Cricket greats Jimmy Anderson and David Warner questioned after Hundred debuts fall flat

7NEWS

3 days ago

He opened the bowling for the Manchester Originals on his Hundred debut — but at the grand old age of 43, James Anderson just couldn't turn back the clock to his glory days at Old Trafford.
England's all-time leading Test wicket taker was hit for 38 off his wicketless 20-ball stint on Wednesday as the Originals went down to a dramatic one-wicket defeat to Southern Brave on the penultimate ball.
Tymal Mills proved the star with bat and ball after his late partnership with Craig Overton saw the Brave home.
At 43 years and seven days, Anderson became the second-oldest player ever to take part in the 100-ball-a-side competition, behind only South African Imran Tahir, who was 43 years 149 days when he played for Birmingham Phoenix back in 2022.
The Originals batted first, with England white-ball stars Jos Buttler and Phil Salt dominating with a 48-run partnership which was only ended by Mills, who grabbed the key wicket of Buttler for 22 before he claimed another prize scalp of South African big hitter Heinrich Klaasen.
Mills finished with 3-22 after ending Salt's entertaining knock of 60 from 41 deliveries, while Mark Chapman (22) and Lewis Gregory (6) finished unbeaten as the hosts made 4-131.
Anderson bowled the first 10 balls of the innings for 10 runs but it was Sonny Baker who found a quick breakthrough to snare captain James Vince for six.
Former England opener Jason Roy was particularly hard on Anderson's bowling, smashing him for four fours and a six off his final 10 balls.
After all the hype ahead of the tournament, it was an embarrassing debut for the ageing great a fans wondered why he was even playing.
'James Anderson too old for the Hundred sadly!' a fan blasted on X (formerly Twitter).
'Nothing personal against James Anderson but is it right to play in the Hundred and take a place of deserving youngster?' another fan said.
And another: 'Jimmy Anderson didn't bowl well ... I wouldn't play him in this format. County T20 he is OK.'
And another: 'Jimmy Anderson in and it's game over.'
Roy eventually sliced onto the stumps from a teasing Baker delivery for 30 while Scott Currie continued to keep the Originals in the hunt with his excellent 4-28, featuring the wickets of Leus du Plooy, Laurie Evans, Chris Jordan and Michael Bracewell.
But a last-gasp effort from Mills and Craig Overton featured the pair smashing 25 from 11 deliveries.
Mills eventually fell, slogging out to Currie off Gregory, but new batter Reece Topley coolly smashed a boundary to seal a tight win with one delivery remaining.
David Warner's Hundred debut falls flat as Spirit are downed
David Warner's debut in England's Hundred competition has fallen flat, the Australian opener dismissed for a ten-ball nine and his London Spirit side thrashed by their capital rivals Oval Invincibles at Lord's.
It was his first appearance at the self-styled Home of Cricket since the Test match two years ago in which he was abused in the Long Room by members after Alex Carey controversially ran out Jonny Bairstow.
The former Australia Test opener spiced up his bow by criticising England hero Joe Root's batting, suggesting he 'take the surfboard off his front leg', if he was to finally make an Ashes hundred Down Under.
But there was no obvious antagonism from the crowd when he ran out to open through a cloud of firework smoke as Spirit batted first.
Warner is one of the big names lured by higher paydays to add lustre to the competition, with Steve Smith and Marcus Stoinis also involved.
The 38-year-old is picking up Stg 100,000 ($A205,000) and the other two Stg 120,000 ($A246,000).
His high profile in England is clear from the event using his image in social media to promote the competition.
However, Warner was unable to follow the example set by his compatriots Grace Harris and Meg Lanning, who made 89 not out and 85 respectively in the preceding women's match in the double-header.
He saw little of the strike early on as Spirit struggled to adapt to a slow pitch that took spin, and hit one four before his dismissal, caught at long-on trying to whack Jordan Clark's slower ball.
That left Spirit 3-26 from 31 balls and it didn't get any better, being dismissed for 80, the second lowest men's score in the competition's five years,.
Invincibles, the defending champions, cruised to victory with six wickets and 31 balls to spare, hitting the night's only six to win it
Ashton Turner was Spirit's top scorer with 21 but the Australian who did best was Invincibles' Jason Behrendorff who took 17-1 in his 20 balls, taking the wicket of Spirit captain Kane Williamson.
Afghanistan legspinner Rashid Khan was the star turn, taking 3-11 in 20 balls while Sam Curran claimed 3-18.
It wasn't just a London derby, there was also a West Australian coaching clash in which Tom Moody came out well on top against Justin Langer, though as the latter observed, he's barely had 48 hours to work with the team.
The coaching test will be where they are at when these teams meet again at the end of the league on August 25. Langer clearly has a lot more work on his hands than Moody, who's aiming for a three-peat with Invincibles.
- With Glenn Moore
Australian men in The Hundred
David Warner, Ashton Turner *Dan Worrell (London Spirit), Jason Behrendorff, *Nathan Sowter (Oval Invincibles), Hilton Cartwright (Southern Brave), Marcus Stoinis (Trent Rockets), Steve Smith, Riley Meredith, Chris Green (Welsh Fire).