Most wickets in an Ashes series: Cricket’s oldest rivalry has seen some fierce battles between bowlers from both the nations over the years.
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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. | PLAYER | COUNTRY | YEAR | MAT | WKTs | BALLS | RUNS | AVG. | ECO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jim Laker | England | 1956 | 5 | 46 | 1703 | 442 | 9.60 | 1.55 | |
| 2 | Terence Alderman | Australia | 1981 | 6 | 42 | 1950 | 893 | 21.26 | 2.74 | |
| 3 | Rodney Hogg | Australia | 1978/79 | 6 | 41 | 1740 | 527 | 12.85 | 1.81 | |
| 4 | Terence Alderman | Australia | 1989 | 6 | 41 | 1616 | 712 | 17.36 | 2.64 | |
| 5 | Shane Warne | Australia | 2005 | 5 | 40 | 1517 | 797 | 19.92 | 3.15 | |
| 6 | AV Bedsar | England | 1953 | 5 | 39 | 1591 | 682 | 17.48 | 2.57 | |
| 7 | Denis Lillee | Australia | 1981 | 6 | 39 | 1870 | 870 | 22.30 | 2.79 | |
| 8 | MW Tate | England | 1924/25 | 5 | 38 | 2528 | 881 | 23.18 | 2.09 | |
| 9 | Mitchell Johnson | Australia