JAMES Anderson could have ended up at the Crucible playing snooker this week rather than bidding to add to his record-breaking England wicket tally.

The Burnley bowler, who broke Sir Ian Botham’s Test match wicket record last week against the West Indies, is currently in action in the second Test, where he took the first wicket for England on day one in Grenada.

MORE TOP STORIES:

But his dad Michael admitted that a young Anderson’s first sporting love was snooker.

“He was mad keen on all sports from a very early age,” said Anderson senior.

“Snooker was the first sport he was really interested in, he was reasonably good. When he was two or three the only thing he would sit and watch quietly was snooker.”

Cricket soon took over though and Anderson came through the ranks at Burnley before joining Lancashire and then making the grade with England.

Of a young Anderson, his dad added: “Every evening when I came home from work he wanted to play out in the garden and bowl at me.

“He was determined, he wouldn’t let me give my wicket away, he wanted to get me out.

“When he was 16 and 17 he had a real growth spurt. He was one of the smaller guys in his age group and all of a sudden he shot up and reached six feet and at Lancashire League level started bowling reasonably quickly.

“At the time you were thinking it would be nice if he played county cricket.

“You never dream that he was going to end up 12 years later playing at this level and doing what he has done.”

Of that record-breaking moment, which came on Friday night as England fought in vain to secure a first Test victory, Anderson senior said: “I’m very proud. It was a long wait - it was such a flat wicket in Antigua. For the whole family to be together when he did it was fantastic.”