James Anderson is arguably the greatest Test bowler of all time. The 41-year-old has finally called his illustrious cricketing career to an end. After the win in the 1st Test against West Indies at Lord’s. He began his career back in 2003 against Zimbabwe in the same stadium. In the 21 years of his cricket, he has picked 704 wickets in the longest format of the game.
Jimmy is the only pace bowler to achieve the unique milestone. He has featured in 188 test matches for the Three Lions. It is the second most in history after Sachin Tendulkar who played 200 games for India in the traditional format of the game. His unique ability to swing the ball both ways with little change in his action made him different from the others.
Anderson became the first bowler to bowl reverse swing also reverse. Conventionally swings towards the rough side, and the reverse-swinging ball towards the shiny side. The ball’s orientation for the conventional inswinger, therefore, is the same as the one for the reverse outswinger. The legacy he has made for English cricket and international cricket will be unmatched. But there are certain things that the speedster has failed to achieve in his prolonged career.
Here are the 5 things James Anderson did not achieve in his illustrious career
5. Did not win ICC World Test Championship (WTC)
James Anderson, despite being one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time failed to win the ICC World Test Championship (WTC). During his stint with the Three Lions, the side failed to qualify in any of the finals of the cycle. In the first edition of the championship, they finished 4th and could not qualify. The second edition also finished at the same position in the points table.
4. Does not have most five-wicket hauls in Test
Anderson despite playing for so long in the traditional format of the game, has not achieved the No.1 bowler to take five-wicket hauls. He finds himself trailing in the record books and sits at seven on the list with 32 fifers. This is one of the records he could not etch beside his name.
3. Did not top the list for most wickets in Ashes
The 41-year-old has retired trailing behind in the most wickets taken in Ashes history. Despite being part of a long period of competing in one of cricket’s oldest rivalries, he failed to achieve milestones. Anderson has only 117. Stuart Broad is third in the all-time wicket-taking charts in the Ashes while the latter sits at eighth.
2. Failed to win ODI World Cup
Anderson debuted in the ODI World Cup back in 2003. He featured in four ICC ODI World Cups but has failed to win the major silverware every time. Anderson has been knocked out of the group stage twice. He qualified for the quarter-finals back in 2011 and failed in 2007 in the Super 8. However, he won the T20 World Cup with the side in 2010.
1. Failed to take most test wickets
Jimmy had a fairly long playing career in the longest format. But he still ranks behind Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne as the most wicket-takers. Anderson attempted to close the gap on Warne. He was unlucky in not taking the number of wickets required to achieve the feat.
