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Most wickets in an Ashes series: List of leading wicket takers in an Ashes series

Gurpreet Singh
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Most wickets in an Ashes series: List of leading wicket takers in an Ashes series

Most wickets in an Ashes series: Cricket’s oldest rivalry has seen some fierce battles between bowlers from both the nations over the years.

The England men’s Cricket team have not only been humbled but humiliated by their Australian counterparts during the much hyped Ashes 2021-22 series in Australia.

Joe Root’s men catapulted not once, not twice, but three times over in consecutive Tests to lose yet another opportunity to claim the ‘urn’, which has remained their distant dream since the year 2011 on Australian soil. In fact, England have not won a single Test in Australia since the 2010/11 Ashes series.

The fact that England actually spent longer in quarantine upon entering Australia (14 days) than it look them to lose the Ashes series (12 days) is evident enough of the kind of drubbing they’ve been handed by Pat Cummins and his troops.

The year 2021 was, so say the least, the worse England have ever fared in the game’s longest format. Not only did England equal Bangladesh’s all-time Test record of nine Test defeats in a single calendar year, set in 2003, they also equalled their own record of 54 ducks in Test cricket in a year, set in 1998.

The rivalry, which began in the year 1882/83 has seen some intense battles with both bat and ball over the years; and the fight for the ‘Ashes urn’ remains till date in the 21st century.

As far as the most wicket-takers in a single Ashes series between these two rivals are concerned, the list is heavily skewed in favour of the Aussie bowlers, with 7 of them making it to the list comprising the Top 10.

In the ongoing series (2021-22) as well, three Australian bowlers- Mitchell Starc (14), Nathan Lyon (12), and Pat Cummins (10) take the top positions in  the leading wicket-takers list so far.

Most wickets in an Ashes series

Despite the Aussie dominance, it is England’s former off-break bowler Jim Laker who tops the chart of players who’ve taken the most number of wickets in an Ashes series.

Laker had, during the 1956 Ashes (Australia in England) series taken a total of 46 wickets in 5 matches, at a mind-boggling average of 9.60 and a strike rate of 37.0. It was in this very series, that Laker had taken all 10 wickets in a single innings, and had returned with overall match figures of 19/90- a record which is yet to be broken till date.

The Aussies- Terence Alderman (42 wickets, 1981), Rodney Hogg (41 wickets, 1978/79), Terence Alderman (41 wickets, 1989), and Shane Warne (40 wickets, 2005) take the next four positions to complete the Top 5 list of highest wicket-takers in a single Ashes series.

S.NO.PLAYERCOUNTRYYEARMATWKTsBALLSRUNSAVG.ECO
1Jim LakerEngland195654617034429.601.55
2Terence AldermanAustralia1981642195089321.262.74
3Rodney HoggAustralia1978/79641174052712.851.81
4Terence AldermanAustralia1989641161671217.362.64
5Shane WarneAustralia2005540151779719.923.15
6AV BedsarEngland1953539159168217.482.57
7Denis LilleeAustralia1981639187087022.302.79
8MW TateEngland1924/25538252888123.182.09
9Mitchell JohnsonAustralia2013/14537113251713.972.74
10Glenn McGrathAustralia1997636149970119.472.80

About the author

Gurpreet Singh

Gurpreet Singh

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Gurpreet Singh is a Cricket writer at The Sportsrush. His platonic relationship with sports had always been there since childhood, but Cricket managed to strike a special, intimate nerve of his heart. Although his initial dream of playing the sport at the highest level couldn't come to fruition, Gurpreet did represent the state of Jharkhand at the under-14 level. However, almost like taking a pledge to never let the undying passion for Cricket fade away even a tad, he made sure to continue the love relationship by assigning the field of journalism as an indirect Cupid. He thus, first finished his bachelor's in journalism and then pursued the PG Diploma course in English journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC). Soon after and since 2019, he has been working at The Sportsrush. Apart from sports, he takes keen interest in politics, and in understanding women and gender-related issues.

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