Learnt to bowl the wobble seam delivery after watching Mohammad Asif: James Anderson

One of the best seam bowlers of the current generation, James Anderson went on to explain how he had picked up the wobble seam delivery at first. The 39-year-old has been a revelation for his country from the time of his debut and he holds the record for the most number of wickets by a fast bowler in Test cricket. With 640 wickets in 169 Tests, Anderson has picked up 31 five wicket hauls so far and the number is set to move up as he still some years of cricket left in him.

Anderson was the part of the recently-concluded Ashes series in which he picked up eight wickets in 3 Tests he played. The right arm seamer was rested for the fifth Test at Hobart and there are not a lot of bowlers who can swing the ball both ways like he does. His fitness levels have been so good and recently ruled out any retirement plans soon. In a chat with 7 Cricket, Anderson revealed the bowler that had brought the wobble seam delivery into his armoury.

“I spent the whole summer practising that” – James Anderson

Anderson explained that the 2010 series against Pakistan prior to the Ashes was the first time he learned to bowl wobble seam deliveries after watching Mohammad Asif. He noted that the delivery was key to success in Australia as the Kookaburra ball stops swinging after few overs.

“It was before the 2010/11 Ashes, David Saker was our bowling coach. He said Kookaburra doesn’t swing for the huge amount of time, so something else in the locker as a bowler was crucial here in Australia for success,. In summer 2010, we played against Pakistan and Mohammad Asif was bowling this ball which just wobbled a little bit, it was not seaming nor swinging, he was just trying to nip off the seam,” Anderson told to 7Cricket.

So I spent the whole summer practising that and working on it and was comfortable to bowl here [in Australia] which actually brought success for me throughout that series,” he added.

It has to be noted that Mohammad Asif has been banned from playing international cricket for his life after involving in match fixing issues in 2010. Asif was one of the best talents emerging from his nation as he picked up 106 wickets in just 23 Tests from the period of 2005 to 2010.