Also, what is the highest total in Tests that didn’t include a hundred partnership?

Steven Lynch08-Aug-2017We were talking during the Oval Test about home advantage, and wondered which Surrey player had scored the most Test runs there. Was it Stewie or Hobbs? asked David Humphries from Surrey
You’ve chosen the right two, and it’s very close: Alec Stewart scored 624 Test runs at The Oval, and Jack Hobbs 619. “The Master” had the edge on “The Guv’nor” in one important respect, though: Hobbs averaged 56.27 and Stewart 31.90. Two other legendary Surrey names are close at hand as well: Ken Barrington scored 596 Test runs at The Oval, and Graham Thorpe 586. Kevin Pietersen scored 897 Test runs at The Oval, but only 374 of them after joining Surrey in 2010. For the list of the leading run-scorers in Oval Tests, click here. The leading Surrey wicket-taker there is Jim Laker, who claimed 40, while his partner-in-spin Tony Lock lies second, with 34.What is the highest total in Tests that didn’t include a hundred partnership? asked Kieron McArthur from Barbados
There have been three totals of 500-plus (and one of 499) in Tests without a partnership of 100 or more. England made 515 against Pakistan at Headingley in 2006 despite the highest stand of their innings being 86, while India made 520 against Australia in Adelaide in 1985-86 (the first wicket put on 95, and the last 94). But top of the list remains Australia’s 533 against West Indies, also in Adelaide, in 1968-69: the highest partnership was 93, between Doug Walters and Paul Sheahan. That was a high-scoring match, with a total of 1764 runs – a record for a time-limited Test ¬- and 17 individual scores of 50 or more, still the overall Test record.It took Stuart Broad 19 balls to get the first five of his eight wickets at Trent Bridge•Getty ImagesI wondered during the Oval Test whether Toby Roland-Jones would complete the fastest five-for on debut – but he got stuck on four wickets for quite a while. Who does hold this record? asked Giles Taylor from England
I think this record belongs to the Jamaican fast bowler Lester King, who took five wickets in the first five overs of his Test debut, for West Indies in Kingston in 1961-62 as India nosedived to 26 for 5. King was unfortunate that his heyday coincided with that of Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith (plus a useful third seamer in Garry Sobers). In fact King played only one further Test, against England in Georgetown in 1967-68, when Griffith was injured.The fastest five-fors in any innings, after first coming on to bowl, were achieved in 19 balls – by the Australian left-armer Ernie Toshack, against India in Brisbane in 1947-48 (he took 11 for 31 in the match), and by Stuart Broad, at the start of his 8 for 15 against Australia at Trent Bridge in 2015.Who scored the most runs in Tests before being dismissed? asked Michael Fox from England
My first thought that it would be hard to beat Reginald “Tip” Foster, who scored 287 on his debut for England against Australia in Sydney in 1903-04, which remains the highest score by anyone in their first Test. But someone did manage more runs before being dismissed: Jacques Rudolph, the South African left-hander, kicked off his Test career with 222 not out against Bangladesh in Chittagong in April 2003, and added 71 in his next innings, in Dhaka, to make it 293 runs before he was out for the first time. Brendon Kuruppu of Sri Lanka scored 220 Test runs (201 not out and 19) before getting out, while Lawrence Rowe of West Indies and New Zealand’s Mathew Sinclair both started with an innings of 214.Of living people, who has gone the longest since playing in a Test match? asked Karthik Subramaniam from India
There are two men, still alive as I write, whose Test careers finished over 67 years ago in 1950. The hard-hitting Eastern Province batsman Ronald Draper played two Tests for South Africa against Australia in 1949-50, the second of which finished on March 6. Later that year the Cambridge University and Sussex batsman Hubert Doggart played twice for England, his Test career coming to a close on June 29 after West Indies’ famous victory at Lord’s. Doggart, who was later president of MCC, is now 92, while Draper is 90.Women’s cricket, however, boasts an even longer time gap: the remarkable Eileen Ash, who rang the bell before the start of the recent women’s World Cup final at Lord’s, played the last of her seven Test matches in March 1949. As Eileen Whelan she had made her debut against Australia in Northampton in 1937, and is the last surviving pre-war Test cricketer of either sex. She is now 105 years old.Leave your questions in the comments

England will need at least one new face in the batting line-up for the third Test against South Africa after Gary Ballance suffered a broken finger

Andrew McGlashan19-Jul-2017Mark StonemanThe Surrey opener, who moved from Durham over the winter, appears the frontrunner for a call-up. He was close to selection for the beginning of the series after an impressive start with his new county. He is averaging 58.53 from eight Championship matches, including three centuries with a high score of 197, but it is also the runs he scored for Durham, often in seamer-friendly conditions at Chester-le-Street where he averaged over 53 last season, which stand him in good stead. At 30 he has had time to groove a well-rounded game.Dawid MalanMalan has moved up England’s red-ball pecking order over the last few months despite not having the most stand-out figures among the batting contenders. It has been Malan’s character as much as his runs which has impressed. He made his England debut last month in the deciding T20 against South Africa, where he starred with a series-winning 78 off 44 balls in Cardiff. Like Stoneman, he was a contender at the start of the Test series before the selectors went for the more conservative option of recalling Ballance.Tom WestleyOften mentioned as a potential Test player over the last couple of seasons, Westley has enjoyed a timely prolific run with three centuries in his last six first-class innings, the most recent being an unbeaten 106 for England Lions against the South Africans. That hundred continued a notable record of making runs against touring sides: last season he scored 108 against the Sri Lankans to follow a 99 against the same opposition in 2011, while in 2015 he scored 144 against an Australian attack including Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon.Haseeb HameedHameed looked to have the opening berth sewn up for the foreseeable future after a polished start against India, where his composure stood out. However, a broken finger in suffered in Mohali – which didn’t stop him making a defiant 59 not out in the second innings – meant he missed the final two Tests of the series. He returned for England Lions in Sri Lanka but didn’t pass 15 in four innings and the lean run continued in the County Championship for Lancashire, where he hasn’t reached fifty this season. He isn’t the first young player to have suffered second-season syndrome but there is also the concern that a few technical issues may have been exposed. With the Championship currently suspended for the T20 Blast, his chances to impress are limited, but he did score a century for the 2nd XI this week.Sam RobsonAnother player with previous Test experience – having played all seven Tests in the 2014 season against Sri Lanka and India, including a century in his second match – Robson remains a prolific county scorer who is pushing hard for a second chance at the top level. He has scored 534 runs in nine innings this season, either side of suffering a hamstring strain, and was part of the England Lions side. His tally would have been even more impressive but for a pair in his most recent outing against Warwickshire.

