Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne, Anil Kumble, Glen
McGrath, Courtney Walsh, Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee, Shaun Pollock, Harbhajan
Singh, Wasim Akram, James Anderson and Curtly Ambrose.
- Another man
was closer but now will have to wait for a few more days at least… no prizes
for guessing – it is the elite 400 club in Test Cricket. Murali stands on top with 800; Warne (708);
Kumble 619; Kapil 434;
Interestingly, none of the eight tests between South Africa and Bangladesh before
this one had gone to a fifth day, and this one didn't albeit different reasons. Bangladesh on a roll following One day
victories over visiting teams, pinned South Africa and the score card reads :
South Africa 61 for 0 (Van Zyl 33*, Elgar 28*) & 248 (Bavuma 54, Mustafizur
4-37) l drew with Bangladesh 326 (Mahmudullah 67, Steyn 3-78)
Perhaps the Board should take the flak for the timing of the
match – the monsoon rains, which had
washed out the fourth day ensured the fifth met the same fate and poured a wet
blanket over what was set up for an intriguing finale. Bangla can have pride in having a 17 run
lead.
One from South Africa is ruing the fate – it is Dale
Steyn left waiting for his 400th Test
wicket having claimed Mustafizur Rahman as victim 399 on Thursday. The fierce pacer now has 399 from 79 tests
/148 innings at an average of 22.58 and best of 7/51 – add another 162 ODI
wickets in 104 matches.
At a time, when I developed interest in the game, Lance
Gibbs took the mantle from Fred Trueman in Dec 1981 becoming the 2nd
bowler to take 300 wickets. Dennis
Lillee retired with 355 scalps, broken by Ian Botham’s 373… then at Bangalore
in Nov 1988, the first ball of the third over, Hadlee had Arunlal caught in the
slips by Chris Kuggeleijn to surpass Botham.
Hadlee stopped at 431 becoming the 1st to cross 400 barrier. In Feb 1994, the greatest allrounder of
India, Kapil Dev dismissed Hashan
Tillakaratne caught at forward short-leg by Sanjay Manjrekar to reach wicket No
432. By then people were braying for his blood and he played just one more test
thereafter. That was to be broken by
Walsh 519, Warne 708 and topped by Murali with 800 – which perhaps will remain
unsurpassed for a long long time.
Muralitharan is also the fastest to the 400 club having
achieved it in 72 tests; while the 2nd, Hadlee took 80 tests. Steyn has played 79 tests and is all set to
equal Hadlee. In One dayers, it is again
Murali at the top with 534 in 350 matches; followed by Wasim Akram 502, Waqar
Younis 416 and Chaminda Vaas 400. Shahid
Afridi missed it narrowly finishing at 395 in 398 matches. Afridi
is still hoping to play World T20 WC – he retired from Test Cricket in 2020 and
bowed out of ODI following Pak’s QF defeat in WC in 2015 at Australia.
The 2nd Test between Bangladesh and South Africa
begins at Dhaka on 30th July and sure Steyn would be waiting for
that …
With regards – S Sampathkumar
25th July 2015.
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