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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
James Wallace

Cruel mistress cricket may not grant Jimmy Anderson a fitting finale

Jimmy Anderson, bowling in the third Ashes Test in December, turns 40 in July but says ‘the enthusiasm is the same’ for his cricket.
Jimmy Anderson, bowling in the third Ashes Test in December, turns 40 in July but says ‘the enthusiasm is the same’ for his cricket. Photograph: Dave Hewison/Speed Media/Shutterstock

If you scroll down Jimmy Anderson’s Instagram page, it is hard not to notice that he is a man in fine physical fettle. Among the de rigueur golf days and regular gym sessions there are shots of Anderson on a windswept beach, running and stuff, looking healthy and flogging vitamin supplements.

It’s almost as if Big Vita want you to think that you, too – yes you in your crumb-flecked joggers, you with your lapsed gym membership, your lame excuses, your two KitKat Chunkies in front of MasterChef of an evening – you could be as lithe and lean as Jimmy if only you popped down a 2mg pill of first-pressing cod livers each day. Well, yeah right, dream on. Anderson is 39 years old and in phenomenal nick. He has spent more than half of his life as a professional sportsman, training, nutritioning, focused and committed to his goal. That 20 years of graft has seen him become England’s all-time record wicket-taker in Test cricket. You took the bins out last night, big whoop.

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