James Anderson may be 41 but the England veteran shows no signs of stopping after becoming the first pace bowler to take 700 Test wickets. Only two spinners, Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan (800 Test wickets) and the late Australia great Shane Warne (708), are ahead of Anderson on the all-time list of the five-day game’s most successful bowlers.
Anderson joined the exclusive ‘700 club’ when he dismissed India’s Kuldeep Yadav, who edged a length delivery outside off in the fifth and final Test in Dharamsala on Saturday.
Anderson is renowned as both a conventional swing bowler and for generating reverse-swing later in an innings, while maintaining tight control.
Those qualities have helped him to the landmark of 700 wickets, including 32 five-wicket hauls, with his scalps coming at an average of 26.52. He has played an England-record 187 Tests so far. What is more, he is still putting his body through the gruelling demands of pace bowling at an age when many of his international contemporaries have long since retired.
The dynamic leadership of England captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum has provided Anderson with fresh inspiration.
“I am loving playing in this dressing room at the moment. That keeps me going a little bit more,” Anderson, who made his Test debut back in 2003, told TNT Sports during the second match of the current series against India. “I love this group of blokes, the captain and coach have got a great thing going at the moment, and it’s fun to be a part of. For me, it is just something I want to try and do for as long as possible.”
Anderson’s long-time bowling partner Stuart Broad retired after last year’s Ashes series in England at the age of 37 with 604 Test wickets. But Anderson has kept going and has proved his worth on the current tour, with two key wickets in the second Test, including bowling India captain Rohit Sharma for 13 with a delivery that nipped away. Stokes lauded his old warhorse before that match in Visakhapatnam by saying: “It’s great that Jimmy is doing good things for the old boys out there. Lots of people should look up to Jimmy.”
India’s Sachin Tendulkar, an all-time batting great, lauded Anderson’s ability to challenge even cricket’s greatest run-scorers. “He would hold the ball as if he is bowling an outswinger,” said Tendulkar. “But the release point, he would try and bring the ball back in.”
And what is more, in defiance of conventional wisdom about the physical toll of pace bowling, there are signs that late-career Anderson could be the most effective version of them all. Statistics compiled by ESPNCricinfo showed that in the years he was aged 25 to 29, Anderson averaged 28.47 runs per Test wicket. Between 30 and 34, that figure improved to 25.45, and since turning 35, Anderson’s average is just under 23.
Anderson’s five great Test hauls on road to 700Five-star debut: Anderson, having already made a name for himself at the 2003 World Cup, marked his Test debut against Zimbabwe at Lord’s in May 2003 by taking 5-73, with four of his victims bowled. It was the first of his 32 five-wicket hauls in Test cricket.
Trent Bridge triumph: Nottingham’s venue has a reputation for helping swing bowlers, so it was no surprise that Anderson enjoyed one of his best returns at Trent Bridge in June 2008, when he took 7-43 against New Zealand. He accounted for the first six wickets to fall as England won by an innings and nine runs.
Success Down Under: A longstanding criticism of Anderson has been that he is far more effective in home conditions, where he has a bowling average of 24.50, than abroad (30.22). But Anderson did take 24 wickets in the 2010/11 Ashes series in Australia as England triumphed 3-1, and was the leading bowler on either side. England have not won a series in Australia since.
Kolkata odds defied: Indian pitches have long had a reputation as a graveyard for seam bowlers, yet by taking six wickets in the third Test in Kolkata in December 2012, Anderson played a key role in a seven-wicket win that contributed to a 2-1 series success – England’s first in India for 28 years.
Historical 600: Anderson made history by becoming the first seamer to take 600 Test wickets when he had Pakistan captain Azhar Ali caught in the slips by Joe Root at Southampton in August 2020. The match was played during the Covid-19 pandemic and there were no spectators to acknowledge his feat, with Anderson having to make do with the applause of his teammates.