Sir James Michael "Jimmy" Anderson (born 30 July 1982) is an English cricketer who played for England from 2002 to 2024. He was serving as the fast-bowling mentor of the England cricket team and continues to play for Lancashire. Widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the sport, he holds the record for the most wickets taken by a fast bowler in Test cricket (704) and third most wickets in international cricket (991).
Anderson was a member of the England team that won the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in 2010. In February 2023, he became the oldest player to top the ICC men's Test bowling rankings. He is one of the few fast bowlers (after Maurice Tate in 1935 and Gubby Allen in 1948) to play at Test match level into his forties.
Anderson made his Test debut in 2003, played for England's One-Day International (ODI) team between 2002 and 2015, and played for England's Twenty20 International (T20I) team between 2007 and 2009. On the occasion of England's 1,000th Test in 2018, Anderson was named in the country's greatest all-time Test XI by the England and Wales Cricket Board. Between 2016 and 2023, he had six spells as the top-rated Test bowler in the world according to the ICC men's player rankings.
Anderson plays as a right-arm fast-medium swing bowler, though in his early days as a cricketer he was regarded as a fast swing bowler. Among fast bowlers, he is the leading Test wicket-taker of all-time, being the first fast bowler to take 600 or more Test wickets, and in March 2024 he became the first fast bowler to take 700 wickets, and is England's record Test wicket-taker. He has played the most Test matches for England, and the second most of any cricketer, behind Sachin Tendulkar. He is also England's highest wicket-taker in One Day Internationals with 269. As a batter, he shares with Joe Root the world record for highest tenth-wicket partnership in Tests (198). He retired from international cricket on 12 July 2024.
Anderson released his autobiography, Finding The Edge, in 2024.
Early and personal life James Anderson was a pupil at St Mary's and St Theodore's RC High School in Burnley. He played cricket at Burnley Cricket Club from a young age. At weekends and during the school holidays, he was scorer for the club's second XI, of which his father, Michael, was the captain. His childhood dream was to be a cricketer, and at the age of 17, after a growth spurt, Anderson was one of the fastest bowlers in the Lancashire League.
He stated "I've always bowled seam, but when I was about 17 I don't know what it was but I just started bowling fast all of a sudden". He is a football fan who supports his home-town team Burnley. Anderson also worked in Burnley's ticket office on a part-time basis when he was younger.
In 2006, he married Daniella Lloyd, a model he met in 2004 while on England duty in London; he stated that marriage has made him "a much happier person". The couple have two daughters. Retrieved on 12 January 2009.
Fashion design Anderson ventured into fashion design in 2012, designing for Evisu Jeans, with proceeds of the sale going to his sponsored charity, Nordoff-Robbins. Anderson also agreed to be the face of British hair styling brand Hairbond in June 2013. In April 2014, he launched his first collection with London-based menswear brand, Chess London. He has stated that he would like to be "the first cricketer to become a designer". Retrieved on 13 August 2014 He launched his own menswear brand in late October 2014, and has been working in conjunction with British watchmaker Harold Pinchbeck to release a watch since 2015.
Media Anderson became the first cricketer to model naked for Attitude, "Britain's biggest-selling gay magazine", in September 2010. He stated, "If there are any gay cricketers, they should feel confident enough to come out, because I don't think there is any homophobia in cricket".
Domestic career Anderson made his competitive debut for the Lancashire Cricket Board in a List A one-day match against Suffolk in the 2000 NatWest Trophy, where he claimed the wicket of Russell Catley as his first competitive wicket. Anderson later made his first-class debut for Lancashire in 2002; he played 13 matches and took 50 wickets at an average of 22.28, including three five-wicket hauls. Retrieved on 29 May 2008. He took his maiden first-class wicket in May 2002, dismissing Ian Ward. He was awarded the NBC Denis Compton Award for Lancashire's Most Promising Young County Player in the 2002 season. Retrieved on 29 May 2008. In 2003, Anderson became the youngest player to take a hat-trick for Lancashire, just a week before his Test match debut against Zimbabwe; it was the first hat-trick at Old Trafford in eight years. Retrieved on 26 May 2008. In a match against Worcestershire in May 2004, Anderson recorded his maiden first-class ten-wicket haul. Retrieved on 29 May 2008.
2005 was Anderson's first full season for Lancashire. He was propelled into the England team soon after his Lancashire debut and had returned to rediscover his form after winter tours with England, where he had spent most of his time on the sidelines; when given a chance for England, he often experienced complications with bowling, due to a lack of match practice. Retrieved on 30 May 2008. He finished the season with 60 first-class wickets at an average of 30.21 and 27 one-day wickets at an average of 22.00. Retrieved on 30 May 2008.
Anderson was prevented from playing much for Lancashire in the 2006 season by a stress fracture of the back sustained in early May. Retrieved on 29 May 2008. He played in only two matches for Lancashire, and at one point, the Lancashire Cricket Board considered sending Anderson to play for Glamorgan to prove his fitness; however, Lancashire decided they would rather have Anderson play for them, even if only in a limited capacity. Retrieved on 29 May 2008. In the only first-class match he played for Lancashire that season, he was limited to three four-over spells by the ECB, which was wary of him getting injured again. Retrieved on 29 May 2008.
