One can witness how the bowlers run through the batting line-up, taking wickets of everyone from established batsmen to tailenders in no time. Skills like accuracy, variation of pace, extracting bounce, or taking the help of the pitch to turn the ball have made it possible for the bowlers to dominate against the batting side.
There have been many instances wherein the bowler took two five-wicket hauls in the same match. Also, in some matches, a player went on to bag a ten-wicket haul and a five-wicket haul in the same innings. This proves how talented that player is.
Here in this article, we will be focusing on the top 10 instances wherein a bowler took most of the wickets in a single Test match:
# 10. Richard Hadlee (NZ): 15 wickets vs Australia (Brisbane, 1958)
To begin, we have Richard, who is the first person in Test cricket history to take 400 wickets. He had been a genuine fast bowler who could bounce off the pitch and deceive batsmen with his pace.
With New Zealand on an away tour to Australia, they had to put forward their best game in order to perform well. Richard took Andrew’s wicket for a duck in the first innings and then quickly cleaned up the entire batting order. He took the wickets of all the batsmen who could have posed a threat and also two tailenders, bringing his wicket tally to nine in that innings. Vaughan Brown was the only other successful bowler in that innings.
In the second innings of the game, when centurion Greg Matthews was looking to take the game away from the Kiwis, Richard came in and provided that huge breakthrough. In total, he took 6 wickets in the second innings, giving him a match-winning performance of 15 wickets, allowing New Zealand to win by an innings and 41 runs and go one up in the series, which they later won.
# 9. Hedly Verity (Eng): 15 wickets vs Australia (Lord’s, 1934)
Hedly paced with his left arm slowly. He had been instrumental in many of England’s victories during that time, and with an insatiable desire to learn, he kept getting better over the course of his ten-year international career.
It was the second match of the 1934 Ashes, and England elected to bat first. The batsmen made sure that this decision did not go in vain by posting a total of 440. In response, Australia could not reach the follow-on stage, thanks to a wonderful spell bowled by Hedly, who took 7 wickets in the first innings of the match, giving away 61 runs. He improved his performance by scalping eight wickets in the next innings. Overall, he took 15 wickets in the match, helping England win that match by an innings and 38 runs.
# 8. Colin Blythe (Eng): 15 wickets vs South Africa (Leeds, 2007)
Master of slow bowling, we have another slow left-arm pacer hailing from England, Colin. He is seventh on the list of the fastest to 100 Test wickets.
With the first match going for a draw, England, banking on their former strategy of batting first, came out once again. But things did not go their way as they got bowled out for a paltry score of 76 in the first innings. The English side needed a good effort from their best bowler in the team, and Colin stepped up at the right time, taking 8 wickets and preventing South Africa from taking an early lead in that Test match.
England then put up a low total and gave a target of 129 to the visitors. It might have been a cakewalk, it seemed, but it was not to be. Colin Johnson ran through the batting line-up, taking 7 wickets in the second innings of the game, giving away runs at an economy rate of just 1.76, thus helping England win the match by 53 runs and later the series as well.
#7 George Lohmann (Eng): 15 wickets vs South Africa (Port Elizabeth, 1896)
Moving forward, we now talk about the best bowler of old times from England, whose sheer accuracy and the ability to move the ball either way made George Lohmann special and a hard bowler to score against. He holds the record for the fastest player to take 100 Test wickets, which he still holds.
With England asked to bat first, the batsmen put up a modest total of 185 on the board. Well, the pitch had something up there for pacers, and this made it quite easier for George to enhance his skills out there, bowling a magical spell of 7 for 38 runs, which helped the English side keep South Africa under the 100-run barrier.
England came out to bat again and set a tricky target of 319, which was definitely hard considering the form George had. George bowled his second-best spell in Test career history, as he went on to take 8 wickets for the loss of 7 runs, helping England register a massive win of 288 runs with South Africa bowled out just 30 runs.
# 6: John Briggs (Eng): 15 wickets vs. South Africa (Cape Town, 1889)
Every team would want a slow-arm orthodox bowler to be a part of the team, and the English side was quite lucky to have John in their side. He had subtle yet simple action, helping trap many batsmen against him and stopping the flow of runs.
Back in 1889, England, continuing their habit of batting first, took the same decision. The batters put up quite a good score of 292 on the board.
Then came South Africa to bat out; the score might not have been that daunting, yet the Protean team couldn’t pose a challenge against John. He first got the better of Philip Hutchinson, and then there was no stopping for him; he bowled a beautiful spell, taking 7 wickets for the loss of 17 runs.
