James Anderson Reaches New Test Height By Surpassing Muralitharan


image-lek40ejvAnderson celebrates Williamson's wicket on Day 2 (Source: Twitter)

Seasoned England pacer James Anderson snared three New Zealand wickets on Day 2, after the visitors had amassed a huge first-innings total. The 40-year-old bowled 10 overs in all, and wrecked the Kiwi top-order by sending Devon Conway, Kane Williamson and Will Young cheaply back to the pavilion.

Notably, the wicket of Williamson marked a new height in Anderson’s already-illustrious Test career, as he becomes the most successful second-innings bowler in the history of the format.


James Anderson tops Muttiah Muralitharan’s second innings tally

Anderson is already the most elite fast bowler in Tests, having collected 685 wickets since his debut in 2003. The cricketer has claimed 231 of those in the second innings alone, thus going past Muttiah Muralitharan’s tally of 228 wickets to become Test cricket’s most successful second-innings bowler.

Age seems to be just another number for James Anderson as he delivered a match-winning spell for England last week itself. He dismissed four New Zealand batters in their pursuit of 394, thus powering England to register a huge 267-run win and a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

His spell at Mount Maunganui also made his bowling partnership with fellow wicket-hunter Stuart Broad as the most successful one in Tests. 

They went past former Australian duo of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath (1,001 wickets together) to become Test cricket’s most proficient portmanteau, and clearly became the biggest Test amalgam where both bowlers involved are speedsters.

The Lancashire-based cricketer also recently reached the top of ICC Test rankings for bowlers. At the age of 40, he dethroned Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin from the number one spot. Anderson’s teammate Ollie Robinson is the only other Englishmen to feature in the current top 10 rankings.