James Anderson deserves a crack at Sir Ian Botham's Test wicket record, he is the most skillful bowler in the world, not Dale Steyn

• David Saker believes Anderson is the best bowler in the world
• Anderson closing in on Sir Ian Botham’s English Test wicket record 
• England hoping to seal a series win against India at the Oval 

By Nasser Hussain

Published: 16:32 EST, 14 August 2014 | Updated: 10:53 EST, 15 August 2014

England’s bowling coach David Saker put it well when he described Jimmy Anderson as the most skilful bowler in the world. Some people objected to that: in their view, the best fast bowler in the game is Dale Steyn.

But Saker chose his words carefully. In terms of skill, there is no one to match Anderson.

I can’t think of any bowler I’ve played with or against, or have watched since I retired a decade ago, who can switch so easily from inswing to outswing — and without giving the batsman the slightest clue what he is doing.

Performer: James Anderson is closing in on Sir Ian Botham's English Test wicket record 

Some of the great swing bowlers — guys like Wasim Akram, Kapil Dev and Ian Botham — would probably tell you the way to bowl to a left-hander is to set him up for an lbw.

But Anderson has often gone the other way, slanting the ball across. It’s an unusual approach for a swing bowler to take, but his record speaks for itself.

The most amazing aspect of Anderson’s bowling is that he has never lost his wrist position while changing between inswing and outswing. Not only that, but he hides the change brilliantly. With most bowlers, you can read what’s going on.

When he first came into the team, just before the 2003 World Cup, he would bowl full, swinging deliveries. But he changed over the years because he didn’t want to be one-dimensional.

He learned to drag his length back on flatter pitches, and to hit the deck harder.

His performance during the 3-1 win in Australia in 2010-11 was an outstanding example.

Talks a good game: Bowling coach David Saker believes that Anderson is the best seamer in world cricket 

Difference of the opinion: Many experts feel that South Africa's Dale Steyn is the best bowler in the world 

Proud Lancastrian: Anderson uses any pent up aggression to snaffle plenty of Test wickets 

The old Anderson would never have been able to do that.

He was also a quiet lad — probably the quietest I’ve ever played with. But he’s grown in confidence and he’s realised that he has to make up for the fact that he doesn’t have the physical presence of guys like Courtney Walsh or Curtly Ambrose.

So he’s had to make up for that with his body language and a few verbals.

I don’t have a problem with that, as long as he doesn’t cross the line. Look at Steyn: he’s not shy of a word or two.

If Anderson lost that aggression, I think he’d be half the bowler he is now.

I rated him very highly right from the start — so highly, in fact, that I probably put him in a couple of situations I shouldn’t have.

During our famous World Cup defeat by Australia at Port Elizabeth in 2003, I should have handed the penultimate over to Andy Caddick, but I went with Anderson because of a gut feeling.

Andy Bichel slapped him into the scoreboard, and later that evening I apologised to Anderson for putting him under so much pressure.

Then, on his Test debut later that year against Zimbabwe, I set him a 7-2 off-side field, which forced him to bowl wider of off stump than he would have liked.

I messed up. But in both cases, it was a show of my admiration for Jimmy.

Look at the way he establishes holds over batsmen — be it Sri Lanka’s Lahiru Thirimanne earlier in the summer or Virat Kohli for India now.

When he has it over you, he doesn’t let go.

It’s remarkable to think how he’s progressed from the bloke who carried the drinks during the 2005 Ashes, when the Fab Four of Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison, Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones must have made him wonder whether he was ever going to crack it at Test level.

Instead, he is on the verge of becoming the most successful England bowler of all time — and one of the most watchable operators in the world game.

VIDEO Captain Cook focused on series win 

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