Celebrating Herath

Sri Lanka's bowler Rangana Herath unsuccessfully appeals for the wicket of Australia's Peter Nevill during the third day of their third test cricket match in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

101

The number of wickets claimed by Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath against Pakistan in Test cricket. He, thus, becomes the first bowler to claim 100 or more wickets against Pakistan in Tests. The table below has the details:

Most wickets against Pakistan in Tests

Bowler	For	Mts	Balls	Runs	Wkts	Ave	SR	5w	10m	Best	Bowling style
Rangana Herath	SL	20	6319	2835	101	28.06	62.56	8	2	9/127	LAS
Kapil Dev	Ind	29	5944	2982	99	30.12	60.04	7	1	8/85	RFM
Shane Warne	Aus	15	4051	1816	90	20.17	45.01	6	2	7/23	RLBG
Anil Kumble	Ind	15	4886	2590	81	31.97	60.32	5	2	10/74	RLB
Glenn McGrath	Aus	17	3835	1736	80	21.70	47.94	3		8/24	RFM
M Muralitharan	SL	16	4697	2037	80	25.46	58.71	5	1	6/71	ROB

 

14

The number of bowlers who have claimed 400 or more wickets in Test cricket. Rangana Herath (Sri Lanka) is the latest entrant to the club. Incidentally, he is the first left-arm spinner, the second left-arm bowler after Wasim Akram, and the fifth spinner overall to join the club. The full members’ list is:

** Three from India (Kapil Dev 434, Anil Kumble 619, Harbhajan Singh 417)

** Two from Australia (Glenn McGrath 563, Shane Warne 708)

** Two from South Africa (Shaun Pollock 421, Dale Steyn 417)

** Two from West Indies (Courtney Walsh 519, Curtly Ambrose 405)

** Two from Sri Lanka (M. Muralitharan 800, Rangana Herath 400)

** One from New Zealand (Richard Hadlee 431)

** One from Pakistan (Wasim Akram 414)

** One from England (James Anderson 506)

84

The number of Tests taken by Rangana Herath to claim his 400th wicket in Abu Dhabi. He is the fourth quickest to reach the landmark. Check the table below for details:

Fewest Tests to reach the 400 Test wicket landmark:

Tests	Bowler	For	Achieved on
72	M Muralidharan	SL	15 Jan 2002
80	Richard Hadlee	NZ	4 Feb 1990
80	Dale Steyn	SAf	30 Jul 2015
84	Rangana Herath	SL	2 Oct 2017
85	Anil Kumble	Ind	6 Oct 2004

 

39

The age when Rangana Herath claimed his 400th Test wicket. He is the oldest among the 14 bowlers who have reached the landmark. Check the table below for details:

Oldest to reach 400 Test wickets

Yrs	Days	Bowler	For	Achieved on
39	197	Rangana Herath	SL	2 Oct 2017
38	216	Richard Hadlee	NZ	4 Feb 1990
36	331	Curtly Ambrose	WI	17 Aug 2000
36	126	Courtney Walsh	WI	5 Mar 1999
34	13	Wasim Akram	Pak	16 Jun 2000

Note: For the record, M Muralidharan is the youngest @ 29y-273d to achieve this landmark on 15 Jan 2002.

200

The number of wickets claimed by Rangana Herath after he turned 35. In the Abu Dhabi Test, against Pakistan, he became the first bowler to claim 200 Test wickets after the age of 35. The table below has the details:

Most Test wickets after the age of 35 years

Wkts	Bowler	For	Mts	Balls	Runs	Ave	5w	10m
200	Rangana Herath	SL	37	11055	5224	26.12	17	6
192	Clarrie Grimmett	Aus	33	13098	4735	24.66	18	6
181	Shane Warne	Aus	33	9215	4570	25.25	10	2
180	Courtney Walsh	WI	39	10168	3890	21.61	9	1
154	Anil Kumble	Ind	35	10192	5155	33.47	6	1

 

1

India’s latest ICC ODI ranking following their 4-1 series victory against Australia. This is the first time in their cricket history India are ranked No. 1 in both Tests and ODIs. The scoreline now reads 4-4 in the eight bilateral ODI series played between the two sides in India. India won the series in 1986, 2010, 2013, and 2017.

THIS WEEK IN 1952 October 18 India beat Pakistan by an innings and 70 runs in Delhi. This was Pakistan’s first ever Test match. India’s left-arm spinner Vinoo Mankad claimed 13 wickets in the match. His figures were 8-52 and 5-79. On the third and final day of the match, he claimed 10 wickets!

 

QUERIES CORNER In the recent Potchefstroom Test, South Africa’s openers missed a milestone. Dean Elgar missed his double century by one run, while Aiden Markram missed his century by three runs. Is this the first time in Test cricket? Yes. This is the first time it’s happening in Tests, where one opener misses a double century and the other a century. However, in Test cricket there have been four instances of both openers being dismissed in the nineties. In The Oval ODI, West Indies fast bowler Alzarri Joseph claimed all the five England wickets that fell in the innings. Has this happened before in ODIs? Alzarri Joseph, in fact, became only the second bowler in ODIs to do so while claiming a five-wicket haul. Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga achieved a similar feat against Pakistan in Mirpur in March 2014. He claimed all the five Pakistani wickets in their total of 260 for 5. Is it true that David Warner’s ODI career blossomed after the year 2014? I believe he has scored majority of his ODI runs after 2014. Is this correct? This is true. It actually began with his 127 against England at the SCG on January 16, 2015, which incidentally was the 51st ODI of his career. Since then, in the next 51 matches, he managed to make 64% of his total career runs in ODIs. The table below explains this. David Warner in 101 ODI matches   West Indies opener Evin Lewis had to retire hurt after making 176 at The Oval. Is this the highest ODI score by a batsman who had to ‘retire hurt’? Evin Lewis’ 176 is now the highest score by any ODI batsman who had to ‘retire hurt’. The previous highest score in such a circumstance was 163 by Sachin Tendulkar in the Christchurch ODI against New Zealand in March 2009. Incidentally, Lewis’ 176 is not only the highest by any ODI batsman but in all international cricket. Australia’s Charles Bannerman, in the inaugural Test in Melbourne in March 1877, had to retire hurt after making 165. For the record, Bannerman’s 165 is Test cricket’s first ever century! Note: All figures above are updated as on October 7, 2017.

 

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