Burnley star bowler turns to big screen

The England fast bowler who grew up in Burnley turned his hand to film-making after thinking about things to do when he retires from the sport.

“Warriors” is a documentary on cricket in Maasai and how the sport changes their community and how players pursue their dreams of playing the sport in England. England’s all time wicket taker said that working on the project was “exciting and completely different” and will help promote cricket in a positive way.

He said: “It’s an amazing film – an amazing journey for them to actually make such a huge difference in their community through the power of cricket and sport.”

The 33-year old Burnley man was introduced to the story by director Barney Douglas, who travelled to Kenya to meet the players after seeing pictures of them competing in their traditional robes.

Once Anderson heard about the team, he could not get enough and wanted to become involved in a big way.

He said: “I was intrigued to see how involved I could get and what the process was like but mainly when Barney told me the story I was hooked on it – I thought it was a great story and and a great thing to try and get out there.

“There are really powerful messages so I wanted to try and help him promote that as much as possible.

“I found it quite exciting and completely different.

“ I think that getting to the stage that I am in my career it’s nice to have something that maybe I could do.”

The film had its world premiere in September and is now being shown across the UK.