IN recent years Jimmy Anderson has become England’s go-to bowler when they need a wicket - he is the man for the big occasion.

More often than not the 32-year-old delivers, but his knack of taking the big wickets at the right moment is one that was first on show in his teenage years at Burnley, when he regularly saved his best deliveries to dismiss the opposition’s best player.

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Michael Brown was another young talent from the Turf Moor club who went on to forge a successful career in the First-class game.

Two years older than Anderson, Brown played alongside the man who this week became England’s leading Test wicket taker of all-time through the junior ranks and into the third, second and, very quickly, the first team.

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“Up until the age of 15 he always had a nice action,” said Brown, who played for Middlesex, Hampshire and Surrey.

“He was one of your key junior bowlers but he was a good batter as well and good in the field, he was a good athlete.

“At 15 he put on a yard of pace and when you saw him bowl he was nippy. At 16 he came back and you thought ‘wow, this is genuine pace’. He started swinging the ball a bit more.

“He used to bowl jaffa’s, mixed in with the odd four ball, but at 16 he was bowling 80 to 85mph late swinging out-swingers.

“Martin van Jaarsveld got cleaned up, Roger Harper got cleaned up, David Saker got cleaned up, first balls and second balls. He bowled deliveries that got the best players out.

“Then at 17 he started to show the signs of the kind of bowler he was when he burst on the England scene at the World Cup.

“He was still a bit raw so he bowled a few four balls but at 16 and 17 you could see the potential he was capable of, certainly in terms of his pace and his ability to swing the ball.”

During his time in the England team Anderson has become famed for an on-field persona that differs to his character off the pitch.

Never short a word for opposition batsman, the former St Theodore’s pupil has become a snarling leader of the England attack.

But he wasn’t like that when he was making his progress in the Turf Moor junior set-up.

“He didn’t have his on-the-field persona at a young age. He’s always been a shy lad and kept himself to himself,” said Brown.

“Once you got to know him in the team environment he played the kid. He’s got a good sense of humour. The people he knows can have a good laugh with him, it’s a very dry sense of humour.

“He was very competitive on the field and he got very frustrated with himself when things didn’t go as well as he would have liked. He’s always had that competitive streak.

“I think the verbal aggression and the chatter you see in the Test matches is probably more reflective of how he feels in control of his own skills and his own game, which at 16 or 17 you’re nowhere near having.

“I can’t recall him being particularly chirpy on the field as a young lad, but he was certainly competitive.”

Brown is convinced that Anderson is now the world’s most skilful bowler.

And he is particularly impressed with the way he has fought to make the most of his natural talent.

“The path wasn’t easy for him,” said Brown. “He was off the radar until he was 16 or 17, then he got picked up by Lancs. He had an amazing start to his career, but then had a few battles with his action and people trying to change him.

“He’s come out the other end and gone back to trusting his body and his action and learnt so many skills along the way. If he’s not the most skilful bowler in the world then I’m not sure who is.”

And those associated with Burnley Cricket Club take a great deal of pride in the achievement of a quiet, shy, unassuming lad who went on to become England’s finest.

“He’s not only excelled on the cricketing stage with his performances but off the field he is a great ambassador,” said Brown.

“He still looks out for the club and he is certainly one of the names that has put Burnley as a town on the map.

“It’s an amazing achievement to think a town like Burnley could produce someone who has gone to become England’s most successful wicket taker.

“He’s still fit enough and bowling well enough to put a real distance between him and Botham over the next couple of years.”