New Delhi: Tension was running high on the first day of the 3rd Test match of the 2010-11 Ashes. Sledges were flying thick and fast in the ground. A fiery Mitchell Johnson taunted James Anderson as he prepared to bowl: “Why are you chirping now mate, not getting wickets?” Seconds later, Anderson wrecked the wickets of Ryan Harris.
The Englishman turned around and put his finger on his lips to silence his Aussie rival at the non-striker’s end. Fourteen years on and many overs later, Anderson has retired from the longest format of cricket. But, not before leaving behind an enviable record in the wake: 704 wickets from 188 Test matches with the honour of being the third highest wicket taker in the history of the game.
For cricket aficionados, the moments like the one in Gabba are locked in the memory vaults. The two decades-plus gruelling cricket that saw him bowl over 40,000-plus deliveries is a testimony to the greatness of the cricket’s arguably greatest swing bowler, who started way back against Zimbabwe at Lord’s in 2003. In March, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar succinctly put in words the greatness of Anderson.
“700 test wickets is a stellar achievement. A fast bowler playing for 22 years and performing so consistently to be able to take 700 wickets would have sounded like fiction until Anderson actually made it happen. Simply magnificent!” he wrote on ‘X’ when the bowling great reached the milestone in Dharamshala.
The first time I saw Anderson play was.