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Stats: Not so lonely at the top

Saturday, July 3 2004

With Test cricket being played more frequently now than ever before, an obvious side-effect is player fatigue. However, there remains a select group of tireless performers who continue their relentless assault on the record books.

Glenn McGrath's 5/37 in his first Test match in nearly twelve months propelled him past Richard Hadlee and Kapil Dev to fourth place on Test cricket's leading wicket-takers list. McGrath's tally of 435 wickets places him behind only former rival Courtney Walsh amongst pace bowlers. The next current pace bowler is some way behind: South Africa's Shaun Pollock is at fifteenth on the overall list. Pollock's 339 wickets from 83 matches have, however, come at just 21.46 apiece - better than any current players with more than 200 Test wickets.

Meanwhile, top spot on the list appears set to change hands again, with Australian legspinner Shane Warne just seven wickets behind Sri Lankan wizard Muttiah Muralitharan's 527. Warne's 3/20 in the first-innings in Darwin put him one clear of Walsh's former record of 519 wickets. The spinning duo are not completely peerless though - veteran Indian spinner Anil Kumble is set to become the ninth bowler (and second Indian) to reach 400 Test wickets, come Australia's tour of India in October.

Leading Test Wicket-Takers - Current Players

Bowler	Career Wickets	Average	Overall Position
M Muralitharan	527	22.76	1st
SK Warne	520	25.32	2nd
GD McGrath	435	21.55	4th
A Kumble	397	28.21	9th
SM Pollock	339	21.46	15th

Allan Border's mantle of leading Test runscorer has only recently come under serious threat, after the former Australian captain surpassed former holder Sunil Gavaskar more than a decade ago. 166-Test veteran Steve Waugh came close, retiring with 10,927 runs to his name, 247 runs shy of his former captain's record 11,174.

The 10,000-club will almost certainly have two new inductees in the near future: West Indian captain Brian Lara, and Indian maestro Sachin Tendulkar. The former, having recently reclaimed the Test record for highest individual score with an unbeaten 400 against England at Antigua, is just 170 runs away from his 10,000th. The first Test against England at the home of cricket, Lord's, later this month presents an ideal opportunity for Lara.

Tendulkar, at 31 years of age, has plenty of time to assume the mantle of leading runscorer in both forms of the game. He and Lara are some distance ahead of their contemporaries, with Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq next on 6,899 runs.

Leading Test Runscorers - Current Players

Batsman	Career Runs	Average	Overall Position
BC Lara	9,830	53.71	4th
SRTendulkar
9,470	57.39	5th
Inzamam-ul-Haq	6,899	49.63	26th
R Dravid	6,855	58.09	28th
GP Thorpe	6,063	43.93	35th

All statistics accurate as of July 3, 2004.

Posted by Adam