Indefatigable Anderson breaks Cook's England record – the numbers behind an incredible career

By Sports Desk June 10, 2021

James Anderson's incredible career will reach a new high when he becomes England's most-capped Test player at Edgbaston on Thursday.

The indefatigable seamer will surpass his former team-mate and close friend Alastair Cook's tally of 161 appearances in the longest format when he faces New Zealand in the second and decisive final Test of the series.

Anderson, who turns 39 next month and is seventh on the list of most capped players from any country, will break the record 18 years after making his Test debut against Zimbabwe at Lord's.

Stats Perform looks at some of the astonishing numbers the evergreen Lancastrian has racked up, including a staggering 30 five-wicket hauls and at least 10 wickets in a match on three occasions.

Record-breaking seamer closing in on Kumble

Anderson surpassed the record held by Australia great Glenn McGrath for the most wickets taken by a Test seamer when he dismissed India's Mohammed Shami in 2018.

McGrath claimed 563 scalps in an outstanding career but Anderson's haul now stands at 616.

England's record Test wicket-taker is only three wickets shy of matching Anil Kumble's total and will go third on the all-time list when he betters the former India spinner's haul.

 

A menace against India

Anderson's ability to generate deadly swing and seam has caused many India batsmen problems over the years.

He has taken more Test wickets against India than any other side, with 118 from 30 matches at an average of 25.29 - including four five-wicket hauls.

Fierce rivals Australia are next on the list of teams Anderson has taken the most wickets against, with 104 in 32 Ashes contests at 34.56 apiece.

 

Lethal at Lord's

Anderson announced himself on the Test stage by taking 5-73 on debut at Lord's in Zimbabwe's first innings back in May 2003.

He has thrived on playing at the Home of Cricket, taking 105 wickets in 24 Tests at the world-famous London ground at an average of 24.64

Only Sri Lanka legend Muttiah Muralitharan has claimed more on a single venue, doing so at Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo (166), Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy (117) and Galle International Stadium (111).

 

Living on the edge

Anderson has had more batsmen caught behind than any bowler in Test history.

As many as 168 of Anderson's dismissals have been taken by the wicketkeeper, which is 27.27 per cent of his wickets.

McGrath is next on the list with 152, while team-mate Stuart Broad has got batsmen to nick off on 124 occasions.
 

Record a batsman would be proud of

Anderson is certainly not known for his ability with the bat, despite being dubbed 'The Burnley Lara'.

Yet he went 54 Tests innings before being out for a duck, finally departing without troubling with scorers against Australia in August 2009.

AB de Villiers (78), Aravinda de Silva (75), Clive Lloyd and Ross Taylor (both 58) are the only men to have had more knocks without departing for nought.

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    Arundell crossed five times at Stade Pierre-Mauroy to equal the record for the number of tries scored in a match by an Englishman and was duly recognised with the man of the match award.

    While the 20-year-old wing starred on his World Cup debut through his clinical finishing, it was the unseen, unglamorous work that caught Farrell’s eye.

    “Everybody knows what talent Henry’s got. He’s shown it before this game,” Farrell said.

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    “A big thing that Henry showed against Chile was that he got after everything in between. He didn’t just finish tries. He got balls back in the air, he chased hard and worked hard for the team.

    “Ultimately, he got his rewards off the back of that. He does what he does unbelievably well.”

    England amassed 11 tries against the weakest team in Pool D as their attacking game exploded into life, inspired by Marcus Smith’s lively contribution in his first start at full-back.

    Smith scored two tries, including a superb solo effort, and provided a cutting edge to suggest he could be a long-term option in the position.

    “Marcus played really well. The decisions he made, he looked dangerous constantly, as he normally does,” Farrell said.

    “All I can say is I enjoyed it and I thought he played really well. George Ford added when he came on as well.”

    Smith’s performance was acclaimed by head coach Steve Borthwick, who brought on Ford for the last half hour as England closed out the game with three fly-halves on the field.

    Once the 24-year-old Smith had recovered from butchering two early chances, he dazzled Chile with his speed, footwork and creativity.

    “Marcus did a lot of very good things. Playing at 15, there is a different amount of space there compared to playing at 10,” Borthwick said.

    “The way Marcus took those opportunities, found the space and linked with Henry in particular was a positive. It shows there is a lot of hard work from everybody on the training field.

    “There was a lot of exciting talent on the pitch. This squad is packed full of talent and packed full of options. The starting configuration did a really good job after working through a challenging spell.

    “To be able to change that during the game and have Owen, George and Marcus on the pitch brought another dimension and certainly gives options for the future.”

    Chile captain Martin Sigren admitted his World Cup newcomers are a work in progress.

    “It’s a tough lesson. Four years ago we were getting the same result against Canada and the USA,” Sigren said.

    “We were losing games against Brazil. Four years later look at us – we’re here, so I have to hold on to that.

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    He said: “I would have been more frustrated if I’d have tapped it around, got to 99 and then nicked off, that would have really p****d me off. I’m really happy with how I went about it.

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    Scrimshaw bowled four no-balls in his first over and two in his second, plus a wide, as he leaked 35 in 11 legal deliveries but the seamer showed plenty of character to finish with figures of 8.4-0-66-3.

    Jacks said: “Everyone could see he was pretty down about it. I bowled two no-balls myself. It’s a pretty bad feeling. Especially when you’re on debut, the adrenaline, the emotion.

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    Ahead of this de facto series opener after a washout at Headingley earlier this week, England’s XI contained a combined 38 ODI appearances – compared with Ireland’s 720 – as the hosts made use of their deep pool of reserves, with their World Cup stars resting ahead of travelling to India next week.

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    Tipped as the successors to Jason Roy and Alex Hales, Jacks and Salt paid a fitting tribute to the pair who revolutionised opening the batting for England in the shorter formats, feasting on Ireland’s fruitless pursuit of early swing with a rash of fours to bring up the 50 stand in the sixth over.

    Jacks sumptuously drove the expensive Josh Little for three successive fours but Craig Young found a better length, drawing the splice of Salt’s bat on 28 before stand-in captain Zak Crawley was lbw for a two-ball duck in his first England innings since leading their run-charts in this summer’s Ashes.

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    Googlies from Ahmed snared McBrine and Mark Adair, while the youngest member of England’s XI had his fourth from his penultimate delivery as Dockrell clothed another wrong’un to Salt.

    From 188 for eight, England were unable to finish proceedings quickly as Ireland’s last three batters McCarthy (41), Young (40 not out) and Little (29) all recorded ODI bests. But Scrimshaw took the final wicket as Little slammed to long-on to banish thoughts of a remarkable Ireland comeback.

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