In the second innings, with South Africa imposing a follow-on, Briggs improved on his performance, taking an eight-fer of his best-ever Test spell bowled. Briggs’ effort helped England register a massive win by an inning and 202 runs.
# 5. Muthiah Muralidaran (SL): 16 wickets vs England (London, 1998)
Murali, as he is affectionately known, is unquestionably a one-generation player. Muthiah has been instrumental in helping Sri Lanka register many of its famous wins. His variations, tricks, and techniques made him able to have many great records besides his name.
In the only test played against England, this Sri Lankan right-arm bowler had some good plans against the not-so-good batsmen against spin play. Arjuna asked England to bat first, to which the English side gave a fitting response by posting a total of 445. Muralidaran was the pick of the bowlers, taking 7 wickets and giving away 155 runs.
Sri Lanka then came out to bat and piled up 591 runs. There was a tough task to carry out then: restrict England to a lower total in the second innings of the game so as to help Sri Lanka win the match. Muthiah did no wrong and pulled off a good effort as he went on to take nine wickets for 65 runs, hence ending the match with his personal best match haul of 16/220 and helping Sri Lanka win the match by 10 wickets.
# 4. Robert Massie (Aus): 16 wickets vs England (Lord’s, 1972)
Next up on the list is a veteran of six matches. Bob Massie was known for producing an impactful spell during his brief international Test career.
Against their archrival, Australia had already lost the first match of the five-match Test series, and they had to win this match to bring out their best game. With England choosing to bat first, Robert made sure that the English side did not post a daunting total by restricting them to 272, with the help of his awesome spell of 8 wickets, giving away 84 runs.
In the second innings of the game, he bowled yet another 8-fer, running through the batting order, bringing his total to 16 wickets in that match. This spell of his helped Australia win the second match of the Test series by 8 wickets.
# 3: Narendra Hirwani (India): 16 wickets vs West Indies (Chennai, 1988)
“The first leg spinner” is what we can refer to Narendra as, for bringing in that leg break and googly together and troubling the batsmen of his era with his mastered skills of spin.
Hirwani made an immediate impact in his first test match, launching his test career. Against West Indies, who were already one ahead in the Test series of 1988 against India, we had to put in a combined effort in order to win the match and end the series in a draw.
India did no wrong; starting with batting first, they piled up 382 runs on the board. In response, Narendra took an eight-wicket haul for 61 runs, limiting the Windies to a score of less than 200. With India giving West Indies a target of 416, it was never going to be easy for the visiting team to win the match, and Hirwani made sure that India won the match easily as he took another 8-wicket haul, thus helping India win by 255 runs.
# 2. Sydney Barnes (Eng): 17 wickets vs South Africa (Johannesburg, 1913)
A legendary right-arm medium-pace bowler who could hit faster speeds as well is the next player on the list. He should rightly be counted among the best cricketing talents ever produced by England. Moreover, he still holds the record of fastest to 150 Test wickets.
England was on an away tour in 1913 against South Africa, who had already lost the first match and had to put up a good effort so as to be alive in the series, but Sydney had different plans altogether. In the first innings of the match, South Africa had elected to bat first, which didn’t turn out to be a good decision because they were bowled out for a paltry score of 160. Barnes took 8 wickets, giving away 56 runs in that innings. He bettered up his performance in the second innings by taking a nine-wicket haul, hence helping England register yet another win in the Test series by an innings and 12 runs.
# 1. Jim Laker (Eng): 19 wickets vs Australia (Manchester, 1956)
Another English bowler makes it onto the list. Jim was a great spinner of his time, and he held many records for a long time. In his Test career, he was victorious 193 times in 46 matches.
Ashes are always special; the thrill and enthusiasm these matches induce are just awesome. It was yet another series wherein there was something special stored for the fans.
It was the fourth match of Australia’s tour of England in 1956, which was an equally poised series then. England chose to bat first and put up a good score of 459. In response, Jim literally dismantled Australia’s batting line-up by taking 9 wickets in the first innings of the game, due to which they got all out for a low score of 80.
England imposed a follow-on against the Australian side, but they couldn’t do much in the second innings of the game as Jim was able to take a record 10-wicket haul in the second innings of the Test match. Hence, he became the first bowler to take 10 wickets in an innings of the game, and in total, he took 19 wickets in the Test match, which is still a record, and this effort helped England register a win by an innings and 170 runs.
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