English fast bowler James Anderson's tally of 600 test wickets

 First fast bowler in the history of test cricket to achieve the milestone

English fast bowler James Anderson made history when he took his 600th test wicket against pakistan the third test match in Southampton. He  became the first pace bowler in the history of test cricket to get 600 test wickets. Before Anderson , three spin bowlers Murali Dharan, Shane Warne and Anil Kumble achieved this milestone. But no fast bowler in the history of test cricket ever achieve this milestone before James Anderson. 

Anderson is only the fourth bowler to reach the mark of 600 Test wickets and the only men ahead of him in the all-time Test list are three retired spinners Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan (800), Australia’s Shane Warne (708) and India’s Anil Kumble (619).

The right-arm pacer, who made his Test debut in 2003 against Zimbabwe, reached his 600th wicket in his 156th Test match at Southampton. After his below-par show in the series-opener, where he could grab only one wicket in the entire match, the speculations were rife that Anderson may contemplate retirement.

Anderson took 10 years to reach the mark of 300 test wickets but next 300 wickets were taken just in seven years. Another interesting fact is that he took seven years to complete his first 200 wickets. But next 400 wickets were taken in just 10 years. 

In his career of nearly 17 years in test cricket , anderson went through many highs and lows. He was out form and dropped from the team. But he made comeback and shown determination to play at the highest level. He improved as a fast bowler as he get older.

Anderson had been left just one wicket shy of 600 as a combination of poor catching, bad weather and determined Pakistan batting thwarted him on Monday.

He might even have reached the landmark late on Sunday but he was frustrated by a clutch of dropped chances.

There seemed to be relief as much as joy for Anderson (2-45) after his historic moment as he further cemented his place as one of Test cricket’s greats after coming into the match under pressure amid talk among some pundits that he should retire.

His match haul of 7-101 suggests otherwise and he may have a new milestone in sight with Test crickets third-highest wicket-taker, Kumble (619) not too far ahead.

England claimed the series after winning the first Test at Old Trafford in Manchester by three wickets, with the last two matches in Southampton both drawn after being blighted by bad weather.  

Milestone victims for James Anderson
1st: Mark Vermeulen (2003)
50th: MS Dhoni (2007)
100th: Jacques Kallis (2008)
200th: Peter Siddle (2010)
300th: Peter Fulton (2013)
400th: Martin Guptill (2015)
500th: Kraigg Brathwaite (2017)
600th: Azhar Ali (2020)

                                                         Ali Raza