The wine has finally aged

Who knows who decided to use wine and sports athletes in the same sentence. But aging athletes, performing at levels that are unexpected of them for their age, are usually referred to as "aging like fine wine".

Cricket has many such examples. Sachin Tendulkar went on a golden run from the age of 34 to 38 where he got runs everywhere around the world, against all types of attacks.

Batters have always had longer shelf lives, but considering that Tendulkar started at 16 and was still bossing the best bowlers at such an advanced age should put him in a bracket of his own.

But wine, too, eventually ages and for a while now, we have had a cricketer amidst us who has defied all retirement talk and refused to stop. Until Saturday.

James Anderson is a cricketer from a different age. He made his international debut when Michael Bevan was still ruling the roost as a finisher in ODIs. He made his Test debut before the first ever T20 was played in England.

He has played in an era when the thought of DRS did not even exist and later played at a time where batters reverse-swept him for four over the slip cordon.

For 21 years, Anderson troubled the best, dismissed the best and became the best fast bowler in the business. 187 Tests. 700 wickets. Average 26.5. Strike rate 57.

He evolved as things went on and cited the sadly-tainted Muhammad Asif for playing a role in revitalising his career in 2010, when he observed him and worked on the scrambled seam ball, which would appear like coming in but would move away at the last minute.

That delivery would play a significant role in the first of his two landmark series as a fast bowler- The Ashes of 2010-11.

England-so starved of series success in Australia for decades running-arrived in Australia, as well planned as any team could be and with a fast bowling attack that could take 20 wickets on most surfaces.

Anderson emerged as the leader of this attack, claiming 24 wickets in five Tests and played a standout role in the 3-1 triumph and also end Ricky Ponting's long tenure as Australian Test captain.

His second defining tour came just over 18 months after the victory Down Under.

England arrived in India in the winter of 2012, under a new captain in Alastair Cook. India was a side in transition after Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman had retired in the space of a few months.

India's fast bowling arsenal had nothing in it, to state that they could claim 20 wickets regularly, prompting Mahendra Singh Dhoni to demand square turners to win at home.

All matches were eventually played out on slow turners, barring the one in Mumbai where Kevin Pietersen played a knock for the ages and Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar shared 29 wickets between them to dent a killer blow on the Indians.

Yet, for all of Swann and Panesar's exploits, it was Anderson who was marked out by Dhoni as the difference maker in the series.

"He made the most out of that spell and kept the batsmen guessing. I think the major difference between the two sides was James Anderson who bowled very well," Dhoni had said at the time.

The numbers don't particularly say that he made a massive difference in the series win- 12 wickets in 4 Tests- but it is when he took those wickets and how he used reverse swing efficiently to support the spinners that ensured India could never breathe easy in all the matches.

England did not want him to hit the top of off stump in India, they wanted control from him and he gave that in plenty to ensure India's eight-year winning run at home, came to an end.

His performances in England will always get the recognition it deserves. Seeing out a new ball spell from Anderson with the red Dukes orb in helpful conditions can be the toughest examination for any batter and more often than not, it was Anderson who came out on top.

Interestingly, in his retirement post, Anderson wrote about a personality trait that the world has come to know of him, which is of him playing like as if someone had pushed him out of a bed and forcefully made him do the donkey work with the ball.

"Thank you to everyone who has supported me over the years, it's always meant a lot, even if my face often doesn't show it," he wrote.

For all his achievements in the game, Anderson will bow out with not many finding anything appreciative to say of his personality. You could rarely find a story where a young quick bowler had said he used a tip or two from him to take wickets more consistently.

He could get on a player's skin, even of some as calm as Dhoni who went to extreme extents of backing his player during Anderson's altercation with Ravindra Jadeja at the divider of the Trent Bridge dressing room in 2014.

His duels, ranging from Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke to Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, were legendary.

When England first him picked in 2002, it was due to a lack of options on a tour to Australia. He dismissed Sanath Jayasuriya off a slower ball in a tri-series match, which convinced Nasser Hussain that he had something different about him.

21 years on, he was right. The wine tasted well for a long, long time but it is now time to look at newer bottles.