He took the fewest matches and deliveries to reach the landmark besting Australian greats Dennis Lillee and Shane Warne

Shiva Jayaraman27-Nov-20170:38

Quick Facts: R Ashwin

In only his 54th match, R Ashwin became the quickest bowler to take 300 wickets in Test history. His 4 for 63 in the second innings in Nagpur not only helped India wrap up their biggest win in the format, and but also meant he took over from Dennis Lillee (56 Tests) as the new record holder. Ashwin also beat Muttiah Muralitharan, who had been the fastest spinner to 300 wickets, by as many as four Tests.Ashwin is only the eighth spinner in the world to achieve 300 Test wickets, following his countrymen Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. Among all India bowlers, only four others have got to the landmark. A telling measure of Ashwin’s effectiveness is that, among spinners, he required the fewest balls to get to 300 wickets. He edged Shane Warne out by a small matter of 477 overs.

* Balls bowled at the end of the match in which the milestone was achievedGetty ImagesNot surprisingly, Ashwin’s strike-rate is much better than those of other spinners at the end of the Test in which they reached 300 wickets. In fact, among bowlers from the subcontinent only Waqar Younis has fared batter. Among all 31 players who have taken at least 300 wickets, only 10 had a better strike-rate at the end of the Test in which they raised the milestone.

* Strike-rate at the end of the match in which the milestone was achievedAshwin made his Test debut in 2011 and has taken just over six years to get to 300 wickets, helped by the increase in number of matches India have played in the last few years . That places him second only to Warne, who took exactly six years to get there. Among India bowlers, Kapil Dev was the quickest. He took 8 years and 80 days.

* From debut date to the start date of the match in which the milestone was achieved

The SLC has gone out of its way to ensure the tour goes ahead, and its president Thilanga Sumathipala stands to gain considerable favour

Andrew Fidel Fernando28-Oct-2017Thilan Samaraweera had left his cellphone in his hotel room that morning, as he often did. So, following the attack on the team bus, when his wife Erandathie tried to reach him, she had no choice but to call his team-mates.She tried Mahela Jayawardene first. “Yes Thilan is here, but he can’t talk right now,” he had told her. When Kumar Sangakkara said the same thing, she began to fear the worst. Why, if he was fine, would they not let her speak to him?It is with levity that Samaraweera now speaks of the day he was shot in the thigh. The humour puts a little mental distance between him and one of his most harrowing experiences. But there is no mistaking the trauma the attack had inflicted. “It took about 18 months for my wife and daughter to recover from it,” he had said. “Personally, for a long time, I had a fear of getting on the team bus and sitting in the same seat. I’m afraid of firecrackers for life.”Initially it does seem surreal that only eight years later, the same team will return to the same city, to play at the same stadium in the vicinity of which so many cricketers had nearly lost their lives. Eight people actually did. And yet, in another light, the decision to tour is utterly unsurprising. Sri Lanka have always been among the likeliest teams to tour Pakistan. Their boards have long been the chummiest. Now, with so many of the high-profile survivors from 2009 having retired, and two other international sides having played in Lahore, memories have sufficiently faded, public opinion has begun to turn, and just enough water has slipped by beneath the bridge.As with anything in Sri Lanka, it is with the use of a Machiavellian lens that the board’s decision is best deciphered. If SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala has campaigned loudest for the Lahore match, it is because he has most (in Sri Lanka) to gain. Sumathipala is an unelected “national list” MP, which means he is in parliament only because he has made himself useful to more powerful (elected) officials.And what is sending a team to Lahore but a further exercise in proving himself an asset to his governmental superiors? A cricket tour to Pakistan – however brief – will be regarded in Sri Lanka as a minor diplomatic triumph (previous Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse had promised his Pakistan counterpart that Sri Lanka would resume touring, but failed to do so). Sumathipala, who along with sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara has said he will accompany the team on the tour, is likely to return to parliament with his store of political goodwill increased, and his position in government made more secure. Having already made a brazen play for the top ICC job this year, Sumathipala has proved he has grand ambitions in cricket administration as well. Perhaps an indebted PCB will be of use to him down the line.Only on the political and administrative fronts does the tour make any sense at all, in fact. The cricketing consequences, for Sri Lanka, have been dire. When the sports ministry ruled that only players willing to go to Lahore would be considered for the UAE games, the government effectively condemned the team to a series loss. Players had to be yanked out of the ongoing Sri Lanka A team tour of the West Indies, a cricketer who has recently had trouble holding his place in the side was made captain, and Nic Pothas – the replacement coach – himself ended up needing to be replaced.And while publicly the board stated it did not wish to disrupt the team, SLC did nevertheless prove a distraction. After players had collectively made clear their reluctance to tour, officials took to making individual approaches over the past two weeks to convince cricketers of the tour’s merits, while the ODIs were still ongoing. “I don’t understand why they have to do this, when we are struggling to win even one match,” a player had complained at the time. “What they are loading on us is an unnecessary problem.”If the match goes off without incident – given the success of the World XI series, there seems no reason why it shouldn’t – cricket in Pakistan, and by extension, cricket in general, will have made a substantial stride. The most charitable take on this potential advance is to suggest that, having overseen Sri Lanka’s cricket during the island’s own wartime years, Sumathipala is sympathetic to Pakistan’s plight. Perhaps there is an element of compassion there; a strand of altruistic motive.But on the evidence of the preceding weeks, and the strange fashion in which this trip has come together, it is naive to believe anything else: it is politics that has cleared Sri Lanka’s road back to Lahore.

Leg-before or bowled, batsmen see both as equal defeats, but for the bowler the latter is the truest win

