Stuart Broad set for 100th Test in Rajkot

James Anderson has already played 119 Tests and his partner, the 30-year old Broad, will play his 100th Test match in Rajkot.

Only 12 Englishmen have achieved the feat of playing 100 Tests.

Fast bowlers hunt in pairs and for England there can never be a better example of one in recent times than the superb exponents of seam and swing in Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad.

The two have delivered 507 wickets in 69 Test matches. Second placed is the good old pair of the deadly Fred Trueman and Brian Statham (284 wickets in 35 matches). The Steve Harmison-Mathew Hoggard team was also effective; the two had a collection of 266 wickets in 33 matches.

They are followed by Andrew Caddick and Darren Gough with 196 wickets in 26 matches and Ian Botham and Bob Willis (172 wickets in 24 matches).

Anderson has already played 119 Tests (May 22, 2003 to August 14, 2016) and his partner, the 30-year old Broad, will play his 100th Test match in Rajkot.

Only 12 Englishmen have achieved this feat; they are Anderson (119), Ian Botham (102), Graham Gooch (118), Kevin Pietersen (104), Geoffrey Boycott (108), Michael Atherton (115), Alastair Cook (135), David Gower (117), Ian Bell (118), Graham Thorpe (100), Alec Stewart (133) and Colin Cowdrey (114).

While Anderson has missed 53 Test matches because of injury or otherwise, Broad has missed only 13. Anderson, who has endured nagging injury issues, has not recovered from a shoulder ailment. He was not included in the team announced on October 26 for the five-Test series in India.

Anderson, who has taken 82 wickets against India, is at the Loughborough University for fitness tests. There is speculation that he may join the team either in Rajkot or Visakhapatnam. “We will know that in the next 24 hours,” said Danny Reuben, Head of Team Communications, England and Wales Cricket Board.