Stuart Broad, who was just a wicket away from joining an elite club of fast bowlers, finally reached the 500-wicket landmark on the fifth day of the third Test against West Indies. The 34-year-old England pacer scalped Kraigg Brathwaite on Tuesday to reach the landmark. He became the seventh bowler to surpass the tally of 500 Test wickets and he reached the milestone in his 14th year of Test cricket.
With Brathwaite’s wicket, Broad joined the likes of Muttiah Muralitharan (800), Shane Warne (708), Anil Kumble (619), James Anderson (589), Glenn McGrath (563), and Courtney Walsh (519) in the elite club of bowlers.
Interestingly, Broad is the slowest in joining the club as he took 140 Tests to claim his 500th wicket. Muralitharan is the fastest taking just 87 Tests. Following him are Kumble (105 Tests), Warne (108 Tests), McGrath (110 Tests), and Anderson/Walsh (129 Tests). Broad’s milestone wickets though are as follows — 1st: Chaminda Vaas, 100th: Prasanna Jayawardene, 200th: Michael Clarke, 300th: Chris Rogers, 400th: Tom Latham, 500th: Kraigg Brathwaite.
After being ignored for the series opener in Southampton, England’s all-time second-highest wicket-taker in Tests silenced his critics with scintillating performances in the remaining two Tests — both with the ball and the bat. Apart from hitting the third fastest Test fifty for an Englishman in the third Test, Broad finished the match with the figures 10/67 as he led England to a massive 269-run win in the Wisden Trophy decider. His Manchester exploit is his third-best match figure after 11/121 against Australia in 2013 and 11/165 against West Indies in 2012.
He along with Anderson made another record on Tuesday. When Broad took his 500th and played along with Anderson, it became the first instance of two pacers with 500+ wickets playing together. “He’s been a real inspiration with the way he was worked over the last years,” Anderson told Sky Sports on Tuesday. “I’m always amazed at how he gets going in a spell and just blows teams away. He’s in great shape and he can go on and get as many wickets as he wants.” Broad, who is also remembered for being hit six sixes by Yuvraj Singh in 2007 World T20, has been the leading wicket-taker in the world since January 2011.