Twitter reacts to England players taking turns in dropping catches to deny Anderson 600th wicket

Twitter reacts to England players taking turns in dropping catches to deny Anderson 600th wicket

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Written by: SportsCafe Desk

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You’d think players of a young and spirited English side would do everything they can to help their messiah Jimmy Anderson get to 600 wickets, but shockingly, they instead teamed-up to deny him the milestone. With Anderson on 597 wickets, England astonishingly dropped 3 catches in a row.

Could you imagine being Jimmy Anderson today? You are 38 years old, you don’t know if and when you’ll be playing your next Test, you also don’t know if the English weather will permit any cricket on Day 4 and 5, so you do everything in your power to get to 600 wickets - only to see the operation be sabotaged by your OWN TEAMMATES? Jeez! 

Heading into Day 3, the equation for Anderson, who already had claimed three wickets on Day 2, was simple - pick 4 wickets to get to the 600-wicket mark in Test. Anderson removed Asad Shafiq inside the first 30 minutes of the day, so three wickets was all he needed to get to the landmark which no pacer in history has managed to achieve. 

Post Shafiq’s dismissal, the veteran went wicketless for over 70 overs on Day 3, but, with Pakistan seven down, the second new-ball gave Anderson a ray of hope that he could finish the job off overnight. So, keen to get to the 600 wicket mark on Day 3, Anderson brought out his very best with the (second) new red-cherry. With some impeccable swing bowling, Anderson, on 597 wickets, three away from 600, inflicted outside-edges off the bat of the Pakistani batsmen THRICE in the span of two overs. That should ideally have been it, that should ideally have been ‘the’ moment, but in a stupefying sequence of events, the English fielders spilt ALL THREE CATCHES to leave Anderson stranded on 597.

Rory Burns and Zak Crawley were the culprits on the first two instances and the man responsible for the final drop was Stuart Broad, who inexplicably ended up betraying his long-time partner-in-crime. And, as if the drop didn’t hurt Anderson enough already, Broad rubbed salt on his teammate’s wounds by running out Abbas on the very same ball he dropped the catch. Anderson eventually removed Naseem Shah to end the Day on 598, but that wouldn’t stop him from blasting his teammates in the dressing room, one imagines.

3 catches had been dropped of Jimmy Anderson's bowling when he was on 597

Gotta feel sad for Anderson

Broad adding salt to Anderson's wound

Terrible fielding by England

Even we are feeling sad for Anderson

Anderson was so furious after Crawley dropped Abbas

Anderson was extremely disappointed

I am also angry on Jimmy Anderson's behalf

Anderson must be raging after all this

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