London: It's quite astonishing to think of a fast bowler's Test career to have stretched for almost 20 years. But James Anderson has done it and is looking good to reach yet another milestone in the ongoing Test match against New Zealand. The 38-year old is just 3 wickets shy of equalling Anil Kumble's Test record of 619 wickets.
Anil Kumble is currently placed third in the list of highest wicket-takers in Test matches with 619 wickets in 132 matches. But Anderson, who is playing in his 162nd match against New Zealand is just 4 wickets away from becoming the world's 3rd-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket. Anderson made his Test debut in 2003 at Lord's against Zimbabwe.
Although the pacer from Burnley quit playing T20Is in 2009, he continued spearheading England's pace attack for the longest time. 18 years is a long time to be active in Test match cricket. James Anderson also became the English player with the highest number of Test matches under his belt.
Not just Anderson, but Stuart Brod is also just one wicket away from taking the number six position in the list of all-time highest wicket-takers in Tests. Currently, Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warner have reserved their no.1 and 2 position, respectively.
But currently, things are not quite ok with English cricket. Old allegations of racism and sexism have come to the fore. After England pacer Ollie Robinson was suspended under the pretext of his old 'sexist' and 'racist' tweets, many other England players have also come under the scanner. England pacer Jimmy Anderson has also been caught in the juggernaut for a tweet he had posted in 2010.
Twitteratis are calling out the England speedster for his allegedly "homophobic" comments about Stuart Broad's haircut. He called Stuart Broad, a “15 yr old lesbian”. James Anderson has deleted the tweet now.
Meanwhile, James Anderson has also responded to Sky Sports regarding the tweet. H said, “The historical stuff, for me, it was 10, 11 years ago. I have certainly changed as a person since then. That’s the difficulty; things do change and you do make mistakes."