On July 31, Stuart Broad walked off the field representing England for the last time. A career that covered 3 formats and spanned 17 years was over. It was the end of an era in English cricket. But it was also the end of something in Test cricket. The best bowling combination in Test history, at least in terms of most wickets, would never take the field again. Yes, we are talking about Broad and James Anderson.??
Broad called time at 37 while Anderson at 41 is still going strong. Broad finished fifth on the Test wickets tally with 604 and Anderson with 690 has Shane Warne (708) in his sights to at least take 2nd place. The pacer is currently 3rd. Muttiah Muralitharan (800) is a little too far off to consider.
Anderson and Broad have taken a combined haul of 1294 Test wickets. Between 2007 and 2023, they played together in 138 Tests. In those games, they have taken 1039 wickets. They are by some distance the top pair. Warne along with Glenn Mcgrath held the previous record of 1001 wickets in 104 games. These 2 pairs are the only ones with 1000-plus wickets as a duo.?
Anderson and Broad were different in their approaches. Anderson relied more on swing while Broad's aim was to outdo the batter with pace. Anderson defeated the batter in the air with his ball's direction while Broad targeted the weak spots by landing it in the right areas. Whatever the methodology, it worked wonders for English cricket as wickets tumbled. While both were more effective at home than overseas, it does not diminish their contribution to the sport.?
What makes their effort even more special is the fact that they played in a batter-dominated era of high scores, bowling restrictions and more batting-friendly wickets. That did not stop them from doing what they did best. And they did it really well.?
While cricket historians may not rate them above the likes of Warne-McGrath and Wasim Akram-Waqar Younis, as far as numbers go, Anderson and Broad are on top of the world. It is true that stats do not reveal all but they are not lying either. These 2 were the best in the world as a pair and the numbers back it up.?
Close friends on and off the field, Anderson and Broad continued to compete for wickets and that only helped England's cause and made life for the opposition very complicated. They took joy and pride in each other's success and one was always there to pull the other one up if one of them was down.?
Individually they were brilliant, but together they were deadly. Cricket is poorer with them gone as a pair. Once Anderson calls time, Test cricket will be poorer still. ??????