Stuart Broad's three wickets in the first innings of the second test against Pakistan at Leeds took his tally to 414 test wickets, level with Pakistan legend Wasim Akram, making him joint 8th on the list of fast bowlers with most test wickets.

Broad's partner James Anderson is second on that list, behind only Glenn McGrath, and collectively the Anderson-Broad pair have 952 test wickets!

That is the most for any fast bowling pair in the history of test cricket.

In comparison, Wasim-Waqar have 787.

McGrath-Gillespie have 822.

Walsh-Ambrose have 924.

Pollock-Ntini have 811.

In my view, these are the 5 most potent fast bowling pairs that we have witnessed in test cricket in the past 3 decades.

The age old adage "Fast bowlers hunt in pairs" holds true when one looks at each of these pairs have achieved together in test matches.

What one also realizes after looking at these figures is that the Wasim-Waqar pair were miles ahead of the rest!

In tests that these pairs played together, the Anderson-Broad pair lead the wickets tally with a combined haul of 806 wickets, followed by Walsh-Ambrose with 762.

These two pairs have also played the most number of tests together, 106 and 95 respectively.

In comparison, the other three pairs have played only 58-63 tests together.

Wasim-Waqar played only 61 tests together, in which they picked up 559 wickets at an average of 22.1 and a strike rate of 45.7.

The 2 Ws have the best average among these pairs, which is marginally ahead of Walsh-Ambrose and significantly ahead of the rest.

They also have the best strike rate among the 5 pairs and it is miles ahead of the rest. The 2 Ws picked up a wicket every 45 deliveries, whereas none of the other pairs managed to do so in less than 50 deliveries.

Their 5WI and 10WM hauls are also more than each of the other pairs.

The Ws picked up a 5 wicket haul in every other test they played together. In fact their ratio of matches to 5WI hauls is 1.6!

That's how far above the 2 Ws were compared to other fast bowling pairs.

What makes the 2 Ws even more special is that more than half of their tests, 32 to be exact, were played in the subcontinent! Significantly more than the other 4 pairs.

Test cricket never has and probably never will see a pair like the 2 Ws. They truly were special!

Jimmy Anderson’s amazing bowling at Lord’s saw him smash through previous records by taking four wickets. With this outstanding performance in mind, let’s take a minute to look back at eight of the best bowlers in English cricket over recent years:

Darren Gough

He may never have won the Ashes, but Gough was one of the best bowlers around. As a fast bowler he developed his own unique technique that was often described as ‘skiddy’, but it allowed him to have a late spin on the ball which gave him a huge bowling advantage. In the Ashes alone, Gough claimed 74 wickets and took a total of 229 wickets in his test match career.



Steve Harmison

During the 2003-2004 West Indies tour, Harmy was the highest wicket-taker and continued this success to the 2005 Ashes where his fast bowling helped to secure the victory for England. Part of Harmy’s success was his ability to deliver a bounce from any pitch, largely thanks to his 6’4” stature, while throwing them out at speeds over 90mph.



Andrew Caddick

Despite being born in New Zealand, Caddy, was one of the best English bowlers that has ever been. He was renowned for taking 13 five-wicket hauls in test matches and taking over 230 wickets in his test match career. One of the things that set Caddy apart from the rest was his dedication to Somerset County Cricket Club, where he stayed for his entire career.



Robert Croft

Welsh and proud, Crofty hedged his bets and played for England in international matches and he made a massive impact in doing so. He regularly received the title of player of the year and was even awarded the Weatherall Award for being the leading all-rounder in English first-class games. However, it was his bowling that made him stand out from the rest when he took his 1,000 first-class wickets in 2007.



Ian Botham

Often claiming his centuries, Botham was instrumental in England’s Ashes wins, but it was his outstanding bowling that claimed five for one in 28 balls at Edgbaston that landed him a place in this list. Beefy took 148 Ashes wickets in total thanks to his fast and loose bowling that saw many a batman swing a tad late and go out on an LBW or wickets.



Devon Malcolm

During the 90s, Malcom was probably the only true fast bowler that England had in their arsenal. Despite being one of the fastest bowlers to have ever graced the pitch, Malcom’s short falls in poor catching and short-sighted plays meant that he was often chosen as number eleven. He may not have taken the most wickets or been the best batsman, but Malcom could bowl like no one’s business!





















Graeme Swann

Famed for his right-arm off break bowling style, Swanny was one of the best spinners to ever grace the field. In 2009, Swann made history by becoming the first English spinner to take 50 wickets in a single calendar year. A year later, he cemented himself in the list of best English bowlers firmly when he managed to take 10 wickets in a single match.



Stuart Broad

Still regularly playing test match cricket, The Enforcer has already got 238 wickets under his belt and plenty of life left in his arms to see this number grow. Broad has achieved an amazing number 3 in the ICC player rankings and has won Man of the Series awards in 2009 and 2011. In addition to this, he’s already claimed 11 five wicket hauls, two 10 wickets and even two test match hat-tricks.

