8. James Anderson (England) – 41 wickets
World’s premiere swing bowler; James Anderson had a bitter-sweet 2016. He had a very average series in South Africa but he made Sri Lanka pay for his misery in the rainbow-nation. Jimmy shook Sri Lanka’s batting as he scalped 21 wickets in 6 innings with three five-fers and a ten-fer to his credit. Then injury forced him out of the first Test against Pakistan. He returned but could only take 9 wickets in 3 Tests, which isn’t quite the ‘Jimmy standard.’
Then Anderson again got injured, missed the Bangladesh Tests and was forced out of the first Test against India. He returned in second Test, had an immediate impact in Visakhapatnam with triple-strikes on day one. But after that, he could only take a wicket in the next four innings before he got injured yet again that ruled him out of the fifth Test.
