anderson, who had met up with his dad, Michael, the night before.

"Having him there really spurred me on to play a bit better because it was the first international game he'd been to and I was determined to try to do well." He succeeded with his 4-29.

ADAM Gilchrist might have been voted man of the match in the VB Series' second game - Australia v England, but Anderson can at least say he claimed the wicket of the Aussie opener.

IN England's first World Cup match against Holland in East London, Anderson became the second English bowler to take a four-wicket haul on a World Cup debut.

He emulated Alan Mullally's 4-37 v Sri Lanka at Lords in 1999.

His figures are also the best by any English bowler in a World Cup match away from home.

Chris Lewis had figures of 4-30 against Sri Lanka at Ballarat in 1992.

ANDERSON'S 4-29 against Pakistan in Cape Town were the second best figures by an English bowler against Pakistan in the World Cup, behind Mike Hendrick's 4-15 at Leeds in 1979.

They were also the second best figures by an English bowler against Pakistan at a neutral venue.

Left-arm spinner Norman Gifford's 4-23 at Sharjah in 1985 remain the best.

AFTER picking up his first man of the match award against Holland, he earned his second accolade in three matches for his superb display in Pakistan, prompting As a result, he picked up the first man of the match award of his career.