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Cricket's Exclusive 500 Club

Last updated on: September 13, 2017 10:44 IST

Jimmy Anderson is the first Englishman to take 500 Test wickets.
Rajneesh Gupta gives us all the numbers about Cricket's Exclusive 500 Club.

James Anderson celebrates dismissing West Indian Kraigg Braithwaite, his 500th Test wicket at Lord's, September 8. Photograph: Dan Mullan/Getty Images

IMAGE: James Anderson celebrates dismissing West Indian Kraigg Braithwaite, his 500th Test wicket at Lord's, September 8. Photograph: Dan Mullan/Getty Images

 

The exclusive club of 500 wicket-takers includes two Australians, one West Indian, one Indian, one Sri Lankan and one Englishman.

The list is headed by Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan who had a tally of exactly 800 wickets from 133 Test appearances.

 

Courtney Walsh was the first bowler to take 500 wickets in Test cricket.

Walsh reached that total in his 129th Test in March 2001 when he had South African Jacques Kallis trapped LBW for a duck in the second innings of the Port-of-Spain Test.

Murali holds the record of being the quickest in terms of least number of Tests (87) taken to perform this feat.

He was also the youngest while taking his 500th wicket and also the fastest, taking just over 11 years and six months since his Test debut to accomplish this feat.

Jimmy Anderson
1st
Englishman
6th
bowler with 500 Test wickets
 
 
Exclusive club of 500 wicket-takers
2
Australia
1
West Indies
1
India
1
Sri Lanka
1
England
 
 
800 wickets in 133 Tests
 
Muttiah Muralitharan
 
1st to take 500 wickets
 
Courtney Walsh
 
Country-wise break-up of Jimmy Anderson's 500 wickets:
 MatchesOversMaidensRunsWicketsBestAverageStrike Rate5I10M
Australia 26 947.4 212 3,121 87 6/47 35.87 65.36 4 1
India 22 821.9 208 2,423 86 5/42 28.17 57.38 3 0
South Africa 24 922.8 194 2,753 84 5/63 32.77 65.95 3 0
West Indies 17 589.8 162 1,572 72 7/42 21.83 49.19 4 0
Pakistan 13 456.4 145 999 54 6/17 18.50 50.74 2 1
New Zealand 12 412.7 98 1,410 52 7/43 27.12 47.67 3 0
Sri Lanka 11 407.7 111 1,136 51 5/16 22.27 48.02 4 1
Zimbabwe 2 64 18 223 11 5/73 20.27 34.91 1 0
Bangladesh 2 84 21 223 9 4/78 24.78 56.00 0 0
Total 129 4,709.5 1,169 13,860 506 7/42 27.39 55.85 24 3
 
Anderson's mode of dismissals
 CFCWC and BBLBWBatsmen dismissed most frequently
Australia 29 34 3 11 10 Peter Siddle 11, Michael Clarke 9
Bangladesh 3 4 0 2 0 Mohammad Ashraful 2, Tamim Iqbal 2
India 28 26 2 17 13 Sachin Tendulkar 9, M S Dhoni 6, Gautam Gambhir 6
New Zealand 22 15 0 11 4 6 players -- 4 dismissals
Pakistan 21 12 0 10 11 Shan Masood 6
South Africa 33 20 4 16 11 Jacques Kallis 7, Graema Smith 6, Mark Boucher 6
Sri Lanka 20 18 0 8 5 Kumar Sangakkara 7, Lahiru Thirimanne 7
West Indies 26 13 0 24 9 K C Brathwaite 6
Zimbabwe 5 0 0 5 1 Grant Flower 2, Mark Vermeulen 2, Andy Blignaut 2
TOTAL (506) 187 142 9 104 64 Peter Siddle 11, Michael Clarke 9, Sachin Tendulkar 9
CF = Caught in the field, CW = Caught by 'keeper, C&B = Caught & bowled, B= Bowled, LBW= Leg-before wicket
 

This is how Anderson reached each progressive important milestone:

The Progress Chart
WicketTest #VictimVenueSeason
1st 1st Mark Vermeulen Lord's 2003
50th 17th M S Dhoni Lord's 2007
100th 29th Jacques Kallis The Oval 2008
150th 45th Graeme Smith Cape Town 2009-2010
200th 55th Peter Siddle Perth 2010-2011
250th 67th Lahiru Thirimanne Galle 2011-2012
300th 81st Peter Fulton (New Zealand) Lord's 2013
350th 93rd Angelo Mathews (Sri Lanka) Lord's 2014
400th 104th Martin Guptill (New Zealand) Leeds 2015
450th 115th Rangana Herath (Sri Lanka) Chester-le-Street 2016
500th 129th Kraigg Brathwaite (West Indies) Lord's 2017
 

