List Of Bowlers Who Have Taken 300 Or More Wickets In Test Cricket
As of March 2024, former Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan has the highest aggregate with 800 wickets. He also holds the record for the most five-wicket hauls (67) and ten-wicket hauls in a match (22); his 16 wickets for 220 runs against England in 1998 is the fifth-best bowling performance by a player in a match. Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is the fastest to cross the 300-wicket mark (in 54 Tests), while the late West Indian player Malcolm Marshall has the best bowling average (20.94) among those who have achieved the milestone. Fellow West Indian Lance Gibbs is the most economical player with 1.98 runs per over, while South African fast bowler Dale Steyn has the best strike rate of 42.3 balls per wicket. India's Anil Kumble has the second-best bowling figures in an innings (10 wickets for 74 runs against Pakistan in 1999); they are the second-best in the history of Test cricket after English off-spin bowler Jim Laker's 10 for 53 (against Australia in 1956).
In 1990, Richard Hadlee became the first bowler to take 400 Test wickets, whilst in 2001, Courtney Walsh was the first to reach 500 wicket mark. Shane Warne was the first to take both 600 and 700 Test wickets, in 2005 and 2006 respectively. Warne's haul of 96 wickets in 2005 is the highest total in a calendar year, ahead of the 90 wickets taken the following year by Muralidaran, although he played fewer innings.
Key
- Mat. – Number of matches played
- Inn. – Number of innings bowled
- Balls – Balls bowled in career
- Runs – Runs conceded in career
- Wkts – Wickets taken in career
- Ave. – Average runs per wicket
- Econ. – Runs conceded per over
- SR. – Number of balls bowled per wicket taken
- BBI – Best bowling in an innings
- BBM – Best bowling in a match
- 5WI – Five or more wickets in an innings
- 10WM – Ten or more wickets in a match
- Period – Cricketing career of the player
Bowlers with 300 or more Test wickets
- Statistics are correct to 11 March 2024.
- The list is initially sorted by the most wickets taken by a bowler. To sort this table by any statistic, click on the arrows next to the column title.
Denotes players who have been Inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame | |
† | Denotes players who are still active |
No. | Bowler | Type | Team | Mat. | Inn. | Balls | Runs | Wkts | Ave. | Econ. | SR | BBI | BBM | 5WI | 10WM | Period | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Muttiah Muralitharan | Right-arm off break | ![]() |
133 | 230 | 44,039 | 18,180 | 800 | 22.72 | 2.47 | 55.0 | 9/51 | 16/220 | 67 | 22 | 1992–2010 | |
2 | Shane Warne | Right-arm leg break | ![]() |
145 | 273 | 40,705 | 17,995 | 708 | 25.41 | 2.65 | 57.4 | 8/71 | 12/128 | 37 | 10 | 1992–2007 | |
