England vs New Zealand: James Anderson equals Alastair Cook in elite Test record

The first Test between New Zealand and England, which underwent on Wednesday at Lord's, was Anderson's 161st appearance for England in the whites. Cook, who played for England between 2006 and 2018, also featured in 161 Tests for the England national team.

Anderson made his Test debut at Lord's against Zimbabwe in May 2003, three years before Cook played his maiden Test. Anderson's Test debut was a success as he had claimed a five-wicket haul and helped the hosts win the game by an innings and 92 runs.

Interestingly, Cook went on to captain Anderson in as many as 49 Tests.

Anderson will add to his tally of 161 Tests as England are set to play two-match Test series against New Zealand before hosting India in a five-match series. The Ashes follows at the end of the year.

"For a bowler to play this amount of games, I don't know what the word is, but it's a bit mind-blowing to me," said Anderson who appeared with his England teammates in the LV= Insurance launch video 'In With Heart' celebrating England's cricket community, according to ESPNcricinfo.

Anderson, who has 614 wickets in 160 Tests, has 992 wickets to his name in First-Class cricket. If the English pacer has a great summer, he can certainly touch the 1000-mark in First-Class.

"It's a lot of wickets and in this day and age, I don't know if it's possible to get that many First-Class wickets anymore. With the amount of cricket that's played there doesn't seem to be that longevity in bowlers and there's loads of T20 cricket and whatever else going on around the world. I'm just happy to still be here, to be honest.

It does make me feel proud. I never imagined in a million years I'd get to this point. I don't feel like I've played that many games. My body doesn't feel old or tired. I just absolutely love Test cricket, I've got a huge passion for it. Growing up, all I wanted to do is play Test cricket for England and I'm honoured I've been able to do it for this long," added Anderson, who has also played 200-plus limited-overs games for England (T20Is+ODIs).

Ahead of the first Test against New Zealand, Anderson had said he hopes to play all the seven Tests this summer.

"I'd love to play all seven Tests this summer. There are five Tests against India after these two Tests against New Zealand, and then the Ashes after that. So, we want to start this summer well. So hopefully, if we do pick our strongest team we (Anderson and Stuart Broad) would like to think that we're both in that. And we'd love to share the new ball together, yes," added Anderson in an interview recently.