New Delhi: England paceman James Anderson continued with his deceptive swings with the red ball as he completed his yet another five-wicket haul on day 3 of the second Test match against West Indies at Headingley, today. His tally ergo added up to 23 fi-fers equalling the feat achieved by former Indian skipper Kapil Dev.
West Indies resumed day 3 action with the score at 329 at the loss of five wickets. Shai Hope at 147 truly remained the only hope for the tourists in their desire to amass a high total. Jermaine Blackwood (21) was the other batsman.
First ball for the day and Jimmy Anderson, England's most prolific paceman, was into the attack. Short of a length, straight down the off side as Hope who looked to fend it off, got a nibble of the outside edge of the bat and Jonny Bairstow comfortably took it behind the stumps. First ball, first wicket and West Indies' H(h)ope departed.
Shane Dowrich stepped in next. Second ball, similar delivery, this the ball deviated a way to much and flew straight to skipper Joe Root at slip. Golden duck! And with that Jimmy Anderson completed his 23rd five-wicket haul in Test cricket. He had dismissed Keiran Powell on day 1 and Devendra Bishoo and Kyle Hope on the second day of the Headingley Test.
Watch his first wicket today, as he dismissed Shai Hope...
A wicket with the first ball of the day! https://t.co/fRy3qejQmq pic.twitter.com/SR4JUsElqN
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 27, 2017
Watch his second wicket as he dismissed Shane Dowrich for a duck...
Two in two and @jimmy9 has five wickets! Come on lads! https://t.co/fRy3qe2eXQ pic.twitter.com/MEQa8E2YNy
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 27, 2017
With his 23rd fi-fer in Test cricket, he has now equalled the feat the former Indian skipper Kapil Dev had achieved. Anderson has now surpassed West Indies legend Sir Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh on the list of most five-wicket hauls in Test cricket. He is now one behind England's Sydney Barnes, who still stands at position two when accounted for their nation. Leading the overall, chart is Muttiah Muralitharan with 67 fi-fers.
Not only so, Anderson's record at Headingley has been worth pondering over. In his first seven Test matches at the venue, the pacer has scalped 19 wickets at 41.36 with zero five-fors. However, in the last two Test matches at Headingley, he bagged 15 wickets at 6.66 with three five-wicket hauls.
Jimmy Anderson now has a total of 497 Test wickets in 128 matches, just three short of being the sixth bowler in the world to enter the 500-wicket club.
