In typical Anderson style, his Test debut in 2003 was preceded by him becoming the youngest Lancashire bowler to take a hat-trick in a first-class game and the first to do so at Old Trafford for eight years in a County Championship match against Essex, including getting England captain Nasser Hussain out.
A week later, he was running riot for England against a hapless Zimbabwe team at Lord’s. Mark Vermeulen became the first of 700 and counting Test wickets, and he finished with figures of 5-73 as the tourists were bundled out for 147 and went on to suffer an innings and 92-run defeat.
“It is incredible the speed it has gone, it is amazing,” Anderson said of his whirlwind start. “I am absolutely delighted with the way I bowled in that spell.
“I was a bit disappointed in the areas where it didn’t come out quite right and I was a bit nervous as well.
“I have seen players up there [on the honours board] from the 1800s and I am honoured to have my name up already.”
Four wickets in the second innings of the second Test against Zimbabwe helped wrap up a 2-0 series victory for England, but the visit of South Africa in the second half of the summer would prove something of a chastening experience.
Anderson’s 15 wickets in the series, which was drawn 2-2, came at an average of just under 40 and visiting captain Graeme Smith in particular took a liking to his bowling, carting 157 runs with a strike-rate of over 90 off the youngster.
He was subsequently rested for England’s tour to Bangladesh and spent much of the next two years in and out of the team, missing the entirety of the 2005 Ashes series when Michael Vaughan’s side ended Australia’s stranglehold on the rivalry.
A stress fracture in his back, after trying to remodel his action to avoid such a situation, then led to Anderson missing the entire summer of 2006 and when he did return for the winter Ashes tour to Australia, he and his team-mates endured a torrid time as the hosts regained the urn with a 5-0 clean sweep.
It may not have seemed like it at the time, but the second coming of Anderson was not far away.