Osman Samiuddin at Lord's27-May-2018The look on Wasim Akram’s face when he walked in, maybe half an hour after ball. Fifty-two next week and his face still retains this one quality that, quintessentially, alerts us to the boy trapped inside a man’s body, which he kind of always has been, through the good days and yes the bad ones too. Maybe it’s the eyes.This time he was beaming, his cheeks vanquished in the battle with his mouth and having ceded all ground. You probably heard him on commentary but honestly, he couldn’t have looked more satisfied had he bowled the delivery himself.It was reverse, he confirmed, and that’s enough for us no matter what anyone else might say it was. And then, for some reason, he thought it was first useful to spell out what Jonny Bairstow had done wrong.He had pushed at his defensive shot, hands out. The way to play it, Akram suggested, was how Asad Shafiq might have played it – late, soft hands, hands and bat right under his head.Calculating, retaining as if in some world somewhere some day he might return, 29 years young, with Bairstow and his hard hands awaiting his fate at the other end. This is, at a guess, how genius works: I did well, but I did so because I know what my opponent did and does wrong. It’s relentless how that kind of mind must work.We are mere mortals and so are inclined to think Bairstow did nothing wrong. It was just the ball. It to be the ball, 9kph slower than the previous one and swinging twice as much. It was, after all, the ball we’ve been dreaming Mohammad Amir will bowl for about eight years now, the one we want him to bowl every single time he runs in and doesn’t.Many times we even imagined it was where it wasn’t, really, really wishing it into existence. one, one, it did come in right, just a little right, a touch? And it couldn’t just be one that gained a leg-before either – in the wildest lands of the Pakistani dreamscape the ball from the left-hander to the right-hander from over the wicket must snake in to hit the stumps.Leg-before or bowled, batsmen see both as equal defeats, but for the bowler the latter is the truest win. So good my friend, that you couldn’t even get pad to it; so good that it went past lines of defence and you know what, it took a bit of your soul with it. What a cute little Anglo-Australian touch it was also, to hit the off-stump bail, because the top of off is their Holy Grail – Pakistani fast bowling loves stumps, preferably middle thanks, ideally broken.In a way, the problem is how this piece began because for nine years now, Amir has been talked about in reference to somebody else. When he first started everyone wanted him to be new Akram, and not just in the way that everyone wants every left-armer to be the new Akram. We wanted to be the new Akram. And when he returned everyone wanted him to be the old Amir. It’s unfortunate but that’s just the way memory works, constantly creating reference points to make sense of things.He’s not Akram because nobody can be. If anybody can make one delivery do as many things as subtly as Akram did in his dismissal of Rahul Dravid in Chennai, then put the video up and we’ll see. (And until then Mitchell Starc and that crack can take a backseat – it wasn’t the ball of century, this one or the last).Amir is also no longer Amir 1.0. What he is complicated but if it is something like the Amir of the last two Tests, then it’s hardly a consolation prize. Mickey Arthur made a point in an interview last year, that Amir was a big match player – the bigger the occasion, the more he rises to it.”A lot of cricketers in those big, big moments, disappear. Mohammad Amir doesn’t. He craves those big moments. And generally, he’s pretty successful in them.”Believable? Contrast Amir of the games against India, or on a big stage, with Amir in the UAE or West Indies where if the tools of modern life hadn’t recorded it for posterity, you might think it had never happened. Are the dreams you can’t remember the morning after even dreams at all?Helpful surfaces help, no one is denying that, though the arrival of Mohammad Abbas is a reminder that teams must necessarily be built on bowlers who find ways to get through on all kinds of surfaces, and on all kinds of days, dull, thrilling or the pits. But it is appropriate that when Pakistan had gone nearly 20 overs on Saturday afternoon without a wicket, when England’s innings could still hope to recover and Pakistan would have started feeling the very first pangs of anxiety, it was Amir who arrived.It was the over that broke England. It wasn’t that you worried England were good enough to keep batting on the third day and build a lead. It was more that Pakistan would slip from the standards they had set through the Test till then.At Lord’s, a full house, and two deliveries that , not Akram and not the 18-year-old Amir, could be proud of: just as the dream should have it. Wrap it up, lock it and keep it deep inside you for who knows when another moment such as that will come.And by the way, we haven’t even talked about the ball to dismiss Alastair Cook. You should’ve seen the look on Akram’s face after that one.

The PCB central contracts, announced on Monday, included a few decisions that seemed at odds with what Pakistan cricket fans have seen over the past few months

Danyal Rasool07-Aug-2018Much of what the PCB does, and what it took to get to that stage, is full of mystery, and guaranteed to remain that way until someone writes a tell-all book, or Younis Khan finds out and hastily summons a press conference to explain what happened and why it was a personal affront to him. The same mystery applies to the way the PCB determines who is awarded central contracts for the upcoming year, and in which of the five categories they fit. There is a method that’s supposed to look at performance over the past year, and the player’s prospects of excelling in the future, but as the method itself has never been disclosed, all we can do is analyse the conclusions it throws up.On Monday, the PCB awarded central contracts to 33 players for the upcoming year in five categories – A to E – A being the most prestigious and lucrative, and supposed to be awarded to players who are the most valuable assets to Pakistan cricket. There were no really big surprises in terms of omissions; nearly everyone who was supposed to get a central contract got one. But the categories in which certain players were placed raised questions.Does Category B actually have better players than Category A?
Test it out yourself. Pit Azhar Ali, Sarfraz Ahmed, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Yasir Shah and Mohammad Amir against Fakhar Zaman, Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Asad Shafiq and Mohammad Hafeez. Can you tell which set of players were given Category A contracts? The fact there is ambiguity, and some unusual choices in each set, makes you wonder how they went about assigning categories to each player. As it turns out, the former set is Category A.Very well, you might argue. The former set has players who are regular Test cricketers for Pakistan, while Category B has players, who, while immensely exciting over the past year and a half, have largely made their name in white-ball cricket. But in that case, why on earth is Malik, who last saw a competitive red ball hurtling towards him in late 2015, included in the higher category?Is it time we got over our love affair with Mohammad Amir?
If any young cricketer wanted to be a fast bowler, they’d choose to be like Amir. With a clean run-up and quite a beautiful action, Amir looks like he’s about to get prodigious swing, or bowl a yorker that cannons into the base of middle stump. And of course, he has the hair for it all.But while spectacular performances since his comeback refuse to fade from memory – think Asia Cup against India in 2016, or more epically, the Champions Trophy final last year, he has a worse wicket-taking ratio than almost every other Pakistan bowler he plays alongside, and is ranked 28 in ODI cricket and 32 in Tests. Hasan Ali is Pakistan’s top-ranked bowler in ODI cricket, and Mohammad Abbas is in the country’s top three in Test cricket, but Amir is the only fast bowler included in the list of Category A cricketers.Is that based on hard analytics, or a teenage love affair in England eight years ago?Mohammad Abbas trapped Alastair Cook lbw•Getty ImagesWhy are Mohammad Abbas and Imam-ul-Haq in Category C?Mohammad Abbas will never be the man this Pakistan side is built around – in truth, he could go back to his old school and even today, he wouldn’t be the man they built their side around. He’s not going to be the most followed player on Instagram, or the one large screaming mobs wait outside hotels and airports to get a glimpse of or autograph from. He is a non-fussy, uncomplicated, slow fast bowler, but he does exceptionally well. He has been, by far, Pakistan’s best Test bowler since he made his debut last year, taking 42 wickets in eight games at an average of 17.69. If the PCB justifies the group of players awarded Category A contracts because of their prowess in Test cricket, then why does Abbas find himself languishing in Category C?To some extent, the same applies to Imam-ul-Haq. The exciting young left-hander made his debut against Sri Lanka in an ODI last year, scoring a hundred on debut and making the opening slot his. He now has four hundreds in his first nine ODIs and, earlier this year, displaced Sami Aslam at the top of the Test batting line-up, where he played all three Tests on Pakistan’s tour of Ireland and England. He scored a crucial, unbeaten 74 against Ireland on debut to prevent a shock defeat, and with Sami Aslam not awarded a central contract at all, Imam is set to play a lot more Test cricket over the next 12 months.When he came into the side, there were whispers of favouritism, with the 22-year old being chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq’s nephew. But now that he’s established himself as an ODI and Test opener, isn’t there a case to be made that he’s been treated slightly harshly?Why is Asif Ali all the way down in Category D?The wider cricket world may not have known who Asif Ali was until the Pakistan Super League this year, but since then, he has to be defined as the success story of PSL 2018. Called up to make his international debut barely a week after helping Islamabad seal the title, he’s already made his name in the limited-overs side as a lower-order power hitter. He hasn’t missed a single white-ball game for Pakistan since, averaging 40 at a strike rate of nearly 160 in ten T20Is. In ODIs, he’s been even better, with an average of 57 and a strike rate over 180 from five games.Making a career in international cricket is all about grasping the chances you’re offered, and there isn’t much more Asif could have done to make a lower-order spot in the side his. Already, it seems almost inconceivable he won’t go to the World Cup, and in truth he will probably start every game Pakistan play there. For a player of that profile, then, to be placed in Category D seems quite odd, especially when a player like Imad Wasim, who hasn’t played for Pakistan at all this year, is in a higher category (C). Similarly, Haris Sohail, who struggled to get into the Pakistan side while Asif was already in it over the past few months, is in a higher category too.What is that method the PCB use again?

