England's James Anderson becomes all-time leading Test seam bowler with match-winning wicket against India

REUTERS
Malik Ouzia @MalikOuzia_12 September 2018

James Anderson has become the most prolific Test seam bowler of all time, after claiming the final Indian wicket on the last day of the fifth test against India at The Oval.

Anderson removed Mohammed Shami for a duck to secure victory by 118 runs, and a 4-1 series win, after India had threatened to steal a draw.

The England bowler's haul of 564 Test wickets surpasses the 563 wickets of legendary Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath.

It also takes Anderson to fourth on the all-time list of Test wicket takers, with only spinners Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne and Anil Kumble having claimed more.

Anderson had equalled McGrath's record with two wickets on a memorable fourth day at The Oval, in which the retiring Alastair Cook scored a fairytale hundred, and current captain Joe Root also reached three figures.

With India set 462 to win, Anderson opened the bowling on the evening of the fourth day, and struck twice in his second over, trapping Shikar Dhawan lbw for one and Cheteshwar Pujara for nought.

Anderson would surely have loved to claim the record with the prized wicket of Virat Kohli, but it was Stuart Broad who took care of the Indian captain, having him caught behind for a golden duck and the visitors slumped to 2-3.

However, the visitors made it through to close without further loss, resuming this morning on 58-3, with England needing seven wickets to win the test and Anderson needing one more for the record.

A brilliant sixth wicket partnership of 204 between K L Rahul and Rishabh Pant took India to 325-5, and put them in with a chance of salvaging something from the match, but two wickets apiece from Adil Rashid and Sam Curran left Anderson with the chance to seal the record and the win.

Leading test wicket takers up until today's play

Bowler Matches Inns Balls Runs Wkts Ave 5w 10w
M Muralitharan 133 230 44,039 18,180 800 22.72 67 22
SK Warne 145 273 40,705 17,995 708 25.41 37 10
A Kumble 132 236 40,850 18,355 619 29.65 35 8
GD McGrath 124 243 29,248 12,186 563 21.64 29 3
JM Anderson 143 267 31,395 15,118 563 26.85 26 3
CA Walsh 132 242 30,019 12,688 519 24.44 22 3
Kapil Dev 131 227 27,740 12,867 434 29.64 23 2
SCJ Broad 123 225 25,215 12,499 433 28.86 16 2
Sir RJ Hadlee 86 150 21,918 9,611 431 22.29 36 9
HMRKB Herath 92 168 25,705 12,020 430 27.95 34 9
DW Steyn 88 161 17,707 9,533 421 22.64 26 5
SM Pollock 108 202 24,353 9,733 421 23.11 16 1
Harbhajan Singh 103 190 28,580 13,537 417 32.46 25 5

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