England veteran bowler James Anderson entered the record books on the first day of Boxing Day Test. The pacer on Thursday became the first English bowler and the second English cricketer to play 150 Test matches. Former captain Alastair Cook holds the record of being the most capped Test player for England (161).
Anderson is overall the ninth cricketer to achieve this feat. Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Allan Border (Australia), Jacques Kallis (South Africa), Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid (India), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies) and Alastair Cook (England) are the other cricketers who have played more than 150 Test matches.
The 37-year-old made his Test debut at the age of 20. The Englishman is the leading wicket-taker for England in Tests with 575 wickets.
The right-handed bowler suffered an injury in the first Ashes Test earlier this year, and was out of action for the whole summer.
James achieved another rare feat during the first Test against South Africa. In his landmark Test, Anderson took the wicket of Dean Elgar on the first ball of the Test match, thus becoming the fifth bowler in this decade to claim a wicket off the first ball of a Test match and joined an exclusive club of bowlers. Elgar edged the first ball to the keeper Jos Buttler.
Wicket of first ball of the Test in this decade:
- James Anderson v Dean Elgar, Centurion, 2019
- Suranga Lakmal v KL Rahul, Kolkata, 2017
- Mitchell Starc v Dimuth Karunaratne, Galle, 2016
- Suranga Lakmal v Chris Gayle, Pallekele, 2010
- Dale Steyn v Andrew Strauss, Johannesburg, 2010
England had a good outing on the first day as the visitors restricted the proteas to 277 for 9 at the close of play.
