Who will overtake Murali's test wicket record?

[pskov]

Murali is so far out in front of anyone else who has a chance that I think there is a good possibility he could hold the record for a very, very long time. I'm not even sure that anyone who is currently playing will overtake him, though of course Mendis has a good chance. Certainly you'd have to think it would be a spinner, purely because of how many matches they would have to play to take what may well end up being 850 wickets or so to break whatever Murali finishes with.

 

[Burgey]

No one. IMHO.

 

[GIMH]

Stuart Broad for sure

 

[Simon]

Probably not Marcus North.

 

[Flem274*]

Jimmeh F obv.

 

[Richard]

No one. IMHO.

It's one of those things that you'd not go so far as to say "can't possibly happen"... but if I had to bet on someone breaking it and the option was "no-one" that'd probably be the one I'd go for.

Certainly if anyone does I'd be very surprised if it's not someone we've never heard of and maybe someone who hasn't even picked-up a cricket-ball yet (maybe even been born...) As has been said, it's just about impossible that a seamer will ever take that many wickets (it's astonishing enough that McGrath and Walsh have taken 500, there're unlikely to be all that many seamers who do such a thing). So it has to be a spinner.

Mendis, well, I don't think so somehow. He's started stupendously but it's inconceivable he won't to some extent be figured-out. Not that he won't go down as a very fine bowler indeed I don't think, but to expect him to play for as long as he'll require to take that many wickets, playing for Sri Lanka, is unrealistic in my view.

And as I've said before, there probably won't be another Warne-esque bowler for a long, long time, and there might very well never be another Murali-esque one. Any run-of-the-mill fingerspinner is obviously totally out-of-the-question unless we return to uncovered wickets (if we did such a thing mind you it could easily happen, but I don't think that's going to happen). So it'll require a once-in-several-generations bowler to do it.

Of course, Test cricket could have been destroyed by Twenty20 in 10 years' time so it might be a redundant question.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Murali is so far out in front of anyone else who has a chance that I think there is a good possibility he could hold the record for a very, very long time. I'm not even sure that anyone who is currently playing will overtake him, though of course Mendis has a good chance. Certainly you'd have to think it would be a spinner, purely because of how many matches they would have to play to take what may well end up being 850 wickets or so to break whatever Murali finishes with.

Slightly premature to say that someone who's about 740 behind has a good chance.

 

[pskov]

Neglected to put a no-one option in the poll, can a mod edit that in?

 

[pskov]

Slightly premature to say that someone who's about 740 behind has a good chance.

Tbf, I meant a good chance compared to everyone else, as in perhaps he has a 10% chance of overtaking Murali whereas for everyone else it would be <1%. Should've phrased it differently.

 

[Top_Cat]

Can only imagine Test cricket in the calendar being reduced from here so I'm putting my money on no-one.

 

[oitoitoi]

Why the hell are Anderson and Bravo on the list??? Actually that could be extended to most of that list, Mendis is the only current player (probably including first class cricket) with even an iota of a chance. Personally though I can't see him beating Murali, he just doesn't turn it enough to be really effective on non turning surfaces, and India's tactic of treating him like a medum pacer seemed to work pretty well. That said some series against England couldn't hurt his chances!

Similarly I can't see Tendulkar's records of international hundreds and international runs ever being broken. Though it will be much closer, I think he'll finish with the most test hundreds and runs too, I can see him outlasting Ponting, especially with Indian team being strong enough to rest him consistently. Quite the opposite is now true for Ponting.

 

[Furball]

Of those currently playing international cricket, only Ajantha Mendis can potentially come close IMO.

 

[G.I.Joe]

Of anyone playing currently, Harbhajan has the best shot at 800 odd. At his current rate of wicket-taking, he only needs to play 10 tests a year till he's 40, or 12 tests a year till he's 38.

 

[funnygirl]

Of anyone playing currently, Harbhajan has the best shot at 800 odd. At his current rate of wicket-taking, he only needs to play 10 tests a year till he's 40, or 12 tests a year till he's 38.

If he is allowed to bowl ''doosra'' really a cake walk for him

Pn the topic, no one will break that .No one even come half to that .

 

[G.I.Joe]

Of anyone playing currently, Harbhajan has the best shot at 800 odd. At his current rate of wicket-taking, he only needs to play 10 tests a year till he's 40, or 12 tests a year till he's 38.

Lets see, Murali picked up his 300th in his 58th test, aged 28 years.
Warne did it in his 63rd test, aged 28 years.
Kumble did it in his 66th test, aged 31 years.
Harbhajan did it in his 72nd test, aged 28 years.

Harbhajan has played 8.1 tests a year since the 2001 series. So assuming he stays in the team and carries on with his current rate of 4.24 wickets a test and 8.1 tests per year, he'll be on 658 wickets if he retires at 38 like Kumble did. Won't make it to 800. Would be cool to have two Indian bowlers in the 600+ club, though.

 

[popepouri]

Reckon Shakib Al Hasan has a better chance of cracking Murali's record than who's presented in the poll. It will probably come from a team who relies significantly on spin to take their wickets. Don't think a fast bowler will ever get there.

 

[Furball]

Shakib's not actually a terrible shout, though I'd say he has almost no chance of achieving it.

Won't be a quick, for all his longevity and awesomness, McGrath "only" finished with 563 Test victims. I'd wager that his particular record is also safe as houses for the forseeable future.

 

[Evermind]

Reckon Shakib Al Hasan has a better chance of cracking Murali's record than who's presented in the poll. It will probably come from a team who relies significantly on spin to take their wickets. Don't think a fast bowler will ever get there.

I don't think so, for the simple reason that Bangladesh will not play as many tests as the other nations in the next 5 years at least.

 

[Evermind]

Mendis is the only one I think who has a remote chance.

There are some hilarious options on the list. Anderson? Panesar? Asif? Bravo?! Broad??!

Most of these guys are barely permanent selections in their teams - never mind probable all-time greats. Most average WAY over 30.

 

[pasag]

Tbf, I meant a good chance compared to everyone else, as in perhaps he has a 10% chance of overtaking Murali whereas for everyone else it would be <1%. Should've phrased it differently.

Much less than 10%, IMO.