The Mumbai fast bowler has 21 wickets in eight first-class matches, and a whopping 67 no-balls, but he also has an essential quality that can’t be coached: Pace

Sidharth Monga03-Nov-2018The queue for batting at the Shivaji Park Gymkhana Academy was too long. And he had travelled from too far. From Kalyan to Dadar, on a local train. So Tushar Deshpande joined the fast bowlers’ queue instead. And how good it was for Mumbai cricket that he did.Time to move matches out of Delhi?

Suryakumar Yadav had played in the Deodhar Trophy in Delhi around the last week of October, but conditions have changed dramatically since then. There is now a health warning against running and jogging because of the pollution. In the first Ranji Trophy match of this season in Delhi, players have been struggling, and more than a few of them have worn masks on the field.
On day three, Suryakumar was off the field, complaining of breathing trouble and headaches. Because of the time spent off the field, he couldn’t bat at his usual No. 4 in the second innings, and Siddhesh Lad was promoted. Even one of the umpires was not well this morning, and had to be replaced with the third umpire.
The good news is that Railways might play rest of their home games in Visakhapatnam – this is not entirely down to pollution, but that seems to be a consideration. However, there is a match scheduled on November 12 at Feroz Shah Kotla. Is it time for state associations and the BCCI to consider players’ health and move matches out of Delhi?

Twenty-one wickets in eight previous first-class matches won’t pop out of any screen. The statistic that pops out is his 67 no-balls in those eight matches. This is word that travels fast and can stick, but he has something that is usually natural. Pace. The no-ball problem can be sorted, but you can’t coach pace if you don’t have the basics for it. On a placid pitch at Karnail Singh Stadium, Deshpande had batsmen jumping around, hitting them on the body, getting catches off the glove. So accurate and quick was he that the batsmen didn’t have time to get out of the way. And he had six wickets to show for his effort. All this despite struggling with the Delhi pollution. He fielded wearing a mask, and had headaches and a bout of vomiting before the start of the match.When Deshpande bowled opener Nitin Bhille, the bail flew to the fine leg boundary. Two batsmen gloved him behind when he bounced them. Hooks off his bowling sailed well over the boundary. Deshpande is not too tall – 5’11” perhaps – but he is strong. He has a build similar to that of the man he replaced in the Mumbai side, Shardul Thakur. He has similar pace too. If Thakur had a problem with accuracy when he first broke through, Deshpande’s problem is no-balls.Some Mumbai observers have counted 12 wickets off no-balls before this match. He added Railways’ best batsman Arindam Ghosh to that tally. It was one of his four no-balls in this match. Deshpande is a softly spoken young man, but he puts those no-balls down to aggression. And he is aggressive on the field.”Over-aggression. Sometimes your stride becomes too long, sometimes you over-run, all for pace,” Deshpande says.The good thing, he says, is that now he understands what is happening and when he is going to bowl a no-ball. On day two of this match, he bowled four no-balls. On day three he bowled none. That’s because he realised twice that he was going to over-step and pulled out of the delivery. “Now I have started realising,” he says. “When you reach the umpire too soon, or just when you are about to enter the delivery stride, you realise. So that is a good thing.”Some coaches say that avoiding no-balls is not as easy as just starting six inches behind from where you usually do, but Deshpande says it is easy, just that he has not been able to do it yet.The aggression shows in his wicket-taking plans. He admits he is not the kind who will wait for a long time for the batsman to make mistakes. He bowls in short bursts, and makes the batsmen make mistakes. Just bowl stump to stump, and bowl fast, and intimidate the batsmen with bouncers if you need to. The ball thudding into the body of the batsmen could he heard around the Karnail Stadium, where usually the most dominant sound is the train horns from the nearby New Delhi railway station.Son of an A-Division Mumbai club player, Uday Deshpande, Tushar is an example of someone who is not over-coached and has the intelligence to work things out on his own. He knows his pace is not all natural; it is training, rehab, prehab, technique, everything. He knows he can’t afford to be inaccurate at his pace. “Can’t just turn up and bowl like a madman.” He has already helped Mumbai seal the Vijay Hazare title this year, and if he can keep up what he has done in the season opener, a spot in an A team might not be too far.

England women go to the Caribbean for the World T20 with some uncertainty, having really only tested their skills in the Super League and the Big Bash

