Year-ender: Celebrating England legend James Anderson's stellar Test career
The Test retirement of England's legendary fast bowler James Anderson was among the most prominent cricket events of the year 2024. His illustrious 22-year international career came to an end with a win over the West Indies in the first Test at Lord's in July. In the final match of his career, Anderson showcased his evergreen talent by taking four wickets. As the year is about to end, let's look back at Anderson's Test career.
Anderson's remarkable Test cricket career in numbers
Anderson retired as the only fast bowler to have taken over 700 wickets in Test cricket, finishing with a tally of 704 at 26.45. His long-time teammate Stuart Broad, who also retired, is the only other fast bowler with over 600 Test wickets (604). Only two spinners, Muthiah Muralidaran (800) and Shane Warne (708), have taken more Test wickets than Anderson.
Anderson's 5-wicket hauls
Anderson's record also features the sixth-most five-wicket hauls in the history of red-ball cricket (32). Only Muralidaran (67), Warne (37), Sir Richard Hadlee (36), Anil Kumble (35), R Ashwin (37) and Rangana Herath (34) have taken more five-wicket hauls in this format. His career also includes three 10-wicket match hauls.
A record 188 Test appearances
Anderson retires with 188 Test appearances, second only to Sachin Tendulkar (200). No specialist bowler apart from Anderson has made more than 170 appearances. Broad is the next fast bowler on this list with 167 caps. Meanwhile, Joe Root and Alastair Cook (161) are the only other players from England to play over 150 Tests.
Anderson's unique wicket-taking methods
Further, Anderson also holds the record for most international wickets taken caught by a wicket-keeper (249). His overall 467 wickets taken caught is also a record in Test cricket. Further, with 137 scalps, Anderson has taken more wickets bowled than any other fast bowler in Test cricket history. He is only behind Muthiah Muralidaran (167) in this regard.
Anderson's home and away record in Test cricket
Anderson took 438 wickets at home at an average of 24.41, including 24 five-wicket hauls with a best of 7/42. On the other hand, his away record comprises 244 wickets at an average of 30.66 from 76 matches, including eight five-wicket hauls. In six matches at neutral venues, he took 22 wickets at an impressive average of just over 20 runs per wicket (20.54).
Revisiting his debut year (2002)
Notably, Anderson made his international debut in December 2002 in an ODI against Australia at MCG. England spinners Shoaib Bashir and Rehan Ahmed, who have shared the dressing room with Anderson, weren't even born at that time. The first-ever T20I match was more than two years away. And the idea of T20 World Cup was yet to be sketched. Anderson's Test debut came in May 2003 in a game against Zimbabwe at Lord's.
Anderson's exploits in ODI cricket
Anderson completely stepped away from white-ball cricket in 2015. He leads the ODI wickets column for England by miles despite not featuring in the format for nearly a decade. Anderson, with 269 scalps from 194 games at 29.22, is still one of only three England bowlers to have taken over 200 wickets in the format (5W: 2). Meanwhile, the pacer also took 18 wickets from 19 T20Is.
Third-most wickets in international cricket
Overall, Anderson finished with 991 international wickets in 401 matches across formats averaging 27.28. Muralidaran (1,347) and Warne (1,001) are the only ones with more wickets than Anderson at the highest level. Australia's Glenn McGrath (949) and Pakistan's Wasim Akram (916) are the other pacers with 850-plus wickets.
