Most Test Wickets for South Africa
| Player | Matches | Innings | Wickets | Average | 5W/10W |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dale Steyn | 93 | 171 | 439 | 22.95 | 26/5 |
| Shaun Pollock | 108 | 202 | 421 | 23.11 | 16/1 |
| Makhaya Ntini | 101 | 190 | 390 | 28.82 | 18/4 |
| Kagiso Rabada | 73 | 134 | 340 | 22.03 | 17/4 |
| Allan Donald | 72 | 129 | 330 | 22.25 | 20/3 |
| Morne Morkel | 86 | 160 | 309 | 27.66 | 8/0 |
| Jacques Kallis | 165 | 270 | 291 | 32.63 | 5/0 |
| Vernon Philander | 64 | 119 | 224 | 22.32 | 13/2 |
| Keshav Maharaj | 60 | 102 | 212 | 29.20 | 12/1 |
| Hugh Tayfield | 37 | 61 | 170 | 25.91 | 14/2 |
Key Insights on Leading Wicket Takers in South Africa’s Test History
Dominance of Dale Steyn and Pacers’ Pace
Dale Steyn has picked up the most wickets for South Africa in Tests, with 439 scalps to his name.
Steyn’s tally included 26 five-wicket hauls and five ten-wicket hauls, the most by a South African bowler in Tests.
Steyn needed 80 innings to pick up his 400th wicket, the joint third fastest by any bowler in Tests. He is also the joint-quickest to 400 Test scalps among pacers.
305 of Steyn’s wickets came in wins, the most for South Africa in Tests. No other South African bowler has 300-plus wickets in Test wins.
261 of Steyn’s wickets came in South Africa, the most by a Proteas bowler at home in Tests. 74 of those scalps at Newlands, Cape Town, the most at a single venue by a South African bowler.
Elite Performance and All-Rounder Achievements
Shaun Pollock picked up 186 of his 421 wickets outside South Africa, the most for South Africa in away Tests.
Pollock grabbed 103 of his career wickets while leading the Proteas, making it the most by a South African Test captain.
Pollock has grabbed the most Test wickets against a team among South Africans, having taken 91 scalps in 42 innings against England.
Shaun Pollock is one of only six all-rounders in Test cricket history to aggregate over 3,000 runs and take 400 or more wickets.
Want to see where Pollock ranks among the game’s greats? Find out who we named the top ten Test all-rounders of all time.
Former right-arm pacer Neil Adcock has the best bowling average for South Africa in Tests, averaging 21.10 while taking 104 wickets in 46 innings (minimum 5000 balls bowled).
Kagiso Rabada is the only South African bowler to strike a wicket below 40 in Tests (minimum 5000 balls bowled).
Allan Donald snared the most Test wickets among South Africans in a calendar year, returning with 80 victims in 1998. This is the second-most wickets by a pacer and, overall, the fourth most by any bowler in a year in Tests.
Spin Records and Match-Winning Feats
Keshav Maharaj is the only spinner to take more than 200 wickets for South Africa in the longer format. Hugh Tayfield (170), Paul Adams (134), Paul Harris (103), and Nicky Boje (100) are the other South African tweakers with 100-plus Test scalps. Find out spinners with 300+ Test wickets .
Maharaj’s Test five-wicket hauls are only bettered by Tayfield (14) among the Proteas spinners. Tayfield, Maharaj, and Adams are the only spinners with at least one ten-wicket haul for South Africa in Tests.
Tayfield picked up 37 wickets in the 1956/57 home series against England, the most by a South African bowler in a bilateral Test series.
The best bowling figures in a Test innings by a South African belong to Tayfield, as he returned with 9 for 113 in the fourth innings against England in the 1957 Johannesburg Test. His spell helped South Africa win the Test by 17 runs.
Maharaj is the other South African bowler to grab a nine-wicket haul in Tests – 9 for 129 against Sri Lanka in 2018.
Makhaya Ntini has registered the best Test match haul among the Proteas bowlers, having taken 13 wickets for 132 runs against the West Indies in the 2005 Port of Spain Test.
Also Read: Most Test Centuries for South Africa
