Rahul Dravid leads the chart with the most number of catches by a fielder in Test cricket. The former Indian cricketer has always been known for his slip catches.
Dravid, who has been used as the occasional wicket-keeper in ODIs by the Indian team, didn’t keep wickets in the longest format. So all his 210 catches came as a fielder.
Graeme Smith (South Africa), who ranks 10th in this chart, is applauded for his least drop percentage among all the cricketers who have played for a long period in this article, which talks about dropped catches. It looks like the South African former captain has missed only 14% of catches that came along his way.
Let’s see the top ten fielders who have caught the most number of catches in Test cricket format.
| FIELDERS | INNINGS | CATCHES | CATCHES/INNS |
|---|---|---|---|
| R Dravid (IND) | 301 | 210 | 0.697 |
| J Root (ENG) | 289 | 207 | 0.716 |
| M Jayawardene (SL) | 270 | 205 | 0.759 |
| S Smith (AUS) | 221 | 200 | 0.904 |
| J Kallis (SA) | 315 | 200 | 0.634 |
| R Ponting (AUS) | 328 | 196 | 0.597 |
| M Waugh (AUS) | 245 | 181 | 0.738 |
| A Cook (ENG) | 300 | 175 | 0.583 |
| S Fleming (NZ) | 199 | 171 | 0.859 |
| G Smith (SA) | 225 | 169 | 0.751 |
You can find the same record in ODI, T20Is, and across formats in our blogs.
Key Stats
If you closely look at this table above, almost every fielder in this chart is a slip fielder.
Along with Dravid, Mahela Jayawardene, Joe Root, Steve Smith and Jacques Kallis are the other fielders to complete 200+ Test catches as fielders. Ricky Ponting came a little close only to end his career at 196 Test catches.
Once again, the Sri Lankan pair Muralitharan-Jayawardene leads as the most successful bowler-fielder combination in Tests by picking up 77 caught wickets among them. Among the current cricketers, Australia’s Lyon-Smith and India’s Ashwin-Rahane are the two pairs to have 25+ wickets among them by catches.
Most catches in a single Test innings is 5 and is achieved by few players.
Most catches in a single Test match is 8 and is achieved by Ajinkya Rahane of India, playing against Sri Lanka at Galle International Stadium, Galle, Sri Lanka, on 12 August 2015.
Most catches in a Test series is 15 catches by John Gregory of Australia in a 5-match Test series against England in 1920-21. KL Rahul of India came so close to this by picking up 14 catches in the 2018 England tour.
Bob Simpson (Australia) is the fastest to hold onto 100 Test catches as a fielder (54 Tests), followed by Ross Taylor (60 Tests). Simpson also has the most number of Test catches in the first 60 Tests by any cricketer. You can check the catchers listed in the quickest order here.
Sachin Tendulkar is the slowest in Test matches to pick 100 catches. He had to wait till his 154th Test to reach the 100 mark.
The first specialist fielder to 100 Test catches was Wally Hammond. He reached the mark in 1939.
Viv Richards took his 100th catch of his career in exactly 100 Tests.
Check: Players with 1000 Runs, 100 Wickets, and 100 Catches!
