Can Dale Steyn become the fastest bowler to 300 Test wickets?
 

In June 2010 Dale Steyn became the 4th fastest test bowler to 200 test wickets, (in terms of matches) can he become the quickest to 300?

Fastest bowlers to 300 test wickets

1) DK Lillee 56 matches
2) M Muralitharan 58 matches
3) RJ Hadlee 61 matches
4) MD Marshall 61 matches
5) SK Warne 63 matches
6) AA Donald 63 matches
7) GD McGrath 64 matches
8) FS Trueman 65 matches
9) Waqar Younis 65 matches
10) A Kumble 66 matches

Fastest to 350 test wickets

1) M Muralitharan 66 matches

Fastest to 400 test wickets

1) M Muralitharan 72 matches

Fastest to 500 Test wickets

1) M Muralitharan 87 matches.

DW Steyn 238 wickets in 46 matches.

To become the quickest ever to (300 test wickets) he would have to get 62 wickets in 9 games requiring 6.89 wickets per match. Difficult yes but with 5 home tests against countries who have shown vulnerability against pace and swing (Australia and Sri Lanka) He could have a chance. In his last 3 tests he took 21 wickets in 3 matches. If he was to continue this he would just get the record.

Whether he gets it or not he is likely to be high up on a list that most bowlers could only dream of getting anywhere near.

Not a bad list is it.

The answer, as ever with these threads, is yes, but it's not likely.

I would expect him to sit somewhere mid-table amongst that lot, and injuries permitting, he should sail past the 300 mark and challenge for the top spot when he's pushing 400.

Edit: On second thoughts, I don't know how quickly Murali went from 300 to 400, but I suspect it was during that freak period of his where he was getting 7-8 wpm, so Murali might have a lot of these records beyond the realms of a fast bowler.

400: Murali 72, Hadlee 80, Kumble 85, McGrath 87, Warne 92
500: Murali 87, Kumble 105, Warne 108, McGrath 110
600: Murali 101, Kumble 124, Warne 126

Murali was the quickest to 350 in 66 matches and the quickest to 400 in 72 matches. For some reason everyone was slow in between 300 and 350 so that's something Steyn could definitely target.

I have updated the original post with the fastest to 350, 400 and 500 wickets. All Murali.

Ha ha, Murali went from 300 to 700 in 55 Tests.

That's ****ing ridiculous.

Steyn with 3 Tests against NZ should probably result in him taking a good 20-25 odd.

you are joking right?

can't be true?

OMG he's right.
:-O:-O

From 1998 to 2005 Muralitharan took 449 wickets @ 19.87!

Freaking awesome for any bowler!...and almost Bradman-esque when you compare that with other off-spinners of the last 40 years...

That's sick!! 400 wickets at a better rate than Barnes'

Murali is god :notworthy


steyn will probably finish from 3rd to 5th on that list

That's just crazy.

Well, almost a quarter of those wickets were against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe TBF. Averaged ~22 without them.

Only 22? What a shunt.