Melinda Farrell04-Nov-2018It was swelteringly hot at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi. And there was no respite from the stuffy atmosphere as journalists waited in a dark room for the post-match press conference. When England coach Mark Robinson and captain Charlotte Edwards walked in to dissect the five-run loss to Australia, it was hard to tell if the temperature plunged or rose even higher; there was both the heated flush of embarrassment at the manner of England’s exit from the tournament and the cool assessment of England’s failure – primarily a lack of fitness that left twos untaken and made a modest target unreachable.”We’re looking for players who can stand up and be counted, and play under the pressure, and have the aerobic fitness to do the job necessary,” Robinson told the gathered media. “That will be a necessity for any women’s team going forward.”***The aftermath of England’s 2016 Women’s World T20 camp was comprehensive. A little more than two years later, seven players from the team that lost in Delhi will head to the Caribbean for this year’s edition after the sweep of a broom that also saw the end of Edwards’ long tenure as captain.The current squad also contains three debutants and several players who have pushed their way into the England frame since the 2016 campaign. So that ticks off the old cliché of “a good mix of youth and experience”, then, but just how much has this England side changed?There is certainly a sense that while Heather Knight leads on the field, this is very much Robinson’s side. He had limited experience of the women’s game before taking up the position of head coach at the end of 2015, and recalls meeting some of the squad for the first time at the airport when they were heading to South Africa for a tour that preceded the World T20 in India.England allrounder Nat Sciver made 362 runs and took ten wickets in Surrey Stars’ title-clinching 2018 Super League campaign•Getty ImagesHe has not shied away from making strong selection decisions and has been vocal about the need to improve fitness – a particular bugbear – as well as increasing the players’ skill level, and lessening the reliance on slow bowlers who offer little in the way of genuine spin or attacking options. At the same time he has encouraged batsmen to test the limits of their power-hitting. The results can be seen in the improved performances of players such as Tammy Beaumont, Nat Sciver and Dani Wyatt.”We’re definitely fitter, we’re definitely more resilient,” said Robinson in the weeks leading up to England’s departure for the Caribbean. “So, in many ways we’ve made a move. The key bit is, you’ve obviously got to do your skills as well. You’ve got to outscore, outbat and hopefully out-field the opposition.”The other bit is, we needed to be tougher at big moments and to win more close games and to get over the line when we should get over the line on a more frequent basis, and I think we’ve done that, which is brilliant.”Winning the big moments was clearly a key to England’s success in the 2017 World Cup, a title that probably came earlier than expected in the wake of Robinson’s shake-up of the status quo. The consequence is that it has raised expectations for their performance in the shortest format.The problem, however, with trying to gauge England’s form in T20Is is that, like other countries, they simply don’t play much of it; in the two and a half years since the last tournament, England have played only 16 T20Is. As a result, Robinson sees a similarity to England’s position before the 50-over World Cup: he thinks they have a good chance, but he doesn’t know where they truly stand.”You’re having to use the KSL [Women’s Super League in England], anything that happens in the women’s Big Bash, your own players, to try and formulate a plan and get a handle on where you are,” said Robinson. I think the players are ready to show they’ve made a move, but I don’t really know, and we’ll know a lot more at the end of the time in the Caribbean.Coach Mark Robinson thinks England’s improvement in T20Is can only be judged by how they do in this World T20 because there aren’t enough international performances to go by•Getty ImagesEngland will undoubtedly miss the multiple talents of wicketkeeper-batsman Sarah Taylor, who elected not to take part in the tournament as she continues to deal with mental-health issues. And there are concerns over the fitness of one of England’s most experienced campaigners and new-ball bowler Katherine Brunt.Robinson believes Taylor’s replacement, Amy Jones, is second in the world to the player she comes in for behind the stumps (“I’ll argue that passionately with anyone”), while newcomers Kirstie Gordon, Linsey Smith and Sophia Dunkley have all impressed at domestic level.”They haven’t come out of the cold,” said Robinson. “What they haven’t been able to do is put on an England shirt yet, and we don’t really know how they’ll handle that until they get the opportunity.”Although England are the current champions of the 50-over format and West Indies hold the World T20 title, which they earned by beating Australia in the final at Eden Gardens, it is – as ever – the Australians who wear the favourites tag in the Caribbean. And that’s not just because their best batsman and captain, Meg Lanning, is free from the shoulder injury that plagued her during last year’s World Cup campaign.One of the key findings in the recently released FICA report on the payment and conditions of female players around the world names Australia as having the only “fully professional” set-up for women, while England and India are listed as “partly professional”. Other countries lag even further behind in areas such as central contracts, access to medical care, and multi-year contracts that provide security. The women’s game has come a long way, but there is further to go.Holding England back from becoming fully professional is the fact that the structure of women’s domestic competitions is held to ransom by the contentious dealings between the ECB and the counties.Amy Jones replaces Sarah Taylor behind the stumps for the World T20•Getty ImagesAfter steadily building a fan following, increased media coverage, and promise as the world’s second major women’s T20 domestic tournament, the Women’s Super League already has a kill-by date. It will cease after next season so that the way is clear for the women to take part in The Hundred. While there may be greater publicity and marketing opportunities involved in pairing with the men’s competition, England can simply not afford to not have a women’s domestic T20 tournament – the format is too important internationally. And while there have been murmurings that such a competition will emerge, it is worth remembering that when the Super League was originally mooted, the ECB also said a 50-over women’s domestic competition, involving the same teams or hosts that made up the Super League, would follow within a year or two. It never did, and England currently have one year of high-level domestic T20s left with no equivalent beyond in the two formats that matter in international competition.But such things are out of this England team’s control in St Lucia, where they must first perform in the group stages against Sri Lanka; Bangladesh, the Asia Cup champions; West Indies, the current World T20I champions; and South Africa, the most improved team of the past few years and the one that came excruciatingly close to knocking England out of the World Cup in their semi-final clash.And for all the uncertainty surrounding England’s current standing in T20Is, Robinson believes the nature of the format renders many predictions irrelevant.”It’s probably going to be a more keenly contested competition from the outside looking in before it starts,” he said. “The shorter the format, the more an individual can influence it; the longer the format, the more the collective can come into it. A lot more teams in the world have now got players who individually can influence a game and that’s what makes it exciting.”

Who could challenge Adelaide Strikers for this year’s BBL title?

