Posted by James Anderson had a great many attributes as a Test cricketer – none bigger than his ability to serve as a majestic island of chuntering irritation and sadness when England lost a Test match by a single run.
England are in Wellington again.
Bloody Wellington.
To recap what happened last time, England batted first and fell to 21-2, at which point Joe Root made a hundred, only no-one really noticed because the man who’d come in after him was by that point already on 184.
Ben Stokes declared on 435-8 and then asked New Zealand to follow-on after they were bowled out for 209. Their second innings went a little better. Kane Williamson was more than ready by then and his hundred left England chasing 258.
This time Root could only manage 95, while Harry Brook fared even worse, getting run out before he’d even faced a ball.
At 256-9, The Great Neil Wagner bowled a high wide that wasn’t called because not many people wanted the climax decided by extras. Next ball Anderson was out and, as we said at the time, sport’s whole meaning and impact is built on someone involved having and displaying the level of pissed-offedness Anderson then mustered.
It was quite magnificent.
Anderson stood, he stewed. He looked sad, he looked irritated. As Stokes waded onto the pitch, grinning and shaking hands, Jimmy chuntered into the void, probably griping about how the previous ball should have been a wide.
He did not want to lose. He did not want to have lost. On that day, James Anderson gave the concepts of victory and defeat a bit of weight and meaning.
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