A look at the 500 Club:

Members
 MatchesWktsBestAverageStrike RateRuns Per Over5I10M
Muttiah Muralitharan 133 800 9/51 22.73 55.05 2.48 67 22
Shane Warne 145 708 8/71 25.42 57.49 2.65 37 10
Anil Kumble 132 619 10/74 29.65 66.00 2.70 35 8
Glenn McGrath 124 563 8/24 21.64 51.95 2.50 29 3
Courtney Walsh 132 519 7/37 24.45 57.84 2.54 22 3
James Anderson 129 506 7/42 27.39 55.85 2.94 24 3
 

The following table gives chronological details about the bowlers who have reached the 500-mark in Test cricket:

Chronology of 500-wicket club members
BowlerCountryReached inTest #AgePeriod (from debut)
Courtney Walsh West Indies March 2001 129 38 years, 140 days 5,975 days
Shane Warne Australia March 2004 108 34 years, 181 days 4,454 days
M Muralitharan Sri Lanka March 2004 87 31 years, 334 days 4,219 days
Glenn McGrath Australia July 2005 110 35 years, 162 days 4,270 days
Anil Kumble India March 2006 105 35 years, 145 days 5,694 days
James Anderson England September 2017 129 35 years, 40 days 5,224 days
 

The following table gives a break-up of home and away performances of 500 Club members.

Both the Aussies -- Warne and McGrath -- were more successful in away Tests than at home.

Murali, on the other hand, has mind-boggling numbers at home.

 HomeAway
 WicktsAvgSRWktsAvgSR
Walsh 229 23.70 58.95 290 25.03 56.96
Warne 319 26.39 60.87 389 24.61 54.72
Muralitharan 493 19.57 50.83 307 27.80 61.82
McGrath 289 22.43 54.77 274 20.81 48.97
Kumble 350 24.89 59.41 269 35.86 74.57
Anderson 335 24.29 50.36 171 33.46 66.60
 

A comparison of first innings and second innings performances of the 500 Club members can be found in the following table.

McGrath had the best average and strike rate in the first innings whereas Walsh was most successful in the second innings.

 1st Innings2nd Innings
 WicketsAverageStrike RateWicketsAverageStrike Rate
Walsh 279 28.48 64.74 240 19.76 49.82
Warne 349 28.05 61.39 359 22.86 53.70
Muralitharan 458 23.95 57.92 342 21.09 51.20
McGrath 329 21.95 51.92 234 21.22 52.00
Kumble 339 32.17 72.57 280 26.61 58.04
Anderson 311 27.62 56.03 195 27.03 55.55
 

The following table gives details of wickets taken per innings by the each member of 500-club. Muralitharan went wicketless only 12 times in his career. On 67 occasions he picked up 5 or more wickets in an innings – 30 times more than his nearest rival!

Wickets per innings
 0123456789105I
Walsh 43 56 51 38 32 14 7 1 0 0 0 22
Warne 41 46 44 57 48 18 13 5 1 0 0 37
Muralitharan 12 26 29 51 45 37 19 6 3 2 0 67
McGrath 37 55 47 47 28 19 6 2 2 0 0 29
Kumble 27 49 40 54 31 16 13 4 1 0 1 35
Anderson 37 61 66 30 24 19 3 2 0 0 0 24
 

The following table gives details of wickets taken per match by each bowler.

Once again, Muralitharan tops the table. He had the least instances of finishing with 5 or fewer wickets in a Test.

On 22 occasions he finished up with 10 wickets or more in a match.

All other 500-club members have a combined tally of 27.

Wickets per match
 Less than/equal to 56789101112131415+10M
Walsh 92 15 10 4 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 3
Warne 71 23 11 17 4 3 5 2 0 0 0 10
Muralitharan 59 10 13 17 7 9 7 3 2 0 1 22
McGrath 75 13 17 7 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 3
Kumble 71 19 13 10 4 4 1 1 1 1 0 8
Anderson 91 10 12 2 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 3
 

The following table gives details of number of Tests taken by each bowler to reach each progressive milestone of 100 wickets.

Anil Kumble was the quickest among the lot in reaching first 100 wickets.

Warne and Murali share the record for 200-wicket milestone.

From there onwards, it was Murali all along.

