Up the Clarets back Lowerhouse call for Anderson statue

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Just before 5:30 p.m. yesterday at the Oval, England bowler James Anderson uprooted Mohammed Shami’s middle stump to win the test for England and a 4-1 series victory.

But it was more than just a match winning wicket for Anderson, often referred to as the Burnley Express or the Burnley Lara. This was his 564th test wicket, taking him past the great Australian Glenn McGrath to become the highest wicket taking seam bowler in the history of the game.

Retiring batsman Alastair Cook described his good friend Anderson as England’s best ever cricketer when he spoke at the end of the match and that is some achievement for a young lad from St. Ted’s school who made his Burnley CC debut as a 15-year-old against East Lancs in the Lancashire League back in 1998, He took just one wicket that day, that of Phil Bolton, but conceded just 13 runs in 8 overs.

When he took his 500th test wicket last year, there was a call from Lowerhouse Cricket Club for the town to erect a statue in his honour and that they have repeated that call following yesterday’s achievement.

Embed from Getty ImagesStan Heaton, at Lowerhouse, said: “What Jimmy has achieved allows all coaches in this town, where appropriate, to tell any aspiring cricketer, you too can achieve this. Cricket in this borough, through its four clubs Belvedere, Burnley, Lowerhouse and Padiham, is a hotbed of cricket. How lucky are we to have James Anderson as its icon.” He added: “Whilst I accept that we are a town that usually underplays itself, we cannot simply ignore Jimmy’s achievement.”

The idea from Lowerhouse is for a statue in the town centre with Jimmy perhaps bowling towards Turf Moor where he started his career. Up the Clarets are delighted and proud to support Lowerhouse and ask the town to consider the placing of a James Anderson statue along with the potential re-naming of a road to James Anderson Way. We simply have to honour the town’s greatest ever sportsman.

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