Alex Malcolm17-Dec-2018Adelaide StrikersLast season ChampionsSquad
Wes Agar, Alex Carey, Michael Cormack, David Grant, Travis Head, Colin Ingram (South Africa), Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), Ben Laughlin, Jake Lehmann, Michael Neser, Liam O’Connor, Peter Siddle, Matt Short, Billy Stanlake, Jake Weatherald, Jonathan Wells, Cameron Valente, Nick WinterStrength
The balance and miserly nature of the Strikers bowling attack was the key to their title last season. While Rashid Khan won plaudits for his phenomenal spells in the middle overs the Strikers did a lot of damage in the Powerplay on the back of the raw pace of Billy Stanlake combined with the craft, smarts and experience of Peter Siddle and Michael Neser. Ben Laughlin’s death bowling has been a potent weapon as well, particularly when defending scores.Weakness
There is a heavy reliance on the opening pair of Alex Carey and Jake Weatherald. Both men struck important centuries last season, including Weatherald’s spectacular effort in the final. But the rest of the order will be tested given Travis Head is likely to be absent for large portions of the tournament, while Carey will miss games mid-tournament due to ODI duty. Colin Ingram filled the breach with a couple of magnificent cameos last summer but Jake Lehmann will need to take a more senior role.Player to watch
You don’t have to be a Strikers fan to enjoy watching Rashid Khan bowl. He has bamboozled batting line-ups all over the world over the last 12 months. He began last year’s tournament as a relative unknown in Australia and now returns as a global phenomenon. Opponents will be setting themselves to minimise the legspinner’s impact.Chris Lynn hit his 100th BBL six against the Scorchers•Getty ImagesBrisbane HeatLast season 7thSquad
Max Bryant, Joe Burns, Ben Cutting, Brendan Doggett, Sam Heazlett, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Lalor, Chris Lynn, Brendon McCullum (New Zealand), James Pattinson, James Peirson, Jack Prestwidge, Matt Renshaw, Alex Ross, Mujeeb Ur Rahman (Afghanistan), Mark Steketee, Mitch SwepsonStrength
The Bash brothers will hold the key again for the Heat. Brendon McCullum and Chris Lynn have provided some extraordinary highlights while working in tandem in Brisbane. They have the ability to take the game away from opponents both individually and as a pair. How they might be deployed is an interesting question? They have opened together but some thought may be given to Lynn batting at No.3. Max Bryant is one to watch. The teenager was explosive in bursts opening in the JLT Cup for Queensland. The other option is a left-hander like Sam Heazlett to slot in between the two power-hitters. Lynn could also be unavailable for a couple of matches mid-tournament with international duty.Weakness
Bowling wins titles in the BBL as has been proven by the Perth Scorchers consistent success and the Strikers performance last year. The Heat have never been able to get their bowling combination right and have played Russian roulette in some high scoring shoot outs on the fast-scoring Gabba ground. They have signed the express pace of James Pattinson but he hasn’t played a lot of T20 in recent years. Shadab Khan is also unavailable so the Heat have gambled on 17-year-old Afghan mystery spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman as a spin option alongside Mitch Swepson.Player to watch
Chris Lynn’s international form for Australia has not matched his enormous reputation as a franchise superstar. He will be eager make a statement in the BBL to build some confidence ahead a potential World Cup berth in 2019. Teams will look to bowl a lot of spin at him, even in the Powerplay, to try and nullify his influence. If he can navigate that, the Heat will have a big season.Jofra Archer appeals•Getty ImagesHobart HurricanesLast season Runners-upSquad
Jofra Archer (England), George Bailey, Johan Botha, Alex Doolan, Jake Doran, James Faulkner, Caleb Jewell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Simon Milenko, Tymal Mills (England), David Moody, Tim Paine, Tom Rogers, Clive Rose, D’Arcy Short, Aaron Summers, Matthew WadeStrength
There is no “i” in team but there are five in individual brilliance and the Hurricanes have five match-winners in D’Arcy Short, Jofra Archer, Matthew Wade, Ben McDermott and James Faulkner. Short was Player of the Tournament last year scoring 572 runs. McDermott has scored a BBL hundred in a chase of 223 and dominated last year’s semi-final alongside Wade. Faulkner’s superpowers have waned somewhat since the 2015 World Cup but he did make some good bowling contributions for Lancashire in the 2018 T20 Blast. Archer was the find of the tournament last year but his recent eligibility for England has will leave the Hurricanes wary of his full availability.Weakness
The loss of Dan Christian significantly affects the balance of the Hurricanes line-up. Although he has been replaced by Faulkner, Christian is a far superior batsman, with a strike-rate of 135 in BBL cricket compared to Faulkner’s 111. Christian has also passed fifty 14 times in all T20 and has two centuries, compared to Faulkner’s one half-century. Faulkner is a better bowler by the numbers but the Hurricanes probably need a true allrounder to balance out their side. Christian made vital contributions with bat and ball last season, particularly bowling at the death after Tymal Mills suffered a form slump mid-tournament.Player to watch
D’Arcy Short will be interesting case study this season. He has taken the last two BBL’s by storm but his transition into international cricket has not been as smooth. Teams now have a good grasp on how and where to bowl to the powerful left-hander. Going from a surprise packet to a bankable star also carries with it a different mindset and mental burden that he will need to handle this season.Mohammad Nabi slugs one down the ground•Getty ImagesMelbourne RenegadesLast season Semi-finalistSquad
Cameron Boyce, Dan Christian, Tom Cooper, Zak Evans, Aaron Finch, Marcus Harris, Mackenzie Harvey, Jon Holland, Tim Ludeman, Joe Mennie, Mohammad Nabi (Afghanistan), Kane Richardson, Usman Khan Shinwari (Pakistan), Will Sutherland, Chris Tremain, Beau Webster, Cameron White, Jack Wildermuth, Harry Gurney (England, international replacement)Strength
The Powerplay bowling of Mohammad Nabi could arguably be the Renegades biggest strength this season. Given they play their home games on slower drop-in wickets, spin in the Powerplay will be a critical element to their success. Nabi’s bowling in last year’s tournament was simply outstanding. Of all players who bowled 20 overs or more in the tournament, his economy rate of 5.76 was only bettered by his Afghanistan team-mate Rashid Khan (5.65) and Ashton Agar (5.74). He will be a fulcrum of the bowling unit allowing the likes of Kane Richardson, Usman Shinwari and possibly Chris Tremain to attack at the other end early on.Weakness
The reliance on Aaron Finch has always been the Renegades’ Achilles heel and this season it is exacerbated with Finch promoted to the Test team. Previously Finch has been a dominant force in the early part of the tournament only to depart the team for ODI duty. This year he is likely to be unavailable throughout most of the tournament. Adding to the top order woes, Marcus Harris will also be away on Test duties for the early part of the BBL.Player to watch
Dan Christian is a very underrated addition to the Renegades. He has been pivotal player for a number of T20 franchises over a number of years and he was vital to the Hurricanes run to the final last season. Christian’s death bowling, skilled fielding and late-over batting more than makes up for the loss of Dwayne Bravo.Melbourne StarsLast season EighthSquad
