It takes a lot of determination for bowlers to skittle all 20 wickets of the opposition in Tests. However, some bowlers are built differently, equipped with the skills and temperament to pick wickets aplenty.
In that process, many bowlers breach milestone after milestone, surpassing their peers to reign supreme in the longer format.
Here, in this article, we’ll look at the bowlers who have been the fastest to 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, and 800 wickets in Test cricket.
Fastest to 100 Wickets in Test
| Bowler | Matches to 100 Wickets | Time Taken |
|---|---|---|
| George Lohmann (ENG) | 16 | 9y 241d |
| Charlie Turner (AUS) | 17 | 8y 4d |
| Sydney Barnes (ENG) | 17 | 10y 72d |
| Clarrie Grimmett (AUS) | 17 | 5y 323d |
| Yasir Shah (PAK) | 17 | 1y 357d |
| Ravichandran Ashwin (IND) | 18 | 2y 8d |
| Colin Blythe (ENG) | 19 | 8y 88d |
| Alf Valentine (WI) | 19 | 3y 261d |
| Andy Roberts (WI) | 19 | 2y 138d |
| Ian Botham (ENG) | 19 | 2y 5d |
Key Insights
16: England’s George Lohmann holds the record for being the fastest bowler to pick up 100 wickets in Tests. The former medium pacer took 16 matches to reach the milestone. And he has held this record since 1896!
10.75: Apart from this, Lohmann boasts the best bowling average in this format among the bowlers with 100+ wickets. He averages 10.75 with the red ball, scalping 112 wickets.
23 & 1y 250d: Australia’s Mitchell Johnson and England’s Graeme Swann coincidentally took 23 matches and 1 year 250 days each to complete 100 wickets in Tests. Moreover, both bowlers take the top spot for being the fastest to 100 scalps in terms of time taken (1 y 250d).
17: Australia’s Clarrie Grimmett, who took 17 matches to reach 100 wickets, is the fastest among the spinners.
Fastest to 200 Wickets in Test
| Bowler | Matches to 200 Wickets | Time Taken |
|---|---|---|
| Yasir Shah (PAK) | 33 | 4y 42d |
| Clarrie Grimmett (AUS) | 36 | 10y 353d |
| Ravichandran Ashwin (IND) | 37 | 4y 321d |
| Dennis Lillee (AUS) | 38 | 9y 3d |
| Waqar Younis (PAK) | 38 | 6y 23d |
| Dale Steyn (SA) | 39 | 5y 175d |
| Ian Botham (ENG) | 41 | 4y 30d |
| Stuart MacGill (AUS) | 41 | 9y 282d |
| Malcolm Marshall (WI) | 42 | 7y 82d |
| Shane Warne (AUS) | 42 | 3y 340d |
Key Insights
33: Yasir Shah, who took 100 wickets in 17 matches, doubled his wicket tally in the next 16 matches. With the 200-wicket mark past him in 33 matches, he became the fastest bowler to grab 200 wickets in the Test format.
82: In that process, Shah broke the reign of Grimmett, who held the record for close to 83 years. Grimmett claimed the top spot from February 1936 to December 2018.
38: Dennis Lillee and Waqar Younis are the joint fastest to 200 Test wickets among pacers, with both achieving the mark in 38 matches. Lillee went past the mark in 1980, while Younis equalled Lillee’s feat in 1995.
3y 340d: Shane Warne may have taken 42 matches to 200 wickets, but he reached the landmark in record time. He took 3 years and 340 days, which is the least time taken by a bowler to pick up 200 wickets.
Fastest to 300 Wickets in Test
| Bowler | Matches to 300 Wickets | Time Taken |
|---|---|---|
| Ravichandran Ashwin (IND) | 54 | 6y 18d |
| Dennis Lillee (AUS) | 56 | 10y 302d |
| Muthiah Muralidaran (SL) | 58 | 8y 120d |
| Richard Hadlee (NZ) | 61 | 13y 19d |
| Malcolm Marshall (WI) | 61 | 10y 9d |
| Dale Steyn (SA) | 61 | 8y 16d |
| Shane Warne (AUS) | 63 | 6y 0d |
| Allan Donald (SA) | 63 | 8y 213d |
| Glenn McGrath (AUS) | 64 | 7y 19d |
| Fred Trueman (ENG) | 65 | 12y 69d |
Key Insights
54: India’s supreme spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin, carved his way to become the fastest to 300 wickets in Tests. The offie went from 200 to 300 scalps in 17 matches and attained the feat in 54 matches.
36: Ashwin went past Dennis Lillee, who occupied the top spot for over 36 years. However, Lillee remains the quickest to 300 wickets among fast bowlers, with 56 matches.
