Jimmy, will you please stand up......

England will be banking on its new look bowling attack taking the fight to the Australians during the Ashes. But in my opinion it is not Flintoff that holds the important card, it is Jimmy Anderson.

Jimmy has had a mixed bag of a career, pretty much summed up by one good spell and then six or seven ordinary ones. He looked the goods at times, and then he came crashing back to earth.

His Ashes series in 06/07 was nothing short of a disaster. He collected five wickets at the horrible average of 82.60 and was manhandled by Ricky Ponting and co.

Good signs were showing soon however. During the English summer he collected 5/42 against a powerful Indian batting lineup. The next two tests he was again ineffective. The story was continuing.

It took New Zealand’s tour to England to finally get the best out of Anderson. And he delivered with career best figures of 7/43 to wreck the Kiwis. He swung the ball alarmingly both ways at good pace. Had he finally arrived as a test cricketer or was it another in a long line of false dawns?

He did well against South Africa, fumbled on India’s batting tracks, and then performed brilliantly without much luck against the Windies.

Now, on the eve of the Ashes series, he has taken 5/34 against an admittedly weak Warwickshire side and has established himself as his team’s premier paceman.

England’s success will hinge on his performances. He needs to hassle openers Phillip Hughes and Simon Katich with his swing, and get the ball moving both ways. Hughes was also unsettled by the short ball in his brief stint against the Lions and he may find himself becoming an early Anderson target.

This is Anderson’s greatest test, a series against the oldest enemy Australia in which he is the unanimous spearhead. If he fails, his career will once more hit the stalling point it has hit before. If he succeeds, maybe he will have finally reached his immense potential.