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Anderson names favourite Test wickets

A pair of Australians and trio of wicketkeepers make the list

Having taken his 500th Test match wicket at Lord’s on Friday, James Anderson has revealed his five favourite dismissals of the lot.

The list of five – now just under one per cent of his total Test collection after he captured wicket No.501 late on day two – features two Australians, a Kiwi, an Indian and a West Indies gloveman. 

Test legend Ricky Ponting is one of the two Ashes rivals that made the list, with his first-ball dismissal at the Adelaide Oval in December 2010 one of Anderson’s most cherished dismissals.

Ponting walked out to bat in the first over after opener Simon Katich was run out without facing a delivery. One ball later Ponting was following Katich’s footsteps back to the pavilion. 

"There is something special about the early stages of an Ashes Test. There is this unique buzz," Anderson wrote in The Telegraph

"We had drawn in Brisbane and so it was important we started the second Test well. We took a wicket with an early run out by (Jonathan) Trott to get us off to a flyer.

"We always tried to bowl full at Ponting when he first came to the crease thinking he would go for the drive. 

"The ball was pitched exactly where I wanted. He did not try and play a drive, he just pushed at it quite hard and nicked it. 

"Swanny (Graeme Swann) took a great two handed diving catch at second slip."

Image Id: 0BA5D5976C50468B9F6A910E2AD120D5 Image Caption: Australia never recovered from the horror opening over // Getty

While that wicket of Ponting set up an England victory, the scalp of former wicketkeeper Brad Haddin sealed a dramatic win in the first Test of the 2013 Ashes at Trent Bridge.

Chasing 311 to win, Haddin and No.11 James Pattinson had put on 65 for the 10th wicket to silence a roaring crowd in Nottingham and give the Australians an outside shot of an improbable win.

But with just 15 runs required, Anderson found the inside edge of Haddin’s bat to give Anderson five wickets for the innings, 10 wickets for the match and most importantly England a 1-0 series lead.

"The match was on a knife edge," Anderson wrote. "I had bowled a long spell as we tried to tie up victory. 

"Australia reduced the target to 20 at lunch. I remember Cooky looking around at lunch and asking who wanted to bowl and I said I did. 

"They got the target down to 14 with the last pair at the crease. 

"I bowled an off cutter to Haddin and I didn’t even hear a nick but the other guys went up. 

"(Wicketkeeper) Matt Prior said he had nicked it. 

"We reviewed it and there is a good photo of me celebrating the wicket. 

"It was my 10th of the game and the reason you play is to take wickets in tense victories. 

"It is probably my best performance for England."

Image Id: 844DD6DD63474902B5E1C8E778ABCB41 Image Caption: Now that's how you celebrate an Ashes win // Getty

Alongside the two Australians on Anderson’s list is the wicket of former India captain MS Dhoni at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, 2012.

Anderson tempted Dhoni with two full inswingers before extracting an edge with a perfectly-pitched outswinger to remove the dangerous ‘keeper-batsman.

Another outswinger made the list, one that missed the edge and uprooted the off-stump of Black Caps master blaster Brendon McCullum in Nottingham in 2008.

McCullum looked to work the ball through mid-wicket before the natural swing straightened the delivery through the air, off the pitch and into the right-hander’s exposed woodwork.

Image Id: 6B0856B98C554F7E84B28E9B4E351DB6 Image Caption: Not pictured: a destroyed off-stump halfway to third man // Getty

And the wicket that moved Anderson past Sir Ian Botham mark as England’s leading Test wicket-taker made the top five. 

A leg-cutter took the edge of Windies ‘keeper Dinesh Ramdin’s bat in April 2015 to give Anderson wicket No.384 and a place in the history books.