England’s James Anderson became just the fourth bowler and first paceman to take 600 Test wickets when he dismissed Pakistan captain Azhar Ali in the third Test at Southampton on Tuesday.
The only bowlers with more Test wickets than the 38-year-old Anderson are a trio of retired spinners – Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan (800 Test wickets), Australia’s Shane Warne (708) and India’s Anil Kumble (619).
Anderson reached the landmark when, with his 14th ball of the fifth day, he produced a rising delivery to well-set right-hander Azhar (31) that took the shoulder of the bat, with England captain Joe Root holding a head-high catch at first slip.
He was made to wait for the landmark because of dropped catches and rain delays but when finally play got underway at 1515 GMT, Anderson was raring to go and didn’t take long to produce the wicket-taking delivery.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to Anderson reaching the landmark:
And he isn’t done.
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