Josh Hazlewood was on fire for Australia in the first Test against South Africa, which was played from October 9 to 13 at Kingsmead in Durban. In the fixture that the Baggy Greens won by 214 runs under Pat Cummins’ leadership, the 35-year-old Hazlewood picked up two wickets in the first innings and accounted for the dismissals of six South African batters in the second innings.
He bowled 16.5 overs across two days in the second innings of the series opener and conceded only 49 runs to set up a big win for the visitors.
By taking a total of six wickets in the second innings of the first Test in Durban, Hazlewood extended his tally to 311 Test wickets, which also helped him overtake Brett Lee on the list of bowlers with the most wickets for Australia
in the five-day format of the game.
Lee played 76 Tests for Australia from 1999 to 2008 and dismissed 310 batters, whereas Hazlewood now has 311 wickets to his name in 79 matches.
Most wickets for Australia in Tests
| PLAYER | TIME SPAN | MATCHES | WICKETS | BEST FIGURES (INNINGS) | BEST FIGURES (MATCH) | 5W | 10W |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shane Warne | 1992-2007 | 145 | 708 | 8/71 | 12/128 | 37 | 10 |
| Nathan Lyon | 2011-2026 | 144 | 573 | 8/50 | 13/154 | 24 | 5 |
| Glenn McGrath | 1993-2007 | 124 | 563 | 8/24 | 10/27 | 29 | 3 |
| Mitchell Starc | 2011-2026 | 108 | 448 | 7/58 | 11/94 | 19 | 4 |
| Dennis Lillee | 1971-1984 | 70 | 355 | 7/83 | 11/123 | 23 | 7 |
| Pat Cummins | 2011-2026 | 75 | 326 | 6/23 | 10/62 | 14 | 2 |
| Mitchell Johnson | 2007-2015 | 73 | 313 | 8/61 | 12/127 | 12 | 3 |
| Josh Hazlewood | 2014-2026 | 79 | 311 | 6/49 | 9/79 | 15 | 0 |
| Brett Lee | 1999-2008 | 76 | 310 | 5/30 | 9/171 | 10 | 0 |
| Craig McDermott | 1984-1996 | 71 | 291 | 8/97 | 11/157 | 14 | 2 |
He is currently Australia’s eighth-highest wicket-taker in Tests, and if he manages to take three more wickets in the upcoming two Tests against South Africa, he will go past Mitchell Johnson’s tally as well and move into seventh position.
Former left-arm pacer Johnson represented Australia in 73 Tests from 2007 to 2015 and picked up 313 wickets.
Hazlewood’s six-wicket haul in the second innings of the Durban Test has also extended his tally to 147 wickets in the World Test Championship (WTC). He is now just three wickets away from becoming the fourth Australian and the eighth bowler overall to take 150 or more wickets in the WTC.
Most wickets in WTC
| PLAYER | COUNTRY | MATCHES | WICKETS | BEST FIGURES (INNINGS) | BEST FIGURES (MATCH) | 5W | 10W |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mitchell Starc | Australia | 57 | 237 | 7/58 | 10/51 | 8 | 2 |
| Pat Cummins | Australia | 55 | 232 | 6/28 | 10/97 | 10 | 1 |
| Nathan Lyon | Australia | 58 | 230 | 8/64 | 11/99 | 10 | 3 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | India | 41 | 195 | 7/71 | 12/131 | 11 | 1 |
| Jasprit Bumrah | India | 42 | 185 | 6/27 | 9/91 | 13 | 0 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | India | 50 | 164 | 7/42 | 10/110 | 6 | 2 |
| Kagiso Rabada | South Africa | 36 | 164 | 6/46 | 9/72 | 8 | 0 |
| Josh Hazlewood | Australia | 35 | 147 | 6/49 | 9/79 | 9 | 0 |
| Mohammed Siraj | India | 47 | 143 | 6/15 | 9/190 | 5 | 0 |
| Stuart Broad | England | 33 | 134 | 6/31 | 10/67 | 3 | 1 |
For Australia, apart from Hazlewood, left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc picked up three wickets (two in the first innings and one in the second), while Cummins accounted for the dismissals of four batters (three in the first innings and one in the second).
Starc now has 448 wickets to his name in 208 Test matches and needs just two more wickets to become the first left-arm bowler in the world to take 450 Test wickets.