6y: Shane Warne, Australia’s greatest spinner, grabbed 300 Test wickets in exactly 6 years, making him the fastest in terms of time taken. Warne made his Test debut on 2 January 1992, and he completed 300 wickets on 2 January 1998.
Fastest to 400 Wickets in Test
| Bowler | Matches to 400 Wickets | Time Taken |
|---|---|---|
| Muthiah Muralidaran (SL) | 72 | 9y 137d |
| Ravichandran Ashwin (IND) | 77 | 9y 110d |
| Richard Hadlee (NZ) | 80 | 17y 0d |
| Dale Steyn (SA) | 80 | 10y 225d |
| Rangana Herath (SL) | 84 | 18y 6d |
| Anil Kumble (IND) | 85 | 14y 58d |
| Glenn McGrath (AUS) | 87 | 8y 341d |
| Shane Warne (AUS) | 92 | 9y 233d |
| Wasim Akram (PAK) | 96 | 15y 141d |
| Harbhajan Singh (IND) | 96 | 13y 103d |
Key Insights
72: Now, hereafter, Sri Lanka’s spin magician, Muthiah Muralidaran, rules the roost. In 2002, Muralidaran became the fastest bowler to pluck 400 Test wickets. He went past the milestone in 72 Test matches.
12: With that, he shattered Richard Hadlee’s 1990 record of taking 80 matches for picking up 400 wickets. However, Hadlee was the first bowler to breach the 400-wicket mark in the longer format.
9y 110d: Ashwin was quite close to toppling Muralidaran’s record in terms of matches, but he took 5 more matches. However, he was successful in reaching 400 wickets in a record time of 9 years and 110 days.
Fastest to 500 Wickets in Test
| Bowler | Matches to 500 Wickets | Time Taken |
|---|---|---|
| Muthiah Muralidaran (SL) | 87 | 11y 201d |
| Ravichandran Ashwin (IND) | 98 | 12y 101d |
| Anil Kumble (IND) | 105 | 15y 212d |
| Shane Warne (AUS) | 108 | 12y 66d |
| Glenn McGrath (AUS) | 110 | 11y 251d |
| Nathan Lyon (AUS) | 123 | 12y 105d |
| Courtney Walsh (WI) | 129 | 16y 128d |
| James Anderson (ENG) | 129 | 14y 108d |
| Stuart Broad (ENG) | 140 | 12y 228d |
Key Insights
87: Muralidaran took just 87 matches to claim 500 wickets, whereas other bowlers of the 500-wicket club took more than 100 matches. Murali’s extraordinary feat earned him the tag of the fastest bowler to 500 Test wickets.
11y 201d: Moreover, he is also the fastest in terms of time taken to go past the 500-wicket mark.
1: Former West Indies speedster Courtney Walsh became the first bowler to grab 500 wickets in the format. He achieved the mark in March 2001 in 129 matches.
1000: The English duo of James Anderson and Stuart Broad and the Australian duo of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath are the only 2 pairs that have taken 1000+ wickets while bowling together in Tests. Moreover, Anderson and Broad is the only pair where both bowlers have claimed 500 wickets each while bowling in tandem.
Fastest to 600 Wickets in Test
| Bowler | Matches to 600 Wickets | Time Taken |
|---|---|---|
| Muthiah Muralidaran (SL) | 101 | 13y 192d |
| Anil Kumble (IND) | 124 | 17y 160d |
| Shane Warne (AUS) | 126 | 13y 221d |
| James Anderson (ENG) | 156 | 17y 91d |
| Stuart Broad (ENG) | 166 | 15y 222d |
Key Insights
101: Muralidaran pocketed his next 100 scalps in just 14 matches, completing the 600 wicket tally in 101 Tests.
1: However, Warne was the first bowler to reach 600 wickets 7 months earlier than Muralidaran in August 2005.
Fastest to 700 Wickets in Test
| Bowler | Matches to 700 Wickets | Time Taken |
|---|---|---|
| Muthiah Muralidaran (SL) | 113 | 14y 317d |
| Shane Warne (AUS) | 144 | 14y 358d |
| James Anderson (ENG) | 187 | 20y 290d |
Key Insights
2: Muralidaran and Warne — 2 of the finest spinners — are the only 2 tweakers to go past this milestone. And it’s highly unlikely any other spinner will come close to this mark.
Fastest to 800 Wickets in Test
| Bowler | Matches to 800 Wickets | Time Taken |
|---|---|---|
| Muthiah Muralidaran (SL) | 133 | 17y 324d |
Key Insights
1: Muralidaran is the only bowler to ever pick up 800 wickets in the longer format. And there’s no doubt he will remain the only one to do so in the history of cricket.
17y 324d: The spin master started his career in 1992 and ended with his 800th scalp in 2010. It took him 17 years and 324 days to attain the greatest record and sit at the top of the wickets tally in Tests, after so much struggle and scrutiny.
