IT ALL began at Alexandra Meadows, Blackburn, when a fresh faced 15-year-old by the name of James Anderson made his senior cricket debut for his hometown club Burnley.

At the time the Lancashire League match between East Lancashire and Burnley seemed a run of the mill affair.

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The visitors had been skittled for just 116, with Aussie Brad Young and Blackburn’s Ian Haworth doing the damage with the ball.

It was East Lancashire who took the points on Saturday, May 9, 1998, but when their opener Phil Bolton saw his stumps scattered by Anderson, it was the beginning of a remarkable journey that last week saw the Burnley-born quick become England’s leading Test wicket taker.

For Bolton, now 38, being Anderson’s first senior wicket would be a great tale to tell. But there’s one problem.

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“I don’t remember it,” he said. “I thought I got caught behind but I didn’t I got clean bowled. I’ve always thought that was the case but I actually got cleaned up.

“I don’t remember it at all. The memories against him aren’t really from that game, it was further down the line when you knew he was a threat because he was a quick young bowler, probably one of the quickest in the league at the time, even at that young age.

“I’d love to be able to come out with a classic and say I did this or I did that, but I just don’t remember it.

“I was in the Lancashire League for 17 or 18 years, and packed in four years ago, so it was a long time ago.”

When Anderson made his debut for the Turf Moor club all those years ago, he wasn’t accompanied by any great fanfare.

Bolton admits East Lancashire weren’t really aware of him heading into that game.

“He was just a young, Lancashire League player who was making his way at Burnley,” said Bolton, who played 361 Lancashire League matches, scoring 6,478 runs.

“They have a history of good youngsters at Burnley and he was another one of those really.

“It was a surprise when he came on the scene and burst on to it so quickly. It probably wasn’t for the guys at Burnley, they probably knew him, but for somebody who didn’t know about it you knew immediately over the first season or two he was going to develop into something special. As soon as Lancashire got hold of him that only increased the rate at which he developed.

“The game in question may be a bit of a blur but over the next season or two we played Burnley and he was obviously something a bit special.

“You could tell that by the way he ran in. He might have been a bit raw and young but you knew the more matches he played the better he would get, and it happened pretty quickly over a short period of time.”

Bolton, who was out for 26 against Anderson in that clash 17 years ago, remembers the youngster as someone who could already bowl at pace.

“He was quick, he was a bit more raw in those days,” he said. “He had pace but the control he’s got now and has had for England over the last seven, eight, nine, 10 years is completely different.

“As soon as he went to Lancashire they probably worked him extremely hard and developed that control.

“That’s not to say that Burnley didn’t have the coaches to do that, but once you become part of a county set-up, playing every other day, being coached every day, that probably refined him a little bit.

“You could tell that even if the control wasn’t fully there he had talent, it was all a case of whether he had the mental ability to deal with that talent, and he obviously has.

“There are people who have the talent but don’t have the mental ability, but he obviously has both.”

East Lancashire and Burnley have always been fierce rivals in Lancashire League competition.

But despite that contest, Bolton believes the whole league can take pride in one of their own now being England’s greatest.

“The league prides itself on players who go on and play first-class cricket, whether that be Jimmy Anderson or someone coming from South Africa as a pro,” he said.

“That’s been the big thing for the Lancashire League but it’s always nice to see someone up and coming and homegrown go on to big things.

“Burnley have produced a few first-class cricketers over the years and I’m sure they take real pride in it.

“It’s got to be good for the league. It’s cracking publicity and it shows people want to play in the league.”

Bolton may not remember how he got out, but he will always be able to tell people he was Anderson’s first senior victim.

“I’m in good company,” he joked. “You can’t knock some of the dismissals he’s had and to be the first one is a nice little story