Michael Beer, Jackson Bird, Scott Boland, Liam Bowe, Dwayne Bravo (West Indies), Jackson Coleman, Travis Dean, Ben Dunk, Seb Gotch, Evan Gulbis, Peter Handscomb, Sandeep Lamichhane (Nepal), Nic Maddinson, Glenn Maxwell, Jonathan Merlo, Marcus Stoinis, Daniel Worrall, Adam Zampa, Liam Plunkett (England international replacement)Strength
The Stars have star power, particularly in the allrounders department. Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis and Dwayne Bravo give them incredible flexibility as all three can be depended upon to bowl four overs if needed and all will fill valuable spots in the middle order. Bravo’s lower-order hitting could give Maxwell the opportunity to bat in the first three, as the Stars have wrestled in the past with how best to deploy his unique talent in the batting line-up.Weakness
Top order batting. Ben Dunk was a prized recruit last season on a long-term deal and failed to have an impact. Luke Wright and Kevin Pietersen have retired leaving enormous holes. Nic Maddinson looked set to fill one of those holes but an untimely broken arm only adds to their woe. Travis Dean’s T20 skills are unknown, but they will be put to the test at the top of the order given the lack of options available. Maxwell could be forced to open at different stages in the tournament.Player to watch
It has to be Glenn Maxwell. He is the biggest show in the Stars line-up and is now the captain. The responsibility of captain should sit well with him as he has an excellent cricket brain and it could well help his batting. The key for Maxwell giving himself a chance. If he can find a way to face 20 balls, his strike-rate and average increase dramatically and he can single-handedly take control of games. When he scores 20 runs or more in an innings in T20 cricket his average more than doubles from 25 to 54 and his strike-rate climbs from 155 to a ridiculous 173.Micheal Klinger was bowled after a bouncer squeezed through to the stumps after hitting him on the helmet grille•Getty ImagesPerth ScorchersLast season Semi-finalistsSquad
Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Cameron Green, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kelly, Michael Klinger, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Joel Paris, Usman Qadir (Pakistan), Jhye Richardson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Sam Whiteman, David Willey (England)Strength
Their bowling attack is incredible. It is conceivable that Jhye Richardson may not play the first game of the tournament as the attack could be, Jason Behrendorff, David Willey, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Andrew Tye and Ashton Agar. The batting skills of Agar, Willey and Coulter-Nile to possibly occupy numbers six, seven and eight in the batting order respectively means they could play the second spinner in Usman Qadir, particularly on some of the slower Melbourne and Sydney wickets.Weakness
The Scorchers don’t really have any power-hitting in the top order. They have a classy top three when Shaun Marsh and Cameron Bancroft become available to join Michael Klinger. But they are similar accumulators and a power player in the Powerplay would compliment them very well. They have tried Willey and Agar at times but neither have the technical skills to handle the extra pace and bounce of the brand-new ball which is a necessity at Perth Stadium. Sam Whiteman and Josh Inglis aren’t natural power hitters but if given specific instruction, both are capable of flicking the switch with only two men out, but sustaining it beyond the Powerplay is a challenge.Player to watch
Despite so many great bowlers to choose from Ashton Turner might be one of the most important men in the Scorchers line-up. Very few players in Australia have been able to master the art of being a specialist middle-order batsman in T20 cricket, with the ability to rebuild collapses, power-hit with limited balls remaining and time chases to perfection both small and large. Turner is as good as there is in the BBL. He’s had a strange summer so far for WA but found some touch in the last Shield game. If he has a big tournament the Scorchers will be well placed.Nathan Lyon is mobbed by team-mates after taking a wicket•Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesSydney SixersLast season FifthSquad
Sean Abbott, Joe Denly (England), Mickey Edwards, Ben Dwarshuis, Moises Henriques, Daniel Hughes, Nathan Lyon, Peter Nevill, Stephen O’Keefe, Josh Philippe, Lloyd Pope, Jordan Silk, Henry Thornton, Tom Curran (England), Justin Avendano, Dan Fallins, Greg WestStrength
The Sixers’ spinners are very reliable. They probably don’t get the plaudits that the wrist spinners get, but Steve O’Keefe and Nathan Lyon are very skilled operators in this format. Both are capable of bowling in the Powerplay and out, as well as working in tandem. They have added Lloyd Pope who has shown that the shorter the format the more dangerous he can be at under-age level. Bowling to the pros is a different proposition as he’s found out at times in Shield cricket despite one amazing haul. But he will get his chance.Weakness
Great openers set up BBL teams. Bowling generally wins titles but two good openers can take games away from opponents and the Sixers haven’t found the right combination in the last couple of years. Daniel Hughes has been a solid performer but Jason Roy didn’t really fire last year. Josh Philippe has shown in the JLT Cup and tour matches what he’s capable of and looks set to play. Joe Denly was effective in the four games he played last year at the top and is an experienced opener in the format. Whether they set up with a right-hand left-hand combination or try Philippe and Denly remains to be seen.Player to watch
Josh Philippe has the skills to set the tournament alight. Whether he has the experience to tailor his batting to certain situations will be his biggest challenge but it will be exciting to watch. He does have some pressure on his shoulders too. The Scorchers will certainly make life uncomfortable for him when the two sides meet after he made a very late decision to switch camps prior to the tournament starting.Jos Buttler guides one onto the leg side•Getty ImagesSydney ThunderLast season SixthSquad
Fawad Ahmed, Jos Buttler (England), Pat Cummins, Callum Ferguson, Ryan Gibson, Chris Green, Liam Hatcher, Usman Khawaja, Jay Lenton, Nathan McAndrew, Arjun Nair, Kurtis Patterson, Sam Rainbird, Joe Root (England), Daniel Sams, Gurinder Sandhu, Jason Sangha, Shane Watson, Anton Devcich (New, Zealand international replacement), Chris Jordan (England, international replacement)Strength
The overseas signings of Jos Buttler and Joe Root are as good as any in the tournament. Two world-class names who will complement each other perfectly in the Thunder’s batting line-up, that has always been reliant on Shane Watson and Usman Khawaja when he’s available. But the pair only have limited availability of seven games before heading to West Indies. The Thunder will need to make the most of their presence. But they bring some real gravitas to the BBL this year. Chris Jordan and Anton Devcich are seriously good T20 players to fill the breach when both leave.Weakness
They have excellent spin stocks with Chris Green, Fawad Ahmed and Arjun Nair all playing together regularly but they haven’t been able to complement that with good fast bowling options. Daniel Sams is a good signing as he can swing the ball upfront in the Powerplay, but they need a good death bowler. Watson has been forced to do it at times and so too Green. But that can only work on certain surfaces.Player to watch
Jos Buttler is worth the price of admission anywhere anytime. Seven games are more than enough to have a huge impact on the tournament and he can put the Thunder in a position for a run at the finals. The only challenge for Buttler will be the quality of the Spotless Stadium drop-in wicket, which is one of the hardest to bat on in the BBL. But he is a master at finding a way.

