JIMMY JOINS GREATS
Anderson stretches his lead with 400th wicket
Ji mmy ANDERSON reached yet another l andmark i n cricket history as he took his 400th Test wicket for England at Headingley yesterday.
The Lancashire paceman, who overtook Sir ian Botham’s tally of 383 wickets last month to become his country’s most successful bowler, removed New Zealand opener martin Guptill for a duck at the start of a dramatic day.
He then had Kane Williamson caught behind to leave the Kiwis two wickets down for two runs. The tourists fought back to finish on 297 for eight thanks to 88 off 70 balls by debutant Luke Ronchi.
The challenge after the classic first Test at Lord’s was to carry on entertaining and neither side disappointed.
A day reduced to 65 overs started with Anderson’s bit of history and went on to feature a first-ball six over extra cover from New Zealand captain Brendon mcCullum. Then came the fastest Test 50, off 37 balls, seen at Headingley by Ronchi.
When Anderson f ollowed his landmark by removing Williamson three balls after play resumed, England were in control and had gone a long way to justifying Alastair Cook’s decision to bowl first.
This, though, is a very different New Zealand side to the one beaten 2-0 here two years ago soon after mcCullum had replaced Ross Taylor as captain.
Nothing summed up a style that could revolutionise the Test game more than the way mcCullum started after Taylor had left an inswinger from Stuart Broad.
His first ball was full and outside off-stump but mcCullum, dismissed first ball during the last-day drama at Lord’s, somehow drove it all the way over the boundary.
He raced to 41 off 28 balls and would have added many more had he not toe-ended the first ball after tea to mid-off when trying to hit Ben Stokes into the neighbouring rugby league stadium.
All of New Zealand’s players have bought into this philosophy and not even the departure of BJ Watling, falling to a rare good ball from mark Wood, could halt their flow.
Tom Latham had actually been given out — caught behind off Broad on 18 by umpire Sundaram Ravi — but a review showed he was nowhere near i t. Now he was j oined by Ronchi in a stand of 120 that ran England ragged and for a while threatened to put New Zealand in a position where they could dictate terms in this second Test.
Ronchi gave Latham a 58-run start but quickly overtook him and raced along to 88 off 70 balls with three sixes before he was suckered into falling into a Broad short-ball trap.
That f ollowed the demise of Latham, who should have been given out lbw off moeen Ali by Ravi on 71 and was dropped, incredibly, three times in six balls on 72 and 76 before he was finally pouched by Joe Root in the slips.
That was a desperately needed double-strike from Broad, who went for almost six an over, but New Zealand kept on coming.
England kept the pressure on throughout, Wood forcing Tim Southee to hook to Adam Lyth in front of the Western Terrace before the close of play.