When it comes to bowling with the red cherry in the hand, it becomes even more challenging. The bowlers don’t have to just bowl; they have to beat the batters and take all 20 wickets of the opponent.
Test cricket, the longest format of the game, requires top-notch skills, mental resilience, and physical endurance. Playing over 5 days might seem easy, but it isn’t.
It becomes hard to beat teams that possess bowlers with such capabilities. In this article, I will list the top 10 bowlers with the most wickets in Test cricket history.
You can also find the same list for ODIs and Tests in our respective blogs.
Most Wickets in Test Cricket
| Player | Matches | Innings | Wickets | BBI | Avg | Econ | SR | 5/10 Wicket Hauls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muthiah Muralitharan (SL) | 133 | 230 | 800 | 9/51 | 22.72 | 2.47 | 55.04 | 67/22 |
| Shane Warne (AUS) | 145 | 273 | 708 | 8/71 | 25.41 | 2.65 | 57.49 | 37/10 |
| James Anderson (ENG) | 188 | 350 | 704 | 7/42 | 26.45 | 2.79 | 56.87 | 32/3 |
| Anil Kumble (IND) | 132 | 236 | 619 | 10/74 | 29.65 | 2.69 | 65.99 | 35/8 |
| Stuart Broad (ENG) | 167 | 309 | 604 | 8/15 | 27.68 | 2.97 | 55.79 | 20/3 |
| Glenn McGrath (AUS) | 124 | 243 | 563 | 8/24 | 21.64 | 2.49 | 51.95 | 29/3 |
| Nathan Lyon (AUS) | 136 | 253 | 553 | 8/50 | 30.19 | 2.93 | 61.66 | 24/5 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin (IND) | 106 | 200 | 537 | 7/59 | 24.00 | 2.83 | 50.73 | 37/8 |
| Courtney Walsh (WI) | 132 | 242 | 519 | 7/37 | 24.44 | 2.53 | 57.84 | 22/3 |
| Dale Steyn (SA) | 93 | 171 | 439 | 7/51 | 22.95 | 3.24 | 42.38 | 26/5 |
More Test Career Records
Key insights from the above stats
1039: The number of Test wickets taken by James Anderson and Stuart Broad while playing together in 138 Tests. This is the highest by a bowling duo, followed by Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath with 1001 wickets in 104 matches.
8: The number of players who have picked more than 500 Test wickets. Nathan Lyon is the latest entry to this elite list.
67 & 22: Sri Lanka’s charismatic spinner, Muthiah Muralitharan, has picked the most 5-wicket and 10-wicket hauls in Test cricket. He has 67 5-wicket hauls and 22 10-wicket hauls to his name.
300: More than 37 bowlers have taken 300+ wickets in Test cricket.
Among the active players, James Anderson tops the list, followed by the off-spin greats – Nathan Lyon and Ravichandran Ashwin.
10: India’s former leg spinner Anil Kumble became the second bowler to pick up 10 wickets in an innings of a test match. He achieved this feat against arch-rival Pakistan in 1999. Moreover, Kumble’s bowling figures of 10 for 74 are the second-best after Jim Laker’s 10 for 53.
