James Anderson Becomes First Fast Bowler To Take 600 Test Wickets

England fast-bowler James Anderson, on Tuesday, became the first fast-bowler in the history of cricket to take 600 Test wickets. The England pace spearhead achieved the incredible feat in the ongoing third and final Test against Pakistan in Southampton.

James Anderson ended day four on 599 career scalps after removing Abid Ali (42) just before bad light intervened on Monday evening. And it looked like the veteran might have to wait for few months to achieve the record as persistent showers overnight and in the morning left the outfield unfit for play to resume.

But fortunately for James Anderson, play finally resumed after more than five hours delay and he did not take long to take the one wicket to touch the 600-wicket mark. He accounted for Pakistan captain and first-innings centurion Azhar Ali in his third over of the day to create history.

6️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ Test wickets for Jimmy Anderson ???

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Overall, James Anderson became the fourth bowler to breach the 600-wicket mark in the longest format of the game. Former Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is the all-time leading wicket-taker with a staggering 800 wickets to his name. He is followed by Australia’s Shane Warne (708) and India’s Anil Kumble (619).

James Anderson and his bowling partner Stuart Broad are the only two active players who feature in the top ten of leading wicket-takers in Tests.

Here is the list showing the top ten all-time wicket-takers in Tests:

Meanwhile, Pakistan, while following on, were reeling at 119 for 3 at the time of writing this report. Trailing by 191 runs, they need to bat for more than 30 overs to save the Test. The visitors are trailing the three-match series 1-0.

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