Most Test caps cricket: England pacer James Anderson has become the most capped English player after going past Sir Alastair Cook.
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During the first day of the second Test of the ongoing New Zealand’s tour of England in Birmingham, England captain Joe Root has won the toss and chose to bat in what is effectively the series-decider.
In addition to playing a Test match at the Edgbaston after a couple of years, another talking point with respect to this match is that almost 17,000 spectators are present inside the stadium for the first time in England since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
Having said that, the match will be remembered in the years to come for making veteran England pacer James Anderson as the most capped English player in Test matches.
Playing his 162nd Test, Anderson has picked 616 wickets at an average of 26.58 and a strike rate of 58.10 including 30 five-wicket hauls. It is worth mentioning that the 38-year old player is the highest wicket-takers among fast bowlers in Test cricket.
Truly remarkable @jimmy9, hard work, sacrifice, determination and ridiculous skill
— Graham Onions (@BunnyOnions) June 10, 2021
162 Tests as a pace bowler!
Incredible @jimmy9 🐐 pic.twitter.com/1lTpbqyNvP
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) June 10, 2021
james anderson becomes england’s most capped player…for (pointless) context, nadal was two years away from winning his first french open title when anderson made his test debut! #ENGvNZ #RG21
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) June 10, 2021
Most Test caps cricket
The record for most Test matches played lies with former India batsman Sachin Tendulkar who remains the only cricketer to have played 200 Test matches.
While it will require a herculean task from Anderson to go past Tendulkar, he should be able to achieve the second rank in this list by surpassing former Australia captains in Steve Waugh (168) and Ricky Ponting (168).
Who have played the most Test matches in cricket?
200 – Sachin Tendulkar
168 – Ricky Ponting
168 – Steve Waugh
166 – Jacques Kallis
164 – Shivnarine Chanderpaul
164 – Rahul Dravid
162 – James Anderson
161 – Sir Alastair Cook
156 – Allan Border
149 – Mahela Jayawardene
Fans must note that another veteran English pacer in Stuart Broad should enter the aforementioned list this summer as he is currently playing his 148th Test. Overall, Test cricket has seen a total of 70 cricketers playing 100 or more than 100 matches. Among active players, India captain Virat Kohli (91) might become the next cricketer to cross the 100-Test mark.
