England’s leading wicket-taker, the pacer with the most wickets in Tests and now only the third pacer to take 900 international wickets, James Anderson has swung or seamed his way into cricketing folklore over his nearly two-decade-long career.

About James Anderson, England’s swing king’ who joined elite group of pacers with 900 wickets

During the second day of the fourth and final Test against India on Friday, the 38-year-old dismissed Ajinkya Rahane to join an elite club of bowlers to have amassed 900 wickets across formats in international cricket. 

There are five other bowlers who have reached that milestone, Sri Lanka’s Mutthiah Muralitharan (1,347), Australia’s Shane Warne (1,001), India’s Anil Kumble (956), Australia’s Glenn McGrath (949) and Pakistan’s Wasim Akram (916). Anderson becomes the third pacer, after McGrath and Akram, to have achieved the feat. 

Born in Burnley, England in on July 20, 1982, Anderson made his debut for England in an ODI match during the 2002 tour of  Australia, and announced his name on the international stage with a man-of-the-match performance against Pakistan in the ODI World Cup next year. 

Also Read | Virat Kohli equals MS Dhoni’s Test record of most ducks as India’s captain

After inconsistent performances over the next few years, when he remained in and out of the side, Anderson really started showing his potential as a world-class bowler from the 2007 season onwards. 

During those inconsistent years, he was advised to change his natural bowling action, which affected his confidence. However, once he reverted  back to old, side-on action, he was back to his best.

His first standout series in came in the 2010 Ashes Down Under, where he took 24 wickets. 

A natural generator of two-way swing and lateral movement, Anderson is perhaps the greatest swing bowler of his generation and one of the greatest of all time. 

Also Read | 4th Test: Rishabh Pant brings up third Test ton as India’s lead zooms past 50

He has gone on to play 160 and 194 Test and ODI matches for England, taking 614 and 269 wickets to become the leading wicket-taker for his country in both those formats. He also has 18 wickets in 19 T20I matches. 

Anderson is also a handy lower-order batsman, thus accurately being nicknamed the ‘Burnley Lara’ for his exploits with the willow. His biggest achievement with the bat, apart from his highest score of 81 against India in 2014, is that he has gone 54 innings without registering a duck, a world record.