Bowling Icons Struggle: The Unwanted Record of No 10-Wicket Hauls in Test Career

Bowling Icons Struggle: The Unwanted Record of No 10-Wicket Hauls in Test Career

In cricket, records are created to be broken but the unwanted record of no 10-wicket hauls is something that no bowler will like to have on his name although Test matches are considered the most suitable format for bowlers because bowlers swing the red or pink ball very well and trouble the batsmen with their fingertips from the very first session till the end.

Although there have been many great bowlers in Test cricket and many good bowlers are still playing Test cricket who have so many impressive records registered on their names. In this article, we will talk about one such unwanted record of no 10-wicket hauls that may not be liked by the bowlers on their names. Despite having this unwanted record of not taking a 10-wicket haul(10-fer) in a Test match, those great bowlers had reached on the peak in their careers and some of them are still earning names and fame and remain a part of their respective teams.

It is the dream of every bowler to take a 10-wicket haul in Test in his career, but some famous bowlers could never take 10 wickets in a match in their Test career. Many cricketers among them are retired now while some cricketers are still playing cricket and their hopes are still alive that they will make the record of taking 10 wickets in a test match and will go out of this list of unwanted record of no 10-wicket hauls.

Let us take a look at some of those bowlers who have been deprived of this record till now.

Brett Lee

Brett Lee was the name of nightmare for those batsmen who were fiery to face the pace bowling and this is the reason of putting him as the first name in this list of unwanted record of no 10-wicket hauls in Test cricket. Although Brett Lee had made every batsman sweat with his pace bowling, but he also has an unwanted record in his name that he could never take 10 wickets in a test in his entire career. The regret of this will remain in his career because he has now retired from all types of cricket formats.

Brett Lee’s best bowling figure in an inning is 5-30, which he made in the Brisbane Test of the Fred Worrell Trophy in 2005, while the best bowling figure in an entire test match is 9-171, which he made against New Zealand in the Adelaide Test in 2008.

Brett Lee has been awarded the man of the match award 4 times in Test cricket and Brett Lee was also chosen Man of the Series in the first season of Warne Muralitharan Trophy in 2007, at the same year Brett Lee also won the Man of the Series award in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India. Brett Lee Also won the Australian Test Cricketer of the Year award once in 2008.

Jeson Gillespie

The second name in this list of unwanted record of no 10-wicket hauls is that of Jason Gillespie who has been another Australian bowler of not getting 10 wickets haul in a Test match. Jeson Gillespie has taken 259 wickets in 71 Test matches in which he has made the record of taking five wickets haul in an innings 8 times whereas he also failed to take 10 wickets in an entire Test match. His best bowling figure in Test was 9-80 which he made against India in 2004 in Nagpur.

Morne Morkel

The next name in this list of unwanted record of no 10-wicket hauls is that of South Africa’s legendary tall pace bowler Morne Morkel, who was known for his bouncy length bowling. Morkel has taken 309 wickets in 86 matches in his career and his best Test match bowling figure has been 9-110, which he made against Australia at the Cape Town ground and for this excellent bowling, he got the Man of the Match award.

Neil Wagner

New Zealand’s troublesome left arm pacer Neil Wagner is the next name in this list of having an unwanted record of no 10-wicket hauls in his entire Test career. Neil Wagner has also been a part of the ICC World Test Championship 2021 winning team of New Zealand and his career graph has been very good, he has played 63 matches in which he has taken 258 wickets. His best Test match bowling figures have been 9-73 which he made against Bangladesh in Wellington in 2019.

Josh Hazlewood

The next name in the list is Josh Hazlewood who is still playing cricket and is an important part of Australia’s current pace attack. Josh Hazlewood is the fresh name of unwanted record of no 10-wicket hauls bowlers because Josh Hazlewood has really good record in Test cricket. Josh Hazelwood has taken 258 wickets in 67 matches so far. Since Josh Hazlewood is still playing cricket, there is a high chances that he will definitely achieve the record of taking 10 wickets haul in a Test match. However, currently Josh Hazlewood’s best test bowling figure is 9/79, which he made in his last match against West Indies in the first test match of The Frank Worrell Trophy in 2024.

Apart from this, Hazlewood also holds the record of taking the first wicket in the first day-night Test and he was also the part of ICC World Test Championship 2021 winning team of Australia. At the same time, he is currently at 8 number in the ICC Rankings of Test bowlers while his best ICC Test ranking in his career has been 2nd.

Apart from these names, there are many other names in this list of unwanted record of no 10-wicket hauls in a Test match and most of them have now retired like Jacques Kallis, Joel Garner, Bob Willis. In this list, we have given the names of those players who are either proper bowlers and not an all-rounder like Jacques Kallis or they have played 60 plus Test matches in their career for their national side.