3 | James Anderson † | Right-arm fast-medium | ![]() |
187 | 348 | 39,877 | 18,569 | 700 | 26.52 | 2.79 | 56.9 | 7/42 | 11/71 | 32 | 3 | 2003– | |
4 | Anil Kumble | Right-arm leg break | ![]() |
132 | 236 | 40,850 | 18,355 | 619 | 29.65 | 2.69 | 65.9 | 10/74 | 14/149 | 35 | 8 | 1990–2008 | |
5 | Stuart Broad | Right-arm fast-medium | ![]() |
167 | 309 | 33,698 | 16,719 | 604 | 27.68 | 2.97 | 55.7 | 8/15 | 11/121 | 20 | 3 | 2007–2023 | |
6 | Glenn McGrath | Right arm fast-medium | ![]() |
124 | 243 | 29,248 | 12,186 | 563 | 21.64 | 2.49 | 51.9 | 8/24 | 10/27 | 29 | 3 | 1993–2007 | |
7 | Nathan Lyon † | Right-arm off break | ![]() |
129 | 242 | 32,761 | 16,052 | 530 | 30.28 | 2.93 | 61.8 | 8/50 | 13/154 | 24 | 5 | 2011– | |
8 | Courtney Walsh | Right-arm fast | ![]() |
132 | 242 | 30,019 | 12,688 | 519 | 24.44 | 2.53 | 57.8 | 7/37 | 13/55 | 22 | 3 | 1984–2001 | |
9 | Ravichandran Ashwin † | Right-arm off break | ![]() |
100 | 189 | 26,166 | 12,255 | 516 | 23.75 | 2.81 | 50.7 | 7/59 | 13/140 | 35 | 8 | 2011– | |
10 | Dale Steyn | Right-arm fast | ![]() |
93 | 171 | 18,608 | 10,077 | 439 | 22.95 | 3.24 | 42.3 | 7/51 | 11/60 | 26 | 5 | 2004–2019 | |
11 | Kapil Dev | Right arm fast-medium | ![]() |
131 | 227 | 27,740 | 12,867 | 434 | 29.64 | 2.78 | 63.9 | 9/83 | 11/146 | 23 | 2 | 1978–1994 | |
12 | Rangana Herath | Left-arm off break | ![]() |
93 | 170 | 25,993 | 12,157 | 433 | 28.07 | 2.80 | 60.0 | 9/127 | 14/184 | 34 | 9 | 1999–2018 | |
13 | Richard Hadlee | Right-arm fast | ![]() |
86 | 150 | 21,918 | 9,611 | 431 | 22.29 | 2.63 | 50.8 | 9/52 | 15/123 | 36 | 9 | 1973–1990 | |
14 | Shaun Pollock | Right arm fast-medium | ![]() |
108 | 202 | 24,353 | 9,733 | 421 | 23.11 | 2.39 | 57.8 | 7/87 | 10/147 | 16 | 1 | 1995–2008 | |
15 | Harbhajan Singh | Right-arm off break | ![]() |
103 | 190 | 28,580 | 13,537 | 417 | 32.46 | 2.84 | 68.5 | 8/84 | 15/217 | 25 | 5 | 1998–2015 | |
16 | Wasim Akram | Left-arm fast | ![]() |
104 | 181 | 22,627 | 9,779 | 414 | 23.62 | 2.59 | 54.6 | 7/119 | 11/110 | 25 | 5 | 1985–2002 | |
17 | Curtly Ambrose | Right-arm fast | ![]() |
98 | 179 | 22,103 | 8,501 | 405 | 20.99 | 2.30 | 54.5 | 8/45 | 11/84 | 22 | 3 | 1988–2000 | |
18 | Makhaya Ntini | Right-arm fast | ![]() |
101 | 190 | 20,834 | 11,242 | 390 | 28.82 | 3.23 | 53.4 | 7/37 | 13/132 | 18 | 4 | 1998–2009 | |
19 | Ian Botham | Right-arm fast-medium | ![]() |
102 | 168 | 21,815 | 10,878 | 383 | 28.40 | 2.99 | 56.9 | 8/34 | 13/106 | 27 | 4 | 1977–1992 | |
20 | Tim Southee † | Right-arm fast-medium | ![]() |
100 | 190 | 22,614 | 11,255 | 380 | 29.61 | 2.98 | 59.5 | 7/64 | 10/108 | 15 | 1 | 2008– | |
21 | Malcolm Marshall | Right-arm fast | ![]() |
81 | 151 | 17,584 | 7,876 | 376 | 20.94 | 2.68 | 46.7 | 7/22 | 11/89 | 22 | 4 | 1978–1991 | |
