James Anderson and Cristiano Ronaldo are once in a generation players

James Anderson and Cristiano Ronaldo - Source (Twitter)

When players have long careers across the sport, they are bound to face more setbacks, injuries, and hurdles. The Athletes are always in the eye of the storm from a media perspective as well.

Even at the age of 40, James Anderson approaches the wicket with the natural grace that has been his hallmark since he began his international career as a fast bowler. He smoothly and gently glides into his delivery stride. Without making a creak or a groan, He has picked up 650 plus wickets into his 19-year long Test career and he has remained England's Lynchpin for a long time.

England paceman James Anderson still feels good and at 40 and he is coping comfortably with the rigors of Test cricket.

To draw parlance, In Football, Cristiano Ronaldo is an all-time great. Ronaldo has been fortunate with injuries and has had great control over his fitness, but at 37 he could be in the last phase of his career.  There are a few footballers who last into early middle age but not at such a sustained level of excellence. 

Cristiano Ronaldo, at 37, is trying and still has that towering leap. He can still do wonders if he has good support from his teammates. So far, 37 is as long as anyone that’s currently playing in the Premier League has lasted. 

Chelsea’s Thiago Silva who is just over a month shy of his 38th birthday tops the list with Ronaldo, Lukasz Fabianski, and full-back Ashley Young also in it. Ronaldo is a freak of nature in that he mostly stays fit and might well be capable of high-class football at speed for another two or three years. 

The instant reply as to why ancients like Kent all-rounder Darren Stevens, 46, are still playing cricket successfully, is that this sport demands less physicality of its participants. While cricketers carry on a little longer, it is not necessarily that the game is less taxing.

Cricket is not an injury-free party game, either. Fast bowlers regularly suffer back, side, and hamstring trouble, poorly feet, and a quick ball crashing through the paper-thin defence into parts that make their eyes water.

Blows catch batsmen from above pad level to a rasping clang on helmets. Dementia is as common a problem in ageing cricketers as it is among centre-backs and specialist headers.