James Anderson completes 650 Test wickets: The legendary English pacer drew first blood in the second innings today.
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During the fourth day of the second Test of the ongoing New Zealand’s tour of England in Nottingham, veteran England pacer James Anderson took only five deliveries to make early inroads into the opposition’s batting lineup in the second innings.
Bowling the first over, Anderson dismissed New Zealand captain Tom Latham (4) in the first over itself. Bowling from round the wicket, Anderson managed to bring the ball into left-handed Latham.
With the batter committing a grave error in judgement by shouldering arms to Anderson’s incoming delivery, he had no option than to walk back to the pavilion after the ball hit his stumps.
Having become the first-ever pacer to pick 600 Test wickets in 2020, Anderson had picked his 1,000th first-class wicket in a County Championship 2021 match almost a year ago.
Anderson, who surpassed former India captain Anil Kumble in the list of most Test wickets in career during a home series against India last summer, picked another milestone wicket in the form of Latham. Readers must note that Latham’s wicket has made 39-year old Anderson as the third bowler to pick 650 Test wickets.
Hasan Ali wishes best as ‘inspiration’ James Anderson completes 650 Test wickets
Anderson, who received congratulatory messages from his admirers across the world, received best wishes from Pakistan fast bowler Hasan Ali as well. Anderson’s teammate at Lancashire, Ali took to social media platform Twitter to speak highly of his “inspiration”. Readers must note that both Anderson and Ali had praised each other during their stint at Lancashire earlier this summer.
It is worth mentioning that a solid 100-run second-wicket partnership between Will Young (49*) and Devon Conway (52) hasn’t let England take advantage of an early wicket. With the visitors leading by 128 runs at Tea, Day 4, at least one batting collapse is needed for any team to win this match.
