James Anderson is the highest wicket-taker for England in ODIs © Getty Images
James Anderson is the highest wicket-taker for England in ODIs © Getty Images

 

May 26, 2014

 

In the second One-Day International played between England and Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street, James Anderson became the first bowler to take 250 wickets for England. In his 177th ODI game for England, he took the wickets of Lahiru Thirimanne and Ashan Priyanjan. England though, lost the game by a huge margin of 157 runs.

 

Anderson made his ODI debut against Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in 2002. He hit the headlines for bowling an inspired spell against Pakistan in ICC World Cup 2003. He has taken a hat-trick against Pakistan at the Oval in 2003. Anderson has also taken two five-fors in his career till now.

 

Darren Gough is the only other England bowler to take over 200 wickets in the ODI format. He has 234 wickets to his name. Andrew Flintoff and Stuart Board share the third position with 168 wickets each.

 

Leading wicket-takers for England in ODIs

 

Player M W Ave ER 5WI
James Anderson 177 250 28.85 4.96 2
Darren Gough 158 234 26.29 4.38 2
Andrew Flintoff 138 168 23.61 4.33 2
Stuart Broad 108 168 28.37 5.22 1
Ian Botham 116 145 28.54 3.96 –
Phil DeFreitas 103 115 32.82 3.96 –
Paul Collingwood 197 111 38.68 4.96 1
Tim Bresnan 84 108 35.2 5.45 1