In 2008, after the Test and One-Day series against South Africa ended at the beginning of September, Anderson was unavailable to play for Lancashire for the rest of the season. Retrieved on 1 September 2008. He finished the season with 20 first-class wickets at 7.75 for Lancashire. Retrieved on 26 April 2009.
At the start of the 2009 English cricket season, Anderson took career-best match figures in a first-class match with 11/109 against Sussex as Lancashire won by 8 wickets. It was the only first-class match he played for Lancashire before being called into the England squad for a series against the West Indies. Retrieved on 26 April 2009. As of 26 April 2009, Anderson had taken 188 wickets at 24.37 from 48 first-class matches with Lancashire, Retrieved on 26 April 2009. and 66 wickets at 21.78 in 44 list A matches. Retrieved on 26 April 2009.
In 2025, Anderson marked his return to play T20 cricket for Lancashire against Glamorgan in what was nearly an 11-year wait. He took figures of 3–17 in four overs as Lancashire went on to win the game.
On 12 December 2025, it was announced that Anderson would be Lancashire's red-ball captain for the 2026 County Championship season.
In April 2026, at the age of 43, Anderson took his 56th five-wicket haul in a first-class innings, matching the tally of Richie Benaud, John Snow, and Ravi Ashwin.
Franchise career Following his retirement from test cricket, he expressed a wish to play in franchise T20 competitions. He was signed by Manchester Super Giants as a Wildcard for the Hundred and made his debut in August 2025.
International career 2002–03: World Cup, Zimbabwe and South Africa When Anderson was selected for the England one-day squad, he had played only five List A matches, taking 23 wickets at an average of 26.75. Retrieved on 29 May 2008. At the age of 20, he made his ODI debut on 15 December 2002 against Australia at Melbourne. He opened the bowling and recorded figures of 1/46 from six overs. Retrieved on 29 May 2008. His debut came before he was even awarded his County cap, which occurred in 2003. Retrieved on 29 May 2008. He showed good promise in this series – a three-team tournament also including Sri Lanka – which earned him a place in the 2003 World Cup squad. It was here that he really broke into international cricket with a match-winning spell against Pakistan, where he took four wickets in a day/night game to collect the Man of the Match award. In what proved to be England's last match of the tournament he conceded 12 runs off the penultimate over against eventual world champions Australia, and England lost a closely fought contest.
In the summer of 2003, he made his first Test cricket appearance against Zimbabwe at Lord's, and took five wickets in an innings on debut, becoming the 42nd Englishman to do so. His success continued in the subsequent One-Day tournaments against Pakistan (against whom he took a hat-trick at The Oval), South Africa and Zimbabwe. His hat-trick against Pakistan, the first by an English bowler in an ODI, claimed the wickets of Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami. Retrieved on 4 September 2008.
The Test series against South Africa dented Anderson's reputation as England's golden boy; Retrieved on 28 May 2008. in a series England drew 2–2 after coming from behind, Anderson finished the five-match series with 15 wickets at an average of 39.86. Retrieved on 28 May 2008. His best figures of 5/102 came at Trent Bridge in the third Test where he used movement of the seam to claim his second five-wicket haul in his fifth Test. Retrieved on 16 May 2008. Although Anderson was England's lead wicket taker, Retrieved on 28 May 2008. Graeme Smith – the South African captain – particularly punished Anderson's bowling, taking 157 runs at a strike rate of 90.23 off his bowling in the series and only being dismissed once. Retrieved on 28 May 2008. In August, despite a mixed series against South Africa, Anderson was named Young Cricketer of the Year; he became the first player to be unanimously voted for the award. Retrieved on 28 May 2008. In September, Anderson was awarded a central contract with the ECB. Retrieved on 28 May 2008. He suffered from a niggling knee injury and fatigue as the season wore on; the knee injury – to a tendon on the outside of his left knee – meant he was rested for the winter tour of Bangladesh. Retrieved on 28 May 2008. After the South Africa series and some good performances by other bowlers during the Bangladesh tour, Anderson admitted that he was no longer an automatic choice for England. Retrieved on 28 May 2008.
Anderson has an unusual bowling action. At the moment of delivery, he has his head down, eyes closed, and does not look where he is bowling; he attempted to bowl with his head up but found that he lost pace in doing so, so reverted to his original action. In 2003, ex-England pace bowler Bob Willis said Anderson would only be able to play for five years with his action. Between 2004 and 2005, the England coaching staff attempted to alter Anderson's bowling action. Retrieved on 3 June 2008. Anderson was selected in the One-Day and Test squads for the winter tour of Sri Lanka, but injuries left him able to play in only one of the three Tests on that tour. He was wicketless in his sole appearance, finishing with figures of 0/85.
2004–05: West Indies, Zimbabwe and Pakistan