Once Anderson surpasses my record, it will never be beaten - McGrath

Glenn McGrath, the former Australian pacer, noted once James Anderson breaks his record for most wickets in Tests by a fast bowler (563), it will "never be beaten". Anderson, the England pace spearhead, who has bagged 557 scalps so far, has a chance to go past the legendary pacer's record in the Southampton Test against India, starting on Thursday (August 30).

"Records are nice and I've been very proud to have taken more wickets than any fast bowler in Test history, but any high is there to be beaten and I will be equally proud of Jimmy when he goes past me because the fast bowlers' union has to stick together, whichever country we come from," McGrath told Sportsmail.

"It is only a matter of time now before he gets there and I will be getting in touch with him as soon as he does to say well done. I have an awful lot of respect for Jimmy. Good luck to him. I believe once he goes past me he will never be beaten," he added.

What makes him a tough proposition for the batsmen is that Anderson can swing it both ways without any discernible change in his action. McGrath lauded Anderson's ability to generate swing with control and in terms of conventional swing, he compared the Lancastrian with the legendary Wasim Akram.

"I've always said Jimmy was class, ever since I played against him in what became my last Test series in 2006-07. I noted how he swung the ball both ways conventionally, because it's a real art form. Not many have been able to do that. I can only really think of Wasim Akram, who is another great of the game, who could do that as skilfully," he said.

Over a period time, Anderson has also developed his game to succeed away from home, evidenced by the fact that he has added reverse swing and the 'wobble ball' to his repertoire. In the last eight years, he has also bagged 144 Test wickets at 28.57 away from home.

"When the ball is swinging he's as good as anyone out there, but when it isn't he comes back towards the pack a little bit. That was certainly the case early in his career but he's developed his skills as he's gone on and become much more effective overseas. When Jimmy plays at home with the Dukes ball he's second to none, but he has had to learn how to operate overseas with the Kookaburra ball that, to me, is not nearly as good to bowl with.

"It took him a while but he's done that now. Once Jimmy goes past me it will be interesting to see where he wants to set the bar. With the nature of the game these days, and the amount of Twenty20 cricket, I believe no fast bowler will ever go past him," he noted.

Anderson, who played his first Test way back against Zimbabwe at Lord's in 2003, has displayed remarkable fitness to play 141 Tests. He has bowled 31,065 balls, the most number of balls delivered by a pacer in the history of Test cricket.

"Being a fast bowler is the toughest job in the game and people do not see the hard work off the field that goes into spending as much time at the top as Jimmy has. We put ourselves through a lot more pain than anyone else.

"So for Anderson to still be at the top of his game after 15 years in international cricket and with so many overs under his belt just shows his work ethic and his physical and mental strength," McGrath reckoned.

The former fast bowler also tipped Anderson to reach the 600-wicket mark in Tests and surpass Anil Kumble's tally of 619 wickets. "So can Anderson get somewhere close to the three great spinners above me in the all-time wickets table? I reckon that once he's knocked my tally off the next goal will be 600 wickets and that would be an incredible feat.

"Then you have Anil Kumble on 619 which is feasible but I'm not sure how close Jimmy can get to Shane Warne on 708 or Muttiah Muralitharan on 800. Even someone as great as Anderson will find that a bit of a struggle."