STUART BROAD: I can’t see any fast bowler beating Jimmy Anderson’s haul of 700 Test match wickets

As a father of a one-year-old, I’ve seen 4.15am a lot lately, but unfortunately the moment my old friend Jimmy Anderson took his 700th Test wicket on Saturday wasn’t one of them.

However, my mother Carole was there in person, sitting next to Jimmy’s father Michael in the stands and she sent me selfies of the two of them doing superstitious cricket things like changing seats or going for a walk for good luck, all in the name of to get him to that 700.

We all know it means absolutely nothing, but we still do it all the time. It is a phenomenal achievement and I don’t see any other fast bowler matching it. When people talk about Jimmy, they mention the dedication and the mental toughness to keep moving forward, and obviously you don’t play until you’re 41 without that, but now is the time where we just have to marvel at his skills, really. because that’s what it took to get so many wickets in different conditions, challenging the world’s best batters for over 20 years.

He has found ways to perform at his peak and is still trying to get better, which is extraordinary when you think about it.

It’s a shame, in a way, that he won’t be able to remember that he joined the elite company of Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan for slightly better reasons, in that his moment came in a bit of a pinch at the end of a long tour for England.

Anderson took the wicket of India’s Kuldeep Yadav during the third day of the fifth and final Test

Stuart Broad praised the abilities of his old friend and former English colleague

Selfishly, part of me hoped that he would return to Lord’s this summer at 699 and that I would be able to witness it along with so many other England fans.

Given our close working relationship over the years, I would have liked to have been one of the ten guys who walked up behind him and punched him. You really cherish moments in a career when teammates do special things.

I’ll never forget Alastair Cook’s double hundred at the MCG. Or Jimmy’s 500th wicket, that of West Indies’ Kraigg Brathwaite at Lord’s in 2017. How long will he continue as a Test bowler?

It’s a question people will naturally ask, but I honestly have no idea. Jimmy is hooked, and I mean that in the nicest way possible. He is so invested in cricket. Someone who will feel very emotional when he is finally done.

It’s the only thing he knows. And I think even if he chooses his moment, he will still find it very difficult to walk away. It is so deeply ingrained in him that he sometimes gives the impression that he wants to retire at the traditional British age of 65.

What he’ll be thinking about is a new target. Does he want to reach 800 and equal Murali? Does he want to get past Warne’s 708? He will know when the time is right to go, and only he can make that call. Is it possible he could play in the next Ashes Away?

Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes would like Anderson to continue for the next 18 to 24 months

Yes. Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes would like him to stay on for the next 18 to 24 months, but then he’s 43 and I don’t necessarily think he’ll be looking that far ahead.

Playing in Australia is a tough, physical demand. As a seamer you average 53 overs in a Test match in the scorching heat and while I wouldn’t write him off, there were a few question marks over him in the Ashes last summer in England.

In India he is bowling economically, without taking many wickets, and his future may as well depend on who else comes through. This summer seems like a good time to take a closer look at Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson and find out a little more about Ollie Robinson.

Under McCullum and Stokes, England have picked their best XI every match, but perhaps the series against the West Indies and Sri Lanka represent more of a period of exploration. England want to win Test Mon