Test matches are the longest format of cricket. Qualities like patience, courage and determination are the hallmarks of a successful Test cricketer, and bowlers, facing more cautious batting than in white-ball cricket, need them more than most.
Only nine bowlers in Test history have taken 500 wickets. West Indies fast bowler Courtney Walsh was the first, reaching the mark against South Africa at Port of Spain in his 129th Test in March 2001.
Australia’s Shane Warne was next, in his 108th Test at Galle in March 2004, and Sri Lanka’s Muthiah Muralidaran followed in the very next Test of that series, at Kandy. Murali got there in only 87 matches, and more than two decades later that is still the fastest.
India’s Ravichandran Ashwin is the second-fastest, with 500 in 98 Tests, and the most recent to join the club, in February 2024. He and Muralidaran are the only two to get there in fewer than 100 Tests. Anil Kumble is India’s other 500-wicket bowler and the third-fastest, in 105 Tests.
Fastest to 500 wickets in Test cricket
| Player | Team | Tests to 500 | 500th wicket | Test starting | Career wickets |
| Muthiah Muralidaran | Sri Lanka | 87 | v Australia, Kandy | 16 March 2004 | 800 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | India | 98 | v England, Rajkot | 15 February 2024 | 537 |
| Anil Kumble | India | 105 | v England, Mohali | 9 March 2006 | 619 |
| Shane Warne | Australia | 108 | v Sri Lanka, Galle | 8 March 2004 | 708 |
| Glenn McGrath | Australia | 110 | v England, Lord’s | 21 July 2005 | 563 |
| Nathan Lyon | Australia | 123 | v Pakistan, Perth | 14 December 2023 | 571* |
| Courtney Walsh | West Indies | 129 | v South Africa, Port of Spain | 17 March 2001 | 519 |
| James Anderson | England | 129 | v West Indies, Lord’s | 7 September 2017 | 704 |
| Stuart Broad | England | 140 | v West Indies, Manchester | 24 July 2020 | 604 |
* Still playing. Career wickets as of 29 September 2026. Source: ESPNcricinfo Statsguru, each bowler’s Test innings list. The nearest active bowler to the club is Mitchell Starc, on 445.
Muthiah Muralidaran (Sri Lanka) – 500 Test wickets in 87 matches
Muralidaran took his 500th Test wicket against Australia at Kandy in March 2004, in his 87th Test. Warne had broken Walsh’s record of 129 matches earlier in that series; Murali broke Warne’s 108 in the following Test.
The wily off-spinner, who left many batters perplexed over the course of his career, remains the fastest to 500 wickets. Muralidaran also holds the most wickets in Test cricket history, 800, which is 92 more than Warne in second place.
Ravichandran Ashwin (India) – 500 Test wickets in 98 matches
Ashwin took his 500th Test wicket in his 98th Test, the third Test of England’s tour of India in February 2024, at Rajkot. That made him the fastest Indian to 500, ahead of Anil Kumble’s 105 Tests. He retired in December 2024 with 537 Test wickets.
Anil Kumble (India) – 500 Test wickets in 105 matches
Anil Kumble, India’s highest wicket-taker in Tests, took his 500th wicket against England at Mohali in his 105th Test, in March 2006. He finished his Test career with 619 wickets in 132 Tests.
Kumble was also only the second bowler in Test history, after Jim Laker, to take all 10 wickets in an innings, against Pakistan at Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla (now the Arun Jaitley Stadium) in February 1999. New Zealand’s Ajaz Patel became the third in 2021.
Shane Warne (Australia) – 500 Test wickets in 108 matches
Warne took 500 wickets in 108 Tests, the fastest by an Australian. He passed the mark at Galle against Sri Lanka in March 2004, taking ten wickets in the match as Australia won the first Test of the series.
The spin wizard is one of only two bowlers, with Muralidaran, to take more than 1,000 international wickets. Warne finished with 708 Test wickets, and his 195 against England are the most by any bowler against a single opponent in Tests.
Glenn McGrath and Nathan Lyon (Australia) – 110 and 123 matches
Australia have three bowlers in the club. Glenn McGrath took his 500th wicket at Lord’s in the first Ashes Test of July 2005, in his 110th Test, and retired with 563. Off-spinner Nathan Lyon became the eighth member, and Australia’s third, against Pakistan at Perth in December 2023, in his 123rd Test; he has 571 Test wickets so far.
Courtney Walsh, James Anderson and Stuart Broad
Courtney Walsh and James Anderson both needed 129 Tests. Anderson reached 500 against West Indies at Lord’s in September 2017 and retired in July 2024 with 704, the most by a fast bowler. His England new-ball partner Stuart Broad joined him in July 2020, against West Indies at Manchester, in his 140th Test, and retired in 2023 with 604.
Photo credit: Alamy