Well Pitched was 1 year old.

The Dubai International Cricket Stadium was under construction.

Graeme Swann had not played a test match for England.

No one had heard of Umar Akmal.

Jonathan Trott had not played an ODI nor a Test for England.

Eoin Morgan was playing for Ireland.

Shoaib Malik was the captain of Pakistan.

Anfrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison were key members of the England team.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul was the number 1 ranked test batsman.

I said their bowling was shit.

I said Stuart Broad was worse than shit.

Not only did England win the Ashes, Stuart Broad played an instrumental role in taking them to that series win.

I don't have an egg, I have a full omelette on my face!

Broad and Swann, whom I always expected to have an impact during the Ashes, took the game away on the 2nd day itself when they had Australia bending over after being bowled out for 160.

The game was always going in only one direction after that.

Not even the most optimistic Australians would have thought they stood a chance.

It is an unbelievable result because I really did not think England had it in them to win the Ashes this year.

Looking back at the series, I really don't know how they managed it.

As many as 8 centuries came from the blades of Australians; as compared to only 2 from the English.

The highest batting average (besides Jonathan Trott) belonged to an Australian.

The most number of wickets belonged to an Australian.

In fact the top 3 wicket takers in the series were Australians!

The best bowling average belonged to an Australian.

Yet, through some freak act of nature or something, England won the series 2-1.

How the hell that happened, I will never understand.

Ricky Ponting got booed for pointing out how looking at the stats no one will be able to say that Australia did not win the series, but if I was in his place, I would have said the same damn thing.

As for England. Wow. Second Ashes series win in as many Ashes series at home. Achievement that is!

And Stuart Broad. He ended as the highest wicket taker on the England side.

Probably he ain't shit any more.

Ricky Ponting, though, is.

Poor guy; I feel for him. I really do.

Two series in England as captain and two series losses; he's in the company of not many Australia captains.

At the end all I can say is - Unbelievable!

Is that how much difference the absence of Andrew Flintoff can make?

102 and 82-5, how pathetic!

And here I was thinking that the Ashes were going England's way.

What happened?

I see that Stuart Clark returned and did what Jason Gillespie said he would. I think Gillespie was the only one calling for Clark's return with almost everyone saying that his career was over.

Gillespie was right.

Siddle did get 5 wickets but I think it was Clark who got the key wickets and crushed England in the 1st innings.

And in the 2nd, it was the return to form of Mitchell Johnson!

About time!

This was supposed to be his Ashes. Actually I had thought he was going to have the English for breakfast, lunch, and dinner but we all know how the series has gone for him so far.

The 2nd day of this 4th test, however, changed all that.

I haven't seen the game so I have no idea how the English have lost wickets but it seems like a very bad performance, especially since Australia scored over 400 at over 4 an over.

And Broad took 6 wickets!!? I couldn't believe that.

I've been running around but I've caught some cricket in between; I caught England's 75-year-misery-wiping-out win at Lord's and also some of the action from the 3rd test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Here's some stuff that I found quite difficult to believe.

What the hell happened?

To say I was surprised to see the scorecard would be an understatement.

From what I looked at initially, this is what went through my mind:

I sense an innings win for Australia on the 5th day.

Marcus North and Brad Haddin just shut England up today and further proved what I had to say about the English bowlers.

I can't believe how over rated they were before the Ashes began.

My two-bits from day 4:

It was rain that made them go off, not the bad light, right?

All the Australian and English blogs have been buzzing with Ashes hype; that is not the surprising bit.

What is surprising is that many believe that England have a real chance at winning the Ashes.

They can't be serious!

I have no idea how anyone can seriously believe that England can win.

Sure they have great batsmen; Andrew Strauss converts 50s to 100s at a better rate than anyone; Kevin Pietersen scores centuries more often than anyone else; Ravi Bopara has knocked centuries in his 3 previous tests.

But their bowling is shit.

I don't even know why Stuart Broad plays international cricket.

James Anderson and Graham Onions hardly look the sort that can run through the Australians.

It is not the West Indies batsmen they're up against. It is the Hughes, the Katich, the Ponting, the Hussey, the Clarke, the North, the Haddin, the Johnson.

That is one heavy batting line up.

Andrew Flintoff is probably the only threat to them but it won't be long before he'll be limping off the field or getting dropped for missing a boat or something.

Graeme Swann is a more than decent spinner, but he's no threat. Definitely not. He was for the West Indians, not one for the Aussies.

Monty Panesar is a joke.

Adil Rashid is probably their best hope but they won't give him a single game.

The Australians recently beat South Africa at home; a team who had not lost a test series in almost forever.

While the English could not bowl out the West Indies to win a game in the Caribbean; sure they beat them at home but the West Indians were hardly interested in being there.

I just cannot see England winning any game in the Ashes; nor can I see how anyone else can.