Tests taken to reach each progressive milestone of 100 wickets
Wickets100200300400500
Walsh 29 58 80 107 129
Warne 23 42 63 92 108
Muralitharan 27 42 58 72 87
McGrath 23 45 64 87 110
Kumble 21 47 66 85 105
Anderson 29 55 81 104 129
 

The following table gives the details of victims of the 500 Club members by their batting style.

The most successful bowler against right-handers was Courtney Walsh, while Jimmy Anderson has been the most successful against left-handers.

Victims by batting style
 WktsRight Hand BatsmenLeft Hand BatsmenRHB%LHB%
Walsh 519 415 104 79.96 20.04
Warne 708 536 172 75.71 24.29
Muralitharan 800 610 190 76.25 23.75
McGrath 563 391 172 69.45 30.55
Kumble 619 452 167 73.02 26.98
Anderson 506 348 158 68.77 31.23
 

No one inflicted more ducks on batsmen than McGrath.

He was closely followed by Warne and Muralitharan.

However, McGrath and Walsh were least effective once the batsmen got set.

A very high percentage of their wickets came when the batsmen had not crossed 50.

Kumble's tally of wickets in the nineties tell us about the sense of fear that batsmen had facing him while they were nearing the three-figure mark.

Victims by scores
 0s1-910-1920-4950-8990-99100-149150-199200-249250-299
Walsh 79 172 95 127 30 2 10 4 0 0
Warne 102 204 115 175 91 2 16 1 2 0
Muralitharan 102 234 141 197 86 6 27 5 1 1
McGrath 104 190 105 116 33 3 8 1 2 1
Kumble 77 165 105 143 94 10 17 3 4 1
Anderson 79 170 90 85 56 4 16 4 1 1
 

A comparison of victims by batting position:

It is rather surprising that Kumble has the highest tally of openers among the six.

Another table gives the percentage of top-order, middle-order and lower-order for each bowler.

Victims by batting orders
 #1/2#3#4#5#6#7#8#9#10#11
Walsh 107 67 64 63 61 56 55 63 50 33
Warne 125 52 51 42 39 47 46 43 47 27
Muralitharan 104 59 62 82 73 65 73 75 72 43
McGrath 130 72 78 75 84 101 73 75 70 42
Kumble 155 70 57 43 52 44 43 41 34 24
Anderson 139 50 61 51 35 44 32 40 32 22
 
Percentage of top / middle / lower-order victims
 %Top-order (1-3)%Middle-order (4-7)%Lower-order (8-11)
Walsh 34.10 34.49 31.41
Warne 23.02 39.83 37.15
Muralitharan 25.25 42.25 32.50
McGrath 39.96 34.81 25.22
Kumble 28.11 39.42 32.47
Anderson 37.35 37.75 24.90
 

The table below gives the break-up of different mode of dismissals for each bowler.

Muralitharan has the most dismissals as caught in the field. He also shares the record of most caught and bowleds with Kumble.

His overall tally of caught dismissals is also the highest among the six, and so is his tally of bowleds and stumpeds.

McGrath has the most dismissals as caught by the 'keeper. Kumble has the most LBWs.

Mode of dismissals
 CFCWC&BCBLBWStHW
Walsh 233 111 5 349 92 77 0 1
Warne 324 73 21 418 116 138 36 0
Muralitharan 354 46 35 435 167 150 47 1
McGrath 215 152 6 373 77 112 0 1
Kumble 278 32 35 345 94 156 24 0
Anderson 188 141 9 338 104 64 0 0
 

The following table gives each bowler's bowling average after every block of 25 Tests.

Warne had the best average in the first 25 Tests, while McGrath was the best in the second and third blocks, after 50 Tests.

Muralitharan was the best in fourth and fifth blocks, while Anderson currently has the best record in the sixth block.

It is remarkable that Anderson is the only bowler who has a progressive declining average in each of the six blocks -- a clear testimony of the fact how much he has improved as a bowler since making his debut.

Bowling average in each block of 25 Tests
Tests1-2526-5051-7576-100101-125126-150
Walsh 25.17 24.74 23.96 29.02 20.87 24.45
Warne 24.00 23.47 29.28 30.16 21.48 26.35
Muralitharan 30.95 23.47 19.84 19.29 20.55 41.74
McGrath 24.96 20.96 18.48 23.45 21.29 -
Kumble 25.65 31.15 26.73 28.60 32.39 61.80
Anderson 34.62 29.63 28.24 27.25 21.92 12.38
 

Rajneesh Gupta