22 | Waqar Younis | Right-arm fast | ![]() |
87 | 154 | 16,224 | 8,788 | 373 | 23.56 | 3.25 | 43.4 | 7/76 | 13/135 | 22 | 5 | 1989–2003 | |
23 | Imran Khan | Right-arm fast | ![]() |
88 | 142 | 19,458 | 8,258 | 362 | 22.81 | 2.54 | 53.7 | 8/58 | 14/116 | 23 | 6 | 1971–1992 | |
Daniel Vettori | Left-arm off break | ![]() |
113 | 187 | 28,814 | 12,441 | 362 | 34.36 | 2.59 | 79.5 | 7/87 | 12/149 | 20 | 3 | 1997–2015 | ||
25 | Mitchell Starc † | Left-arm fast | ![]() |
89 | 170 | 17,417 | 9,932 | 358 | 27.74 | 3.42 | 48.6 | 6/50 | 11/94 | 14 | 2 | 2010– | |
26 | Dennis Lillee | Right-arm fast | ![]() |
70 | 132 | 18,467 | 8,493 | 355 | 23.92 | 2.75 | 52.0 | 7/83 | 11/123 | 23 | 7 | 1971–1984 | |
Chaminda Vaas | Left-arm fast medium | ![]() |
111 | 194 | 23,438 | 10,501 | 355 | 29.58 | 2.68 | 66.0 | 7/71 | 14/191 | 12 | 2 | 1994–2009 | ||
28 | Allan Donald | Right-arm fast | ![]() |
72 | 129 | 15,519 | 7,344 | 330 | 22.25 | 2.83 | 47.0 | 8/71 | 12/139 | 20 | 3 | 1992–2002 | |
29 | Bob Willis | Right-arm fast | ![]() |
90 | 165 | 17,357 | 8,190 | 325 | 25.20 | 2.83 | 53.4 | 8/43 | 9/92 | 16 | 0 | 1971–1984 | |
30 | Trent Boult † | Left-arm fast-medium | ![]() |
78 | 149 | 17,417 | 8,717 | 317 | 27.49 | 3.00 | 54.9 | 6/30 | 10/80 | 10 | 1 | 2011– | |
31 | Mitchell Johnson | Left-arm fast | ![]() |
73 | 140 | 16,001 | 8,891 | 313 | 28.40 | 3.33 | 51.1 | 8/61 | 12/127 | 12 | 3 | 2007–2015 | |
32 | Zaheer Khan | Left-arm fast-medium | ![]() |
92 | 165 | 18,785 | 10,247 | 311 | 32.94 | 3.27 | 60.4 | 7/87 | 10/149 | 11 | 1 | 2000–2014 | |
Ishant Sharma † | Right-arm fast-medium | ![]() |
105 | 188 | 19,160 | 10,078 | 311 | 32.40 | 3.15 | 61.6 | 7/74 | 10/108 | 11 | 1 | 2007– | ||
34 | Brett Lee | Right-arm fast | ![]() |
76 | 150 | 16,531 | 9,554 | 310 | 30.81 | 3.46 | 53.3 | 5/30 | 9/171 | 10 | 0 | 1999–2008 | |
35 | Lance Gibbs | Right arm off break | ![]() |
79 | 148 | 27,115 | 8,989 | 309 | 29.09 | 1.98 | 87.7 | 8/38 | 11/157 | 18 | 2 | 1958–1976 | |
Morné Morkel | Right-arm fast | ![]() |
86 | 160 | 16,498 | 8,550 | 309 | 27.66 | 3.10 | 53.3 | 6/23 | 9/110 | 8 | 0 | 2006–2018 | ||
37 | Fred Trueman | Right-arm fast | ![]() |
67 | 127 | 15,178 | 6,625 | 307 | 21.57 | 2.61 | 49.4 | 8/31 | 12/119 | 17 | 3 | 1952–1965 | |
Last Updated: 11 March 2024 |
By team
Team | Players with 300+ wickets |
---|---|
![]() |
7 |
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6 |
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5 |
![]() | |
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4 |
![]() |
4 |
![]() |
3 |
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3 |
Total | 37 |
See also
- List of Test cricket records
- List of bowlers who have taken 300 or more wickets in One Day International cricket