James Anderson

Now only trails Botham in terms of overall wickets for England after he picked up his 500th wicket today. Botham currently stands at 528 wickets.

Obviously devalued by the amount of cricket played nowadays but his development over the last few years has been massive. The shootout between him and Steyn should be fun to watch.

Why devalued?

How does the number of games compare to Botham's?

T20 wasn't around before, and more cricket in general I'd guess given Anderson could have the record when hes 30. You'd also imagine Broad has a good chance to pass it too.

Anderson has 247 games I think, Botham 218, though Botham has played quite a few more tests

For most wickets taken in all forms of the game in England

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=11;host=1;template=results;type=bowling

jetty thats only in england mate not for england(i got confussed for abit)- but still good to see that jimmy is equal top with botham

Botham took 226 test wickets in 96 innings. 2.35 wickets per innings
Anderson took 173 wickets in 77 innings. 2.25 wickets per innings.

They have a similar economy rate but anderson's strike rate is 1.8 better.

Considering that his form has improved dramatically over the past 2 or so years, you would have to think his current form he is a better bowler now than what Botham was.

I'm not getting into comparisons of players from different times haha

It is inevitable it will be compared.