List of bowlers who have taken 300 or more wickets in Test cricket

Muttiah Muralitharan has captured the highest number of wickets in Test cricket.^[1]

Taking 300 or more wickets across a playing career is considered a significant achievement in Test cricket.^[2][3][4] The feat, first accomplished by Englishman Fred Trueman in 1964,^[5] has only been achieved by thirty-three players in the history of the game as of October 2018. Six players from Australia, five each from India, England and South Africa; four from the West Indies; three each from Pakistan and Sri Lanka; and two from New Zealand have crossed the 300-wicket mark in Tests. Bangladesh and Zimbabwe are yet to see a Test player reach the 300 mark.^[6]

As of October 2018, former Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan has the highest aggregate with 800 wickets.^[6] 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.^[7][8][9] Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is the fastest to cross the 300-wicket mark (54 Tests), while the late West Indian player Malcolm Marshall has the best bowling average (20.94) among those who have achieved the milestone.^[10] 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 42.0 balls per wicket.^[6] India's Anil Kumble has the 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 cricketer Jim Laker's 10 for 53 (against Australia in 1956).^[11]

Key

Bowlers with 300 or more Test wickets

• The list is initially arranged by the most number of wickets taken by a bowler. To sort this table by any statistic, click on the applicable header box beside (not on) the column title.

Bowlers who have taken 300 or more wickets in Test cricket^[6]

No.	Bowler	Team	Mat.	Inn.	Balls	Runs	Wkt	Ave.	Econ.	SR.	BBI	BBM	5wl	10wl	Period	Ref(s)
1	Muttiah Muralitharan^	Sri Lanka	133	230	44,039	18,180	800	22.72	2.47	55.0	9/51	16/220	67	22	1992–2010	[1][12]
2	Shane Warne^	Australia	145	273	40,705	17,995	708	25.41	2.65	57.4	8/71	12/128	37	10	1992–2007	[13][14]
3	Anil Kumble^	India	132	236	40,850	18,355	619	29.65	2.69	65.9	10/74	14/149	35	8	1990–2008	[15][16]
4	James Anderson	England	143	267	31,500	15,140	564	26.84	2.88	55.8	7/42	11/71	26	3	2003–present	[17]
5	Glenn McGrath^	Australia	124	243	29,248	12,186	563	21.64	2.49	51.9	8/24	10/27	29	3	1993–2007	[18][19]
6	Courtney Walsh^	West Indies	132	242	30,019	12,688	519	24.44	2.53	57.8	7/37	13/55	22	3	1984–2001	[20][21]
7	Kapil Dev^	India	131	227	27,740	12,867	434	29.64	2.78	63.9	9/83	11/146	23	2	1978–1994	[22]
8	Stuart Broad	England	123	225	25,257	12,525	433	28.92	2.97	58.3	8/15	11/121	16	2	2007–present	[23]
9	Richard Hadlee^	New Zealand	86	150	21,918	9,611	431	22.29	2.63	50.8	9/52	15/123	36	9	1973–1990	[24]
10	Rangana Herath	Sri Lanka	92	168	25,704	12,022	430	27.96	2.81	59.8	9/127	14/184	34	9	1999–present	[25][26]
11	Dale Steyn	South Africa	88	161	17,707	9,533	421	22.64	3.23	42.0	7/51	11/60	26	5	2004–present	[27][28]
	Shaun Pollock	South Africa	108	202	24,353	9,733	421	23.11	2.39	57.8	7/87	10/147	16	1	1995–2008	[29]
13	Harbhajan Singh	India	103	190	28,580	13,537	417	32.46	2.84	68.5	8/84	15/217	25	5	1998–present	[30]
14	Wasim Akram^	Pakistan	104	181	22,627	9,779	414	23.62	2.59	54.6	7/119	11/110	25	5	1985–2002	[31][32]
15	Curtly Ambrose^	West Indies	98	179	22,103	8,501	405	20.99	2.30	54.5	8/45	11/84	22	3	1980–2000	[33]
16	Makhaya Ntini	South Africa	101	190	20,834	11,242	390	28.82	3.23	53.4	7/37	13/132	18	4	1998–2009	[34]
17	Ian Botham^	England	102	160	21,815	10,878	383	28.40	2.99	56.9	8/34	13/106	27	4	1977–1992	[35]
18	Malcolm Marshall^	West Indies	81	151	17,584	7,876	376	20.94	2.68	46.7	7/22	11/89	22	4	1978–1991	[36]
19	Waqar Younis^	Pakistan	87	154	16,224	8,788	373	23.56	3.25	43.4	7/76	13/135	22	5	1989–2003	[37][38]
20	Imran Khan^	Pakistan	88	142	19,458	8,258	362	22.81	2.54	53.7	8/58	14/116	23	6	1971–1992	[39]
	Daniel Vettori	New Zealand	113	187	28,814	12,441	362	34.36	2.59	79.5	7/87	12/149	20	3	1997–2015	[2][40][41]
22	Dennis Lillee^	Australia	70	132	18,467	8,493	355	23.92	2.75	52.0	7/83	11/123	23	7	1971–1984	[42]
	Chaminda Vaas	Sri Lanka	111	194	23,438	10,501	355	29.58	2.68	66.0	7/71	14/191	12	2	1994–2009	[43]
24	Allan Donald^	South Africa	72	129	15,519	7,344	330	22.25	2.83	47.0	8/71	12/139	20	3	1992–2002	[44]
25	Ravichandran Ashwin	India	62	116	17,471	8,370	327	25.59	2.87	53.4	7/59	13/140	26	7	2011–present	[45]
26	Bob Willis	England	90	165	17,357	8,190	325	25.20	2.83	53.4	8/43	9/92	16	0	1971–1984	[46]
27	Mitchell Johnson	Australia	73	150	16,001	8,891	313	28.40	3.33	51.1	8/61	12/127	12	3	2007–2015	[47]
28	Zaheer Khan	India	92	165	18,785	10,247	311	32.94	3.27	60.4	7/87	10/149	11	1	2000–2014	[48]
29	Brett Lee	Australia	76	150	16,531	9,554	310	30.81	3.46	53.3	5/30	9/171	10	0	1999–2008	[49]
30	Lance Gibbs^	West Indies	79	148	27,115	8,989	309	29.09	1.98	87.7	8/38	11/157	18	2	1958–1976	[50]
	Morné Morkel	South Africa	86	160	16,498	8,550	309	27.66	3.10	53.3	6/23	9/110	8	0	2006–2018	[51]
32	Fred Trueman^	England	67	127	15,178	6,625	307	21.57	2.61	49.4	8/31	12/119	17	3	1952–1965	[5]
33	Nathan Lyon	Australia	78	149	19,194	9,859	306	32.21	3.08	62.7	8/50	13/154	12	2	2011–present	[52]

Last updated: 11 September 2018

See also

• List of Test cricket records
• List of bowlers who have taken 300 or more wickets in ODI cricket

References