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Watch: Five James Anderson deliveries that were as good as his Chennai double strikes

by Wisden Staff 3 minute read

James Anderson’s double-wicket opening over on the final day of the Chennai Test altered the course of the match, putting England on course for a famous away win.

The veteran seamer accounted for both Shubman Gill and Ajinkya Rahane in the space of an over with near identical in-duckers that displaced the batsmen’s off stumps out of the ground.

The 38-year-old England quick has just under 900 international wickets to his name, and the wickets of Gill and Rahane rank among the very best he’s taken. Here are five other Anderson dismissals that are just as eye-catching as those two wickets in the Chennai Test:

Anderson v Vermuelen, 2003

You could make reasonable cases for four of the five wickets Anderson took on debut to be included on this list. But the one that does make it, is his very first Test wicket, that of Mark Vermeulen all the way back in May 2003. Angled in before shaping away, the ball was too good for Vermeulen as a baby-faced Anderson with blond highlights in his hair claimed his first of many Test victims.

Anderson v Yousuf, 2003


Another wicket from Anderson’s first full year as an international cricket. In successive deliveries, 20-year-old Anderson dismissed both Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Yousuf – who was still known as Yousuf Youhana at the time – for golden ducks. The wicket of Yousuf was the more eye-catching though, as a quick, away-swinging yorker honed in on middle stump evaded Yousuf’s defence to send the batsman on his way.

Anderson v McCullum, 2008

2008 was the summer that Anderson established himself as a permanent member of England’s first-choice seam attack in Test cricket. The crowning performance of the summer were, at the time, career-best figures of 7-43 against New Zealand at Trent Bridge. In a breath-taking spell, Anderson removed Brendon McCullum with a booming away-swinger that the future Blackcaps skipper looked to flick through the leg-side, only for Anderson to remove his off pole.

Anderson v Clarke, 2013

In the two years prior to the 2013 Ashes, Clarke averaged 68.45 in Test cricket with nine hundreds to his name in just 23 Tests; there was no doubting the importance of his wicket. After being bowled out for 215 on the first day, England had Australia 19-2 when Clarke strolled out to the crease. That was before Anderson unleashed what was almost the perfect delivery to a right-hander, getting a ball angled in to Clarke to hold its line and dislodge the Australian skipper’s off bail. Anderson would end up taking 10 wickets in the match as England won by 14 runs.

Anderson v Brathwaite, 2015

A master at work. In the opening over of the Grenada Test, Anderson bowled a succession of out-swingers to Kraigg Brathwaite that were politely negotiated with by the West Indies opener with little discomfort. With the first ball of the second over, Anderson unleashed a vicious in-swinger to the unsuspecting Brathwaite that crashed into his stumps. Vintage Anderson.

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