Anderson equals Cook's record

Veteran pacer James Anderson equalled his former captain Alastair Cook's record for most Test appearances for England when he was selected in England's red-ball team for the 161st time today in the first Test against New Zealand at Lord's.

Anderson is already England's all-time record wicket-taker with 614 Test scalps. His brilliant international career began almost two decades ago.

Cook, who announced his international retirement in 2018, played 161 matches in the longest format of the game.

Anderson, who took the wicket of New Zealand's Kane Williamson early in the second session of the game, is also on the verge of surpassing Anil Kumble's Test tally of 619 wickets. The 38-year-old pacer has 614 wickets from 160 games.

He is fourth on list of Test cricket's top wicket-takers while Kumble is third. Ex-Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan leads the list with 800 wickets while ex-Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne has 708 wickets.

Anderson is also eight wickets short of reaching 1,000 wickets in first-class cricket. Former England left-arm spinner Wilfred Rhodes holds the record for most first-class wickets with 4,204.

The right-armer Anderson has played 23 Test matches at Lord's in his 18-year long Test cricket career. He has taken 103 wickets at an average of 23.89 with six five-wicket hauls at the historic venue.

"For a bowler to play this amount of games, I don't know what the word is, but it's a bit mind-blowing to me," Anderson was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.