In the Test format, bowlers have to toil hard and help their team grab the 20 wickets of their opposition. However, some bowlers have the knack for picking up wickets at crucial points consistently, and that too at their favourable venues.
But have you ever wondered which bowler has bagged the most wickets at a single venue? Well, in this article, let’s look at the top 10 instances of bowlers picking up the most wickets at a single venue.
Most Test Wickets at a Single Venue (By Bowlers)
| Player | Matches | Wickets | Avg | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muthiah Muralidaran (SL) | 24 | 166 | 20.69 | Sinhalese Sports Club Ground |
| James Anderson (ENG) | 29 | 123 | 24.81 | Lord’s Cricket Ground |
| Muthiah Muralidaran (SL) | 16 | 117 | 16.02 | Asgiriya Stadium |
| Stuart Broad (ENG) | 28 | 113 | 27.66 | Lord’s Cricket Ground |
| Muthiah Muralidaran (SL) | 15 | 111 | 18.50 | Galle International Stadium |
| Rangana Herath (SL) | 19 | 102 | 24.94 | Galle International Stadium |
| Rangana Herath (SL) | 14 | 84 | 25.48 | Sinhalese Sports Club Ground |
| Heath Streak (ZIM) | 19 | 83 | 23.13 | Harare Sports Club |
| Dennis Lillee (AUS) | 14 | 82 | 21.92 | Melbourne Cricket Ground |
| Chaminda Vaas (SL) | 21 | 80 | 25.05 | Sinhalese Sports Club Ground |
Key Insights
166: As you can see, most of the top 10 instances belong to Sri Lankan bowlers, with 2 of them being top spinners. However, Muthiah Muralidaran has racked up the most Test wickets at a single venue. He has 166 wickets under his belt at Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) Ground in Colombo.
2: Galle International Stadium and Lord’s Cricket Ground are the only 2 venues where 2 bowlers each have picked up 100+ wickets. Muralidaran and Rangana Herath have grabbed over 100 wickets at Galle Stadium, while James Anderson and Stuart Broad have done so at the iconic Lord’s.
Also Read | Why James Anderson and Stuart Broad Never Played in IPL?
229: The number of wickets taken by Muralidaran and Chaminda Vaas while bowling as a pair. The star Sri Lankan spinner picked up 149 wickets, and Vaas took 80 wickets while bowling in tandem from 1996 to 2009 at SSC Ground.
3: Muralidaran has also picked up the most Test five-wicket hauls at a particular venue. He has 14 five-wicket hauls at SSC, Colombo, and he didn’t stop there.
His bowling excellence was also on display at Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy and Galle Stadium, where he bagged 11 five-fors each at both venues. And he is the only bowler to pick up more than 10 five-wicket hauls at any venue. Crazy, isn’t it?
8837: Murali’s love affair with SSC, Colombo, doesn’t end there. The off-spinner, who holds many records, bowled a staggering 8837 deliveries while donning the Sri Lankan white jersey, the most by any bowler at any ground.
