Tufnell takes his 1,000th first-class wicket

Phil Tufnell shrugged off any disappointment he might have felt and not gaining a place in the England squad for the Third Test to capture his 1,000th first-class wicket today at Lord's.

He brought up the milestone with the scalp of Martin Love, bowling him for 19 as Durham followed on against Middlesex. Tufnell finished with 5-46 and match figures of 8-87.

Phil DeFreitas, Wasim Akram and Allan Donald are the only other current players to have taken 1,000 first-class wickets, though Devon Malcolm is not far away.

The left-arm spinner made his first-class debut in 1986 as deputy to Phil Edmonds and John Emburey and soon became a regular on the county scene.

1991 is his best season to date, when he took 88 first-class wickets, but with 52 so far this season, 2001 could yet be a year to remember. He hasn't given up hope of adding to his 120 Test victims either.

"I would love to get back into the England team," he confided in his latest CricInfo diary.

And there could be another milestone on the horizon. Although never noted for his batting prowess, Tufnell is approaching the 2,000th first-class run of his career too. As he joked in his CricInfo diary: "I should easily reach the magic 2,000 mark before the end of the 2003 season!"