Australian legend Glenn McGrath praised James Anderson, who became the first fast bowler to take 700 Test wickets in Dharamsala on Saturday, and felt the English pacer has set a bar so high that it won’t be breached soon.
“Not only are 700 wickets amazing, but 180 (187) Tests in themselves, just the longevity, his work ethic; shaping up day in and day out is absolutely incredible,” said McGrath during the final trials of the MRF Pace Foundation’s Ace of Pace talent hunt programme.
“21 years for fast bowlers is exceptional. He is setting a bar that no one else will achieve. He is 41, and the fact that he is still playing now, having the desire, attitude, and motivation to put himself through the pain of fast bowling day in and day out, is exceptional,” added the former Australian pacer.
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The Ace of Pace went to Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai, where nearly 1,000 aspiring fast bowlers participated. The top 20 pacers from each city were selected for the final trial which was conducted at the MRF-Pachaiyappa’s College ground on Saturday.
Three 20-year-old fast bowlers, Jaskaran Singh (Rajasthan), Mohammed Izhar (Bihar), and Muhammad Sarfraj (Ranchi, Jharkhand), were selected on Saturday and will be enrolled at the MRF Pace Foundation, training for free.
“I am very impressed by all the bowlers out there. To think that they are not in the State systems and playing age cricket shows the talent out in India that hasn’t been discovered,” added McGrath, the Director of Coaching at the Pace Foundation.
Rahul Mammen Mappillai, Managing Director of MRF Limited, revealed that the company will invest more in the academy, saying, “What we want to provide here will change over time. We are investing a lot in developing best-in-class infrastructure which will set the benchmark for pace-bowler training in the future.”
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