James Anderson has conquered the test arena in the last few years and there is no stopping him. The English pacer was at his supreme best against Sri Lanka at Leeds on the second day’s play. He was simply unplayable as his ability to swing the ball both ways remains unmatched. Along with that, Anderson’s consistency and accuracy matter a lot as well. Along with pacer Stuart Broad, Anderson has formed an intimidating new ball pair.
During the second day’s play, Anderson went past Kapil Dev in the list of the leading wicket takers. Anderson began the game with 433 scalps to his name and soon surpassed the legendary Kapil Dev in his mesmerizing spell of swing bowling. Anderson took yet another five-wicket haul as England dismantled Sri Lanka for a paltry 91.
Veteran English broadcaster Jonathan Agnew was in complete awe of Anderson, as he analyzed the pacer’s performance. “Once Sri Lanka went into bat, conditions were tailor-made for England’s brilliant new-ball duo of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, and frankly it would have been a surprise if they hadn’t made hay against a very callow Sri Lankan batting line-up,” Agnew said.
Praising the dup of Broad and Anderson, Agnew further added, “Anderson and Broad are high-class operators with bags of experience, and with gloomy skies overhead and some very fine catches in the slip cordon, conditions were loaded in their favor.” “Anderson, in particular, was magnificent, moving the ball at will, and the fact that he passed Kapil Dev as the sixth-highest Test wicket-taker of all time only served to underline his outstanding pedigree,” Agnew said.
In an earlier interview, Anderson had stated his aim of playing till the 2019 Ashes. “In the back of my mind I think I can get 500 Test wickets,” Anderson told The Telegraph UK. “And what has helped me during the last three or four years has been thinking about staying as fit as possible so I get on the field. “Then I can contribute to us winning games. If I do that and stay in the team it means I will get wickets. “I would like to play the 2019 Ashes. I will be 37 then.”