Stat Attack: England’s James Anderson Becomes First Pacer To Take 300 Test Wickets At Home
Apr 6, 2019 at 2:11 PM
England’s pace-spearhead James Anderson, on Friday (July 14), became the first fast-bowler to take 300 Test wickets at home. The 34-year-old reached the milestone when he picked up the wicket of Dean Elgar in the ongoing second Test against South Africa at Trent Bridge.
Anderson, who is the highest wicket-taker in Tests for his country and is only the first Englishman to cross the 400-wicket mark, is now only the fourth bowlers after legendary spinners- Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne and Anil Kumble, to enter the 300-wickets club at home. He took 71 Tests to take 300 wickets at home. The right-arm pacer, who made his Test debut against Zimbabwe in 2003, has taken 471 wickets in 124 Tests so far.
The second-highest wicket-taker in the pacers list is former Australia bowler Glenn McGrath who is followed by South African trio-Mkhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn and Shaun Pollock. The highest ranked Indian in this list is former skipper Kapil Dev with 219 scalps to his name in 65 home Tests.
Here is the top 11 list of most wickets at home by pacers:
Player | Matches | Wickets |
James Anderson (ENG) | 71 | 300 |
Glenn McGrath (AUS) | 66 | 289 |
Makhaya Ntini (SA) | 53 | 249 |
Dale Steyn (SA) | 46 | 241 |
Shaun Pollock (SA) | 59 | 235 |
Stuart Broad (ENG) | 59 | 234 |
Dennis Lillee (AUS) | 44 | 231 |
Fred Trueman (ENG) | 47 | 229 |
Courtney Walsh (WI) | 58 | 229 |
Ian Botham (ENG) | 59 | 226 |
Kapil Dev (INDIA) | 65 | 219 |
The overall list is led by former Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan. The spin legend, who is also the highest wicket-taker in Tests, has taken an astonishing 493 wickets in 73 home Tests.
Muralitharan is followed by Anil Kumble and Shane Warne. Another Indian bowler in the top ten list is off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.
Here is the overall list of top 10 bowlers with most wickets at home in Tests:
Player | Matches | Wickets |
Muttiah Muralitharan (SL) | 73 | 493 |
Anil Kumble (INDIA) | 63 | 350 |
Shane Warne (AUS) | 69 | 319 |
James Anderson (ENG) | 71 | 300 |
Glenn McGrath (AUS) | 66 | 289 |
Harbhajan Singh (INDIA) | 55 | 265 |
Rangana Herath (SL) | 44 | 251 |
Makhaya Ntini (SA) | 53 | 249 |
Dale Steyn (SA) | 46 | 241 |
Shaun Pollock (SA) | 59 | 235 |