Where does Kagiso Rabada rank among South Africa’s 7 highest Test wicket-takers after 9 more in WTC final?
many of whom have lit up the global stage with incredible performances.
However, who are the best the country has ever unleashed on the world in Test cricket?
Read on for all you need to know about South Africa’s top wicket-takers in Tests.
7. Jacques Kallis, 291 Test wickets (1995 to 2013)
South Africa has not had as great an allrounder as Jacques Kallis. The Cape Town native waltzed into the South African side on the strength of his batting, he is one of a handful of batters with 13,000 runs in Test cricket. If we go by the wickets he took, he could also claim a spot as a change bowler.
Kallis is one of eight bowlers to take 200 or more wickets for South Africa, with 291 in 270 innings at an average of 32.6 at a strike rate of 69.3. He took five five-wicket hauls with a best of 6/54 against England in 2003. Kallis was on fire in that match so much that he also recorded his best bowling figures in a contest of 9/92.
Vernon Philander is the other South African bowler with more than 200 wickets. He took 224 in 119 innings at an average of 22.3 at a strike rate of 50.8. The Capetonian bagged 13 five-wicket hauls and two 10-wicket hauls. He produced his best bowling figures in an innings against Australia in 2018 when he took 6/21. His best bowling figures in a match were his 10/102 against Sri Lanka in 2011.
Behind Philander is Keshav Maharaj, South Africa’s most successful spinner with 198 wickets in 96 innings. Maharaj has 11 five-wicket hauls and a single 10-wicket haul in a match. He recorded his best bowling figures in an innings, 9/129, against Sri Lanka in 2018. Maharaj finished that match with his best bowling figures in a contest, 12/283.
6. Morne Morkel, 309 Test wickets (2006 to 2018)
The tall seamer is the last of South African bowlers with 300 or more wickets in Test cricket. At his best, Morkel could crank the speed up to the upper 140s and unsettle batters with pace and bounce. He was part of one of South Africa’s most potent bowling attacks, hunting with Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander in the 2010s.
Morkel finished his career with 309 in 160 innings at an average of 27.7. He bagged eight 5-wicket hauls and recorded his best bowling figures in an innings of 6/23 against New Zealand in 2012. His best bowling figures in a match were 9/110 against Australia in 2018.
5. Allan Donald, 330 Test wickets (1992 to 2002)
Donald is considered South Africa’s first great seamer. No bowler was as influential in matches for South Africa after readmission as Donald, and as such, it is no surprise that he was the first South African bowler to reach the 300-wicket milestone.
Donald could have finished his career with more than 330 wickets, however, he was so integral to South Africa’s success that he was overused and that resulted in him suffering numerous injuries that interrupted his 10-year international career.
Donald’s 330 wickets came in 129 innings. He bagged 20 5-wicket hauls and three 10-wicket hauls. His best bowling figures in an innings were 8/71 against Zimbabwe in 1995, and his best in a match was 12/139 against India in 1992.
4. Kagiso Rabada, 332 Test wickets (2015 to present)
No bowler has a strike rate better than Kagiso Rabada’s in Test cricket since 1900. If Allan Donald held South Africa’s bowling together in the 1990s, Rabada has held it together after Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, and Vernon Philander’s retirements. The 30-year-old has a haul of 327 in 128 innings at an average of 22 at a strike rate of 39.4.
Rabada has bagged 16 five-wicket hauls and four 10-wicket hauls. He produced his best bowling innings in 2016, when he took 7/112 against England. Rabada, who took those wickets in the second innings, produced another masterclass in the fourth innings, taking 6/32. He finished the match with 13/144 to become the second South African bowler to take 13 wickets in a contest.
3. Makhaya Ntini, 390 Test wickets (1998 to 2009)
Ntini broke new ground for South Africa in several ways. He was the first black player to represent South Africa in international cricket. In 2003, he became the first South African to take 10 wickets at Lord’s, with 5/75 and 5/145 against England in the first and third innings.
Ntini was also the first South African bowler to bag 13 wickets in a match. He took 6/95 and 7/37 against the West Indies in Port of Spain in 2005 for best bowling figures in a match of 13/132.
The Mdingi Express, as Ntini was affectionately known, finished his career with 390 in 190 innings. He bagged 18 five-wicket hauls and four 10-wicket hauls in his 11-year career.
2. Shaun Pollock, 421 Test wickets (1995 to 2008)
Pollock and Allan Donald formed one of the greatest new-ball partnerships for South Africa in the second half of the 1990s. The pairing underpinned much of South Africa’s success in Test cricket. Pollock could bowl the straightest deliveries batters could face, and could move the ball both ways at a lively pace.
The former South African captain defied all odds when he conquered a surface that was amenable for batting in blistering Australian heat to take 7/87 in 41 overs. Pollock ended his career with 16 five-wicket hauls but never bettered those figures in an innings.
Despite his brilliance with the ball, Pollock finished with a solitary 10-wicket haul. He recorded those figures by taking 4/91 in the first innings and 6/56 in the third innings against India in Bloemfontein in November 2001.
Pollock’s record of 421 Test wickets stood for 10 years, from 2008 to 2018, when Dale Steyn broke it.
1. Dale Steyn, 439 Test wickets (2004 to 2019)
Marcus Trescothick was the first ever Test cricketer that Dale Steyn dismissed. That was in December 2004. The Test was his debut and a baptism of fire for the future South African legend. He took 2/117 in the second innings and 1/29 in the fourth innings. Steyn did not take a wicket in his final Test in February 2019.
Despite the tough start and wicketless finish, Steyn finished his career with the most Test wickets, 439, by a South African bowler. His average of 22.9 across 171 innings is one of the best in the format. He had a strike rate of 42.3.
Steyn’s best performance with the ball in an innings was his 7/51 against India in Nagpur in 2010, while his best figures in a match were 11/60 against Pakistan in Johannesburg in 2013. He ended his career with 26 five-wicket hauls and five 10-wicket hauls.
