Kagiso Rabada led South Africa’s fast bowling attack in the third Test against Australia and picked up three wickets in the second innings on Saturday (October 31) to help the hosts secure a 176-run win at Newlands in Cape Town.
The fast bowler opened his wicket account by dismissing Matt Renshaw and Marnus Labuschagne in the first over of the run chase and then picked up Travis Head’s wicket as well. The wicket of Head, who made 14 off 26 balls, on the sixth ball of the seventh over of Australia’s innings helped Rabada take his tally to 350 Test wickets.
Rabada is the quickest bowler in the world (in terms of balls bowled) to take 350 Test wickets. He bowled 13,808 balls to dismiss 350 batters.
Quickest to 350 Test wickets (in terms of balls)
| PLAYER | TEAM | BALLS | MATCHES | AGAINST | VENUE | START DATE |
| Kagiso Rabada | South Africa | 13,808 | 75 | Australia | Cape Town | October 27, 2026 |
| Dale Steyn | South Africa | 14,719 | 69 | India | Durban | December 26, 2013 |
| Waqar Younis | Pakistan | 14,905 | 78 | West Indies | Sharjah | February 7, 2002 |
| Malcolm Marshall | West Indies | 16,285 | 75 | Australia | Bridgetown | April 19, 1991 |
| Mitchell Starc | Australia | 16,908 | 87 | West Indies | Brisbane | January 25, 2024 |
The previous fastest bowler to take 350 Test wickets was Dale Steyn. Steyn, who is South Africa’s highest wicket-taker in Tests, achieved the same feat in 14,719 balls, while Waqar Younis is in third place. The former Pakistan captain needed 14,905 balls to dismiss 350 batters in Tests.
In terms of matches taken to reach the 350-wicket mark in Tests, Rabada is the second-fastest South African. The match in Cape Town against Australia was his 75th Test for the Proteas. Only Steyn (69 Tests) has dismissed 350 Test batters in fewer matches than him.
Fastest South Africans to 350 Test wickets (in terms of matches)
| PLAYER | AGAINST | VENUE | MATCHES | MATCH DATE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dale Steyn | India | Durban | 69 | December 26, 2013 |
| Kagiso Rabada | Australia | Cape Town | 75 | October 27, 2026 |
| Shaun Pollock | India | Kanpur | 86 | November 20, 2004 |
| Makhaya Ntini | England | Birmingham | 90 | July 30, 2008 |
The world record for being the fastest (in terms of matches) to take 350 Test wickets is held by Sri Lanka’s Muthiah Muralidaran. Muralidaran reached the mark in his 66th Test, and later, in 2019, Ravichandran Ashwin equalled that tally.
Fastest to 350 Test wickets (in terms of matches)
| PLAYER | ROLE | COUNTRY | START DATE | MATCHES |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muthiah Muralidaran | Spinner | Sri Lanka | September 6, 2001 | 66 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | Spinner | India | October 2, 2019 | 66 |
| Richard Hadlee | Fast bowler | New Zealand | March 12, 1987 | 69 |
| Dale Steyn | Fast bowler | South Africa | December 26, 2013 | 69 |
| Dennis Lillee | Fast bowler | Australia | January 2, 1984 | 70 |
| Glenn McGrath | Fast bowler | Australia | August 16, 2001 | 74 |
| Malcolm Marshall | Fast bowler | West Indies | April 19, 1991 | 75 |
| Rangana Herath | Spinner | Sri Lanka | November 8, 2016 | 75 |
| Kagiso Rabada | Fast bowler | South Africa | October 27, 2026 | 75 |
After Rabada’s three wickets, spinner Simon Harmer accounted for the dismissals of six Australian batters to help South Africa bowl them out for just 111 runs while defending a target of 288.
Harmer is the second-oldest South African to take a six-wicket haul against Australia in Tests.
