Jimmy Anderson becomes the sixth highest Test wicket-taker

With his five-wicket haul yesterday and another today, Jimmy stands alone as the sixth highest wicket-taker in Test match history.

Impressively, just two fast bowlers are now ahead of him on the list - Glenn McGrath and Courtney Walsh. Depending on his health and how much longer he wishes to play, Jimmy has a real shot of overtaking Cuddy.

Anderson has gone through a real golden spell over the last two years, taking 100 wickets in 22 matches at an average of 21.61 and a strike-rate of 49.8.

England will find it almost impossible to replace him when he finally retires, and from a personal standpoint, I will be gutted to no longer watch him swing the ball sideways, seemingly on a string. Truly one of my favourites to watch.

The new sultan of swing.

Broad and Anderson may go down as one of the great fast-bowling hunting pairs.

Feel sorry for SL. Anderson got big bounce today. The Lankans looked like little bunny rabbits.

The pitch really sped up after the first day of play. When England were batting, the ball was barely carrying through to the keeper at ankle height. When Sri Lanka were batting, Jimmy had the ball bouncing though at throat height. It's almost unfair when you get that kind of bounce combined with prodigious swing.

I just had a chance to look up the numbers for Ambrose and Walsh compared to Broad and Anderson.

Since Broad made his debut, he and Anderson bowling in tandem have taken 646 wickets in 157 innings at an average of 27.85 and a strike-rate of 56.59.

Walsh and Ambrose bowling in tandem took 762 wickets in 175 innings at an average of 22.67 and a strike-rate of 56.14. Eerie how similar their strike-rates are.

For comparison, Wasim and Waqar took 550 wickets in tandem in 107 innings at an average of 22.12 and a strike-rate of 45.63.

What skews their stats slightly is that England play lots of home games, and lots of long series, so Broad and Anderson can rack up scalps faster than most modern pace bowlers.

Anderson travels reasonably well, though. He gets stereotyped as an "England conditions only bowler", but I think he did really well in India, last time he went.

Broad and Anderson's overseas numbers are what prevents me from putting them in the same class as Ambrose and Walsh and Wasim and Waqar.

While still very good overseas, Broad and Anderson average a hair under 34 - whereas Ambrose and Walsh and Wasim and Waqar's numbers are bordering on the obscene (average under 25) with almost no difference whether bowling at home or overseas.

I just watched the highlights of the second day between Eng and SL.

Anderson was on 9 wickets, with Sri Lanka with one scalp remaining.

Cook then put Anderson in to bowl, the other bowlers deliberately eased off, and the whole England team then rallied behind Anderson to get him to that 10th wicket. The joy and camraderie shared by everyone when he hit 10 was special. You rarely see a whole team rallying to help a guy like that.

The team spirit in the England dressing room is good to see. Jimmy even allowed himself a rare smile in picking up his tenth wicket.

I can't stop watching the final wicket of Pradeep. It is mesmerising. Poor Pradeep is in Chris Martin territory when it comes to batting. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with being out there.

A link to a gif of the final wicket is below. It is magical.

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