BURNLEY’S cricketing hero James Anderson wrote his name into the world record books on Saturday – and admitted he couldn’t quite believe what he had just achieved.
The fast bowling England superstar and former St Theodore’s High School pupil, who learned his trade as a child as he watched his dad play at the town’s Turf Moor, left India stunned in a Test match at Nottingham’s Trent Bridge as he shared a world record partnership for the last wicket with Joe Root.
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Anderson, who turns 32 at the end of this month, and the Yorkshireman united the Red and White Roses with their 198-run stand – with the Lancashire man dubbed ‘the Burnley Lara’ by England’s adoring and amazed fans.
He made 81 with Root hitting 154 not out – and incredibly that was the highest score of Anderson’s cricketing career, which has seen him claim 358 Test wickets and another 255 in One Day Internationals.
His previous best had been a score of 49 not out while playing for Burnley against Todmorden in the Lancashire League in 2001.
“It’s an amazing achievement. We still can’t quite believe it really,” said Anderson.
“The more we got going and the partnership built I thought we really enjoyed it.
“We did really well to get where we got to.”
Anderson and Root assembled the highest 10th wicket partnership in Tests of 198. It overtook the 163 shared by Phil Hughes and Ashton Agar at Trent Bridge last year.
The highest stand for the 10th wicket by England had stood for 111 years since Tip Foster and Wilfred Rhodes put on 130 against Australia at Sydney.
And despite making the highest score by an England number 11 batsman, Anderson admitted he was slightly disappointed at missing out on what would have been a truly remarkable century.
“I’d like to say no, but I probably was thinking about the century,” added Anderson, the son of Burnley optician Michael and Catherine.
“Having batted for that length of time and to be 19 runs away, which is obviously a position I’ve never been in before, I thought about it for a little bit.
“I’m still just delighted with what I got to be honest.”
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