Record-breaker with 704 wickets in 188 matches – James Anderson’s Test career

James Anderson’s remarkable Test career has come to a close following the conclusion of England’s series opener against West Indies at Lord’s.

The 41-year-old retires as the leading Test wicket-taker among seam bowlers, behind only spin greats Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne in the overall list.

Here, the PA news agency looks at his career record.

Record-breaker

Anderson and his long-time new-ball partner Stuart Broad are two of only five bowlers ever to take 600 or more Test wickets, a list headed by Sri Lanka spinner Muralitharan’s remarkable 800.

Warne is next up with 708 for Australia, with Anderson following on 704, Anil Kumble 619 and Broad 604. Anderson’s average of 26.46 ranks third in that group behind Muralitharan (22.73) and Warne (25.42), with Broad at 27.68 and Kumble 29.65.

Anderson has 32 five-wicket hauls, 12 more than Broad but behind the three spinners and seventh overall in Test cricket. Muralitharan is again out in front with a scarcely believable 67, with Warne’s 37 ranking second among all Test bowlers. Kumble took 35.

Four other bowlers have taken over 500 wickets – Australia seamer Glenn McGrath and spinner Nathan Lyon, with 563 and 530 respectively, West Indies great Courtney Walsh on 519 and India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who reached 516 after taking 26 in the five-Test series against England.

Following Anderson’s retirement, Ashwin and Lyon are the only bowlers in the top 10 Test wicket-takers still playing.

Perfect partnership

Anderson and Broad, with their combined 1,308 wickets, have departed the Test arena in consecutive summers as England look to the future.

In 138 Tests with both in the same line-up, they took over 1,000 wickets – Anderson with 537 to Broad’s 502 – at a combined average of 26.73.

Anderson took 26 five-wicket hauls in those games to 17 for Broad – whose Test-best 8-15 against Australia at Trent Bridge in 2015 came with Anderson not involved.

Anderson signs off with exactly 100 wickets more than Broad while his career record in 188 caps virtually matches the cumulative totals of Lord Ian Botham and Bob Willis, third and fourth on England’s list of leading Test wicket-takers, who combined for 192 Tests and 708 scalps at an average of 26.93.

Hundred at HQ

Anderson bowed out at the ground where he did most to build his wicket tally, with 123 wickets in 29 Lord’s Tests.

He is one of only four bowlers to take over 100 Test wickets at a single venue, with Muralitharan achieving the feat at three different grounds.

The latter amassed 166 at Colombo’s SSC, 117 in Kandy and 111 at Galle, where fellow Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath claimed 102. Broad took 113 at Lord’s.

Vintage performer

One of the more remarkable aspects of Anderson’s Test career is the way he improved with age.

From the start of 2014 – when he was already 31 with the wear and tear of 91 Tests as a new-ball paceman in his legs – he more than doubled his tally of games and took an astonishing 364 further wickets at 22.57, eight runs better than his average in his first decade.

Only 23 bowlers, including Anderson, have that many wickets in their full Test career and, of those, only four have an average lower than his in that phase – West Indies greats Malcolm Marshall at 20.94 and Curtly Ambrose at 20.99, McGrath at 21.64 and New Zealander Sir Richard Hadlee 22.29.

Miscellaneous

Anderson has played more Tests than any player other than former India batter Sachin Tendulkar (200).

Anderson’s batting was rarely a factor, though his 54 Test innings before making a first duck remains an England record.

He went on to make more ducks than any England batter other than Broad – but at least had one memorable half-century to look back on, 81 against India at Trent Bridge in 2014. He took 107 Test catches.