Stats: Highest wicket-takers in Test cricket in each year starting from 1877 to 2015

Ashwin is the leading Test wicket-taker in 2015

The first Test match was played between Australia and England from 15th March to 19th March 1877. To date, 2194 Test matches have been played and many records have been created and broken in those Test matches.

We know that cricket is a team game. All the players in the squad have a role to play in the side, even those who don’t make it to the playing eleven. It is the different skillsets of various individual players that combine together to form a team.

The same logic goes for the bowling unit. The different kinds of bowlers in a team gel together to form a bowling attack. But sometimes an individual bowler is forced to handle the responsibilities of the entire bowling attack.

There have been some memorable instances in cricket when an individual, through his great performances, galvanised his team by taking wickets whenever his team needed him to and thereby at the end of the year ended up becoming the highest wicket taker of the year.

You might have all read, who holds the records for the respective years in ODIs, but you may not know the same for Tests.

Here we have presented a table that contains all bowlers’ details who have been highest wicket takers in respective years in Test cricket starting from 1877:

Note: There were no Tests played in 1878, 1891, 1900 and during two World Wars 1915-1919 and 1940-1945.

Year	Player name	Country	Matches	Wickets
1877	Tom Kendall	Australia	2	14
1879	Fred Spofforth	Australia	1	13
1880	Fred Morley	England	1	8
1881	William Cooper	Australia	1	9
1882	Joey Palmer	Australia	4	31
1883	Billy Bates	England	3	18
1884	Joey Palmer	Australia	4	20
1885	Fred Spofforth	Australia	3	19
1886	Johnny Briggs	England	3	17
1887	JJ Ferris	Australia	2	18
1888	Bobby Peel	England	4	33
	Charlie Turner	Australia	4	33
1889	Johnny Briggs	England	2	21
1890	JJ Ferris	Australia	2	13
1892	Johnny Briggs	England	3	17
1893	George Giffen	Australia	3	16
	Johnny Briggs	England	2	16
1894	George Giffen	Australia	2	14
1895	George Giffen	Australia	3	20
1896	George Lohmann	England	4	38
1897	Jack Hearne	England	1	9
1898	Monty Noble	Australia	4	19
	Ernie Jones	Australia	4	19
1899	Ernie Jones	Australia	5	26
1901	Len Braund	England	1	7
	Colin Blythe	England	1	7
1902	Hugh Trumble	Australia	8	53
1903	Wilfred Rhodes	England	1	7
1904	Wilfred Rhodes	England	4	24
	Hugh Trumble	Australia	4	24
1905	Warwick Armstrong	Australia	5	16
	Frank Laver	Australia	5	16
1906	Walter Lees	England	5	26
1907	Colin Blythe	England	4	27
1908	Walter Lees	England	4	28
1909	Colin Blythe	England	2	18
1910	Bert Vogler	South Africa	6	36
1911	Ranji Hordern	Australia	4	30
1912	Sydney Barnes	England	9	61
1913	Sydney Barnes	England	2	27
1914	Sydney Barnes	England	2	22
1920	Jack Gregory	Australia	2	14
1921	Arthur Mailey	Australia	9	55
1922	Jimmy Blanckenberg	South Africa	1	9
1923	Alf Hall	South Africa	4	27
1924	Maurice Tate	England	6	38
1925	Maurice Tate	England	4	27
1926	Arthur Mailey	Australia	5	14
1927	George Geary	England	2	12
1928	Tich Freeman	England	6	29
1929	Tich Freeman	England	3	22
1930	Clarrie Grimmett	Australia	6	40
1931	Bert Ironmonger	Australia	7	42
1932	Bill O’Reilly	Australia	4	20
1933	Hedley Verity	England	7	23
1934	Hedley Verity	England	7	43
1935	Chud Langton	South Africa	7	23
1936	Clarrie Grimmett	Australia	3	33
1937	Chuck Fleetwood-Smith	Australia	3	19
	Bill O’Reilly	Australia	3	19
	Jack Cowie	New Zealand	3	19
1938	Hedley Verity	England	6	23
1939	Ken Farnes	England	3	14
1946	Alec Bedser	England	5	27
1947	Doug Wright	England	8	36
1948	Ray Lindwall	Australia	8	39
1949	Athol Rowan	South Africa	3	19
1950	Alf Valentine	West Indies	4	33
1951	Alec Bedser	England	10	49
1952	Vinoo Mankad	India	9	51
1953	Alec Bedser	England	5	39
1954	Brian Statham	England	11	41
1955	Subhash Gupte	India	9	46
1956	Jim Laker	England	6	48
1957	Hugh Tayfield	South Africa	6	43
1958	Roy Gilchrist	West Indies	7	36
1959	Richie Benaud	Australia	8	54
1960	Fred Trueman	England	10	46
1961	Alan Davidson	Australia	7	37
1962	Fred Trueman	England	6	33
1963	Fred Trueman	England	10	57
1964	Graham McKenzie	Australia	14	71
1965	Fred Titmus	England	11	31
1966	Ken Higgs	England	8	41
1967	EAS Prasanna	India	6	24
1968	John Snow	England	9	44
1969	EAS Prasanna	India	8	46
1970	Mike Procter	South Africa	4	26
1971	Srinivas Venkataraghavan	India	8	35
1972	Dennis Lillee	Australia	7	39
1973	Geoff Arnold	England	12	42
1974	Tony Greig	Australia	14	46
1975	Dennis Lillee	Australia	10	49
1976	Michael Holding	West Indies	11	53
1977	Bob Willis	England	11	50
1978	Ian Botham	England	12	66
1979	Kapil Dev	India	17	74
1980	Joel Garner	West Indies	12	53
1981	Dennis Lillee	Australia	13	85
1982	Imran Khan	Pakistan	9	62
1983	Kapil Dev	India	18	75
1984	Joel Garner	West Indies	15	79
1985	Richard Hadlee	New Zealand	10	64
1986	Malcolm Marshall	West Indies	8	43
1987	Abdul Qadir	Pakistan	10	45
1988	Malcolm Marshall	West Indies	10	60
1989	Terry Alderman	Australia	10	50
1990	Waqar Younis	Pakistan	9	49
1991	Craig McDermott	Australia	9	56
1992	Craig McDermott	Australia	8	41
1993	Shane Warne	Australia	16	72
1994	Shane Warne	Australia	10	70
1995	Courtney Walsh	West Indies	12	62
1996	Venkatesh Prasad	India	8	37
1997	Shane Warne	Australia	15	68
1998	Allan Donald	South Africa	14	80
1999	Glenn McGrath	Australia	14	67
2000	Muttiah Muralitharan	Sri Lanka	10	75
2001	Muttiah Muralitharan	Sri Lanka	12	80
2002	Shane Warne	Australia	10	67
2003	Makhaya Ntini	South Africa	12	59
2004	Anil Kumble	India	12	74
2005	Shane Warne	Australia	15	96
2006	Muttiah Muralitharan	Sri Lanka	11	90
2007	Anil Kumble	India	10	49
2008	Dale Styen	South Africa	13	74
2009	Mitchell Johnson	Australia	13	63
2010	Greme Swann	England	14	64
2011	Saeed Ajmal	Pakistan	8	50
2012	Rangana Herath	Sri Lanka	10	60
2013	Stuart Broad	England	14	62
2014	Rangana Herath	Sri Lanka	9	56
2015	Ravichandran Ashwin	India	9	62