James Anderson has become the first seam bowler to 700 Test wickets. We look back at the key milestones of his 21-year career

Andrew MillerUpdated on 09-Mar-2024Test wicket No.1 – Mark Vermeulen vs Zimbabwe, Lord’s 2003
England’s brand-new fluffy-haired speedster had made quite the impression in the six months building up to his home international debut – first flying out to Australia to reinforce an ailing one-day squad, before making such an impact that he was fast-tracked into the World Cup squad. That first act ended ignominiously when Andy Bichel dumped him into the Port Elizabeth scoreboard (and dumped England out of the tournament) but the mesmerising shape that an on-song Anderson could impart on the ball left a lasting impression. Sure enough, he needed just 18 deliveries in his maiden Test at Lord’s before pinning Mark Vermeulen’s middle stump with a perfectly pitched offcutter.Test wicket No.100 – Jacques Kallis vs South Africa, The Oval 2008
Five years, and a world of pain later, and Anderson was finally ready to become the attack leader that he had always promised to be. His opportunities in the intervening years had been intermittent and largely miserable – reduced to a spare-part role on countless overseas tours, his life revolved around bowling at a solitary stump on practice strips during intervals, interspersed with the occasional emergency recall in venues as unforgiving as Johannesburg, Brisbane and Kandy. But then, with Peter Moores ushering in a new era on the tour of New Zealand in 2008, Anderson got the seniority that he had long craved. His place in the pecking order was further elevated when Kevin Pietersen took over as captain from Michael Vaughan for the final Test of that summer’s marquee series against South Africa. Anderson was unable to salvage the series, but in trapping the great Jacques Kallis lbw for 2, he set up a very cathartic six-wicket win.ESPNcricinfo LtdTest wicket No. 200 – Peter Siddle vs Australia, Perth 2010-11
Anyone who questions Anderson’s value to England in non-swinging conditions should study his impact on England’s tour of Australia in 2010-11, their first Ashes win Down Under in 24 years, and arguably Anderson’s crowning glory. Armed with a new wobble-seam delivery that he had learned from Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif the previous summer, he made parsimony the central plank of his methods, offering Australia absolutely no width to cut, and forcing them to negotiate the narrowest channel of opportunity on and around off stump. Backing up a mighty batting effort, his 24 wickets at 26.04 included four-wicket hauls in the first innings of each of England’s wins at Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, and come the end-of-series celebrations at the SCG, his exertions had left him fast asleep in the dressing room. His double-century came up in the course of England’s solitary defeat at the WACA, a trademark outswinger to the tailender Peter Siddle.Test wicket No. 300 – Peter Fulton vs New Zealand, Lord’s 2013
Two-metre Peter was Anderson’s landmark 300th wicket – another outswinger, another edge to the slip cordon – to set up another five-wicket haul at Lord’s, his fourth honours-board appearance out of seven in 28 appearances to date. He’d already done for Hamish Rutherford in his first over of the match, one of those Anderson magic balls that start on a leg stump line then hare across the batsman’s bows to square them up completely. Despite some stoic resistance from Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor, he then returned to extract both before ceding centre stage to his partner-in-crime, Stuart Broad, for New Zealand’s second innings. Bowling unchanged on a memorable Sunday afternoon, Broad wrapped up his then-Test-best figures of 7 for 44, as New Zealand were routed for 68 in 22.3 overs.James Anderson goes past Sir Ian Botham to become the leading wicket-taker in England’s Test history•Getty ImagesTest wicket No. 384 – Denesh Ramdin vs West Indies, Antigua 2014-15
On so many levels, England’s first Test for eight long months was a massive anti-climax. Many of the players, Anderson included, were still smarting from their abject elimination at the World Cup a few weeks earlier, and despite dominating the key moments of the match, they were unable to force their way through the doughty defence of Jason Holder, whose maiden Test century from No.8 enabled his team to escape with a hard-fought draw. But prior to that rearguard, Anderson had enjoyed his own moment of glory. When Denesh Ramdin, West Indies’ captain, nicked a legcutter to first slip, Anderson ended Sir Ian Botham’s three-decade-long reign as England’s leading wicket-taker. Fittingly Botham himself was in the ground, as part of the Sky Sports commentary team, to pass on his personal congratulations.Test wicket No. 400 – Martin Guptill vs New Zealand, Headingley 2015
Anderson versus New Zealand in early-season English conditions had been something of a turkey shoot on their previous two tours in 2008 and 2013. But he didn’t find the going quite as favourable when Brendon McCullum’s men arrived for a high-octane visit two years later. Nevertheless, his six wickets at 43.00 still included three top-three batsmen for ducks in the course of the two Tests at Lord’s and Headingley, as he showcased once again his ability to make the new ball talk from the get-go. England won a thrilling first Test but were turned over at Leeds a week later, but that seemed an unlikely prospect when New Zealand were reduced to 2 for 2 after 2.4 overs. Martin Guptill was the landmark scalp this time, snicking an off-stump inducker to Ian Bell at second slip, before Williamson nibbled at his second ball to become No.401 in the same over.Test wicket No. 500 – Kraigg Brathwaite vs West Indies, Lord’s 2017
Expectation had been heightened at the mid-point of the preceding Test at Headingley, where Anderson had marched along to 497 Test wickets with yet another five-wicket haul, the 23rd of his career. But he drew a blank in stunning fashion second-time around, as West Indies squared the series with one match of the summer to come, by chasing down a remarkable target of 322. Anderson hit back by claiming both of West Indies’ batting heroes, Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope, in his new-ball spell at Lord’s, but it was then Ben Stokes’ turn to postpone the party, as he swung his way through the rest of West Indies’ batting with figures of 6 for 22. But on the second day of the game, the floodgates finally reopened. Brathwaite was bowled by a massive inswinger to re-establish England’s dominance after a sub-par batting performance, and on the third morning, Anderson was unstoppable. Career-best figures of 7 for 42 in 20.1 overs proved beyond any reasonable doubt that, at the age of 35 and after 129 Test appearances, he was bowling better than ever.Test wicket No. 564 – Mohammed Shami vs India, The Oval, 2018
Almost 12 years earlier at Sydney, Glenn McGrath had signed off a legendary career by claiming his 563rd and final wicket from the very last ball he would ever deliver in Test cricket. His victim was none other than Anderson, caught at midwicket as he mistimed a slower ball, leaving Australia a formality of a run-chase to wrap up a 5-0 Ashes whitewash. Few could have imagined that a player who finished that same Test with 46 wickets at 38.39 could ever come close to emulating the mighty McGrath, let alone one day surpass him as the most prolific fast bowler in Test history. And the moment could hardly have been scripted much better (except, perhaps, if it had been caught by Alastair Cook) as Anderson speared one through Mohammed Shami to wrap up The Oval Test and a 4-1 series victory.Test wicket No. 600 – Azhar Ali vs Pakistan, Southampton, 2020
After an injury-wrecked 12 months, when he pulled out of the first 2019 Ashes Test after bowling just four overs at Edgbaston, and then suffered a broken rib on the tour of South Africa, Anderson resumed his climb up the wicket charts during the behind-closed-doors series against West Indies and Pakistan. Broad stole the spotlight by roaring past the 500-mark himself, and Anderson had claimed just nine wickets in four Tests to sit on 593 going into the final match of the summer. But he was back to his best with a five-wicket haul in Pakistan’s first innings, and despite four dropped catches and rain prolonging his wait into the final day, he finally broke new ground for a fast bowler by finding the outside edge in trademark fashion to have Azhar taken at slip.Test wicket No. 700 – Kuldeep Yadav vs India, Dharamsala 2024
By now, Anderson was four months shy of his 42nd birthday, and was into the fifth and final match of his sixth Test tour of India, a venue that has traditionally been an inhospitable one for overseas quicks. He’d already outlasted his long-term partner, Broad, who had retired on 604 wickets at the end of the previous summer’s Ashes, but Anderson was showing no signs of following suit, even after another tough campaign in a losing cause. Having dismissed Shubman Gill to move to 699 wickets, Anderson went even further into uncharted territory for a fast bowler as he induced Kuldeep Yadav into a thin edge to the keeper on the third morning. As if to prove the extraordinary nature of his career, Anderson’s efforts on England’s behalf were trumped on this occasion by his team-mate Shoaib Bashir, who closed out India’s innings with his own fifth wicket one over later. Bashir hadn’t even been born when Anderson’s own England career had got underway.This story was updated on March 9, 2024 after Anderson claimed his 700th wicket in Dharamsala