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England’s all-time highest wicket-taker James Anderson added another feather to his illustrious cap when he picked up a five-wicket haul in the ongoing County Championship 2021.
The Lancashire bowler reached a special milestone of 1000th wicket in first-class cricket on Day 2 of the Group 3 match against Kent at Emirates Old Trafford on Monday.
Ahead of the game, Anderson had 995 red-ball scalps to his name in the domestic arena, but as soon as he removed Kent middle-order batter, Heino Kuhn, the ‘Burnley Express’ etched his name in record books.
The 38-year-old bowled his traditional out-swinger, drawing the batsman to do forward press and edging through the wicketkeeper to accomplish the unreal landmark in his celebrated and glorious career.
Watch the clip here:
WICKET WATCH – Wicket number 1,000 for @jimmy9 pic.twitter.com/We91Q8tGGa
— Lancashire Cricket (@lancscricket) July 5, 2021
“It feels great”: Anderson after reaching the milestone
The last seam bowler to achieve the remarkable feat was legendary Andrew Caddick in 2005. Overall, Anderson became the 216th man to reach the 1000-wicket benchmark in first-class cricket.
In the match, Anderson picked two more wickets to complete his 7-wicket haul as riding on his tremendous bowling, Lancashire bundled out Kent for just 74 runs in 26.2 overs. Darren Stevens, with 19, was the highest run-scorer for Kent in their first innings.
After the end of the day’s play, Anderson reacted to the special effort he produced with the ball, saying that he felt great after coming to know that he has completed 1000 wickets in domestic-circuit.
“It feels great. I have been getting ribbed from the lads upstairs because I genuinely didn’t know how many wickets I’d taken. At first, I thought they were going a bit over the top for a five-for but to see the reaction from the lads was really special, and then to get to chew the fat with them after the day was really nice,” Anderson said at the end of days play.
“I have been doing loads of work in the nets, and all I was thinking about today was grooving my action and working on some stuff – I wanted to make sure I bowled well and got into that rhythm. Luckily it came off today,” added Anderson.