James Anderson’s retirement from England’s Test cricket marks the end of an era. With his 21-year career coming to an end, the seasoned speedster has called it quits. On Friday, July 12, at the Lord’s Cricket Ground, following England’s victory over the West Indies in the first Test match, the 41-year-old was showered with hugs and pats on the back from his teammates. The story began in 2003 when Anderson, then 20 years old, took the field, and it concluded at the Home of Cricket.
Since Tests are the most popular format in cricket and have been for decades, limited overs is a relatively new format.In other game formats, bowlers may have had less of an influence, but in Tests, hardly at all. It is still as hard to score runs in the red-ball game as it was a few decades ago. The top-10 bowlers who have claimed the most wickets during their international Test cricket careers are shown below.
List of Test cricketers with the most wickets :-
| Player | Country | Matches | Wickets | Average | Economy | Best Innings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muttiah Muralitharan | Sri Lanka | 133 | 800 | 22.72 | 2.47 | 9/51 |
| Shane Warne | Australia | 145 | 708 | 25.41 | 2.65 | 8/71 |
| James Anderson | England | 188 | 704 | 26.52 | 2.79 | 7/42 |
| Anil Kumble | India | 132 | 619 | 29.65 | 2.69 | 10/74 |
| Stuart Broad | England | 167 | 604 | 27.68 | 2.97 | 8/15 |
| Glenn McGrath | Australia | 124 | 563 | 21.64 | 2.49 | 8/24 |
| Nathan Lyon | Australia | 129 | 530 | 30.28 | 2.93 | 8/50 |
| Courtney Walsh | West Indies | 132 | 519 | 24.44 | 2.53 | 7/37 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | India | 100 | 516 | 23.75 | 2.81 | 7/59 |
| Dale Steyn | South Africa | 93 | 439 | 22.95 | 3.24 | 7/51 |