When rival captains Faf du Plessis and Steve Smith shared the toss at Cape Town yesterday, Morne Morkel was on 297 Test wickets, Nathan Lyon on 296.
Lyon took the lead with the last two South African wickets of Kagiso Rabada and Morkel in one over, both caught in the slips by Smith who claimed five in the innings.
But Morkel cracked the 300-wicket barrier with the scalps of Usman Khawaja hooking, Smith in the gully and Shaun Marsh chasing outside off stump. Morkel became only the fifth South African member to join the coveted 300 club.
Shaun Pollock shows the way with 421 at 23.11, followed by Dale Steyn (419 at 22.32), Makhaya Ntini Ntini (390 at 28.82), and Allan Donald’s 330 at 22.25.
(AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Morkel is one of Test cricket’s tallest timbers at 198 cms, but no-one gets anywhere near the tallest of the timbers – Pakistan’s Mohammad Irfan who is a whopping 216 cms, or 7 foot 1 inch in the old measure.
There are four at 203 cms – West Indian Joel Garner, England and Northern Ireland’s William Boyd Rankin, with two Australians Bruce Reid, and Peter George.
Another three are at 201 cms – West Indians Curtley Ambrose and Jason Holder, with Englishman Chris Tremlett, while Kiwi Jacob Oram, and another West Indian Courtney Walsh are in the Morkel status,
Interestingly, of the 33 top wicket-takers in Test cricket history, only eight are spinners with Murali, Shane Warne, and Anil Kumble the top three.
Murali’s staggering 800 at 22.72 is way in front of Warne’s 708 at 25.41, and Indian leggie Kumble’s 619 at 29.65.
Then comes Indian offie Harbhajan Singh (417 at 32.46), Sri Lanka’s left-armer Rangana Herath (415 at 28.17), Kiwi left-armer Daniel Vettori (362 at 34.36), Indian offie Ravi Ashwin (311 at 25.56), and the first to crack 300 – what seems an eternity ago – West Indian offie Lance Gibbs with 309 at 29.09.
No doubt Lyon will join the 300 club later today to become the sixth Australian after Warne, Glenn McGrath (563 at 21.64), Dennis Lillee (355 at 23.92), Mitchell Johnson (313 at 28.40), and Brett Lee’s 310 at 30.81.
(AAP Image/Richard Wainwright)
Even though Morkel and Lyon are chalk and cheese as physical specimens, comparing their stats makes for interesting reading.
This is Morkel’s 85th Test and 157th innings compared to Lyon’s 77th Test and 146th dig.
Morkel has bowled 16,296 deliveries, Lyon 18,522.
Morkel’s average is 28.12, Lyon’s 31.74.
Morkel has taken five wickets in an innings seven times, Lyon has achieved the feat on 12 occasions.
But Morkel has never taken ten wickts in an innngs, while Lyon has done it twice.
With the third Test in Cape Town slightly in South Africa’s favour after two days, there’s no doubt both Morne Morkel and Nathan Lyon will play vital roles on the outcome with the series locked at one apiece, and the New Wanderers in Johannesburg still to play.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
Well done to Morne Morkel for joining the 300 test wicket club. In his 85th test Morne now sits 29th on the fastest to 300 club list. He will soon drop a spot as Lyon has 298 wickets and is playing his 77th test. Morkel sits between Stuart Broad and Zaheer Khan while Lyon will slot in at position 23, just behind Lance Gibbs. That's pretty fair company for an off spinner. For South Africa, only Dale Steyn (61 tests ranked 4th),Alan Donald (63 tests ranked 7th), Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini (74 tests ranked tied for 21st) sit ahead of Morkel on this list. At the very top of this list sits Ravichandran Ashwin, achieving this milestone in 54 tests, followed by Dennis Lillee (56 tests).
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
Good point. Total wickets and total runs mean very little, other than confirming that test schedules are much fuller now than they used to be, even as late as the 70's and 80's. For example, Greg Chappell played 87 tests, and would maybe have played 100 tests if not for the WSC era, while Matt Hayden, played more, despite being ignored for several years and having a couple of false starts to his test career. Micheal Clarke played 115 tests, despite being dropped early in his career and his well-known back problems. Averages, conversion rates and home and away stats should be used to measure greatness, in my opinion. Many seem to mistake totals as being "the best", when it is sometimes no more than being "selected most frequently". Perhaps tests played should be celebrated as much as total runs or wickets as its equally as relevant.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
Pretty sure the 10 wickets in an innings statement could be challenged. Well, the part about Lyon doing it twice. I am in full agreement that Morkel has never taken all 10 wickets in a test innings. I know David is a Lyon fan but that's taking the GOAT thing way too far.
Mattyb
Guest
Not sure Gibbs was the first bowler to 300 also,that would have been Trueman.
Maurice
Guest
What I am tired off is long winded mindless whinging , your comment was as big as the article . The article was good and informative celebrating 2 bowlers 300 wickets with a bit of trivia on the side for comparison
DaveJ
Guest
Correct it was Fred Trueman. These milestones are all well and good but are vastly overrated. Sure they show longevity, which is partly correlated to high quality, which is fairly important if you are to keep taking wickets and getting picked to play for your country. But is completely misleading when comparing players of different generations. Chris Gayle, Justin Langer and Andrew Strauss scored more runs than Bradman, but so what? Almost no one other than Tendulkar and Hammond had longer careers than Bradman so the Don hardly was a slouch in the longevity stakes. Same for bowlers. Brett Lee took 300 wickets but with an average of 31 no one can seriously put him in the same class as Lindwall, who took 228 wickets at 23. And played 5 years longer than Lee! Quite a few of those extra matches for Lee of course were against countries that Lindwall didn’t play- Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, New Zealand. And the Windies of the 50s were worth about 100 more per innings than their successors in the 2000s. As for Aussie off spinners the best records are held by Hugh Trumble - 141 wickets at 22 over 14 years, and Ashley Mallett - 121 wickets at 30 over 12 years. Which isn’t to say that Lyon and Morkel shouldn’t be celebrated- I’m just tired of the mindlessly exclusive focus on aggregate wickets and runs
Aransan
Guest
Thanks Matty. Refer: https://www.quora.com/Who-was-the-first-bowler-to-take-all-10-wickets-in-an-innings-of-test-match-by-bowling-out-batsmen
lao hu
Guest
an Englishman reached the 300 wicket mark before Gibbs. he finished on 307 wickets. Gibbs broke his record.
lao hu
Guest
an Englishman reached the 300 wicket mark before Lance Gibbs
Mattyb
Guest
Anil Kumble has taken 10 wickets in an innings.
SJ
Guest
Not sure about Lyon taking 10 wickets in an innings...
Aransan
Guest
Ten wickets in a match, not an innings. Has any bowler other than Jim Laker taken 10 wickets in a test match innings?
rebel
Guest
Pretty sure thats how most readers would prefer it.
Mattyb
Guest
What on earth is this? It seems like a pointless jumble put together in the disguise of an article.
G Knight
Guest
Somewhat pointless though, just a collection of unrelated stats
bigbaz
Roar Guru
Can't see anything in this article that anyone can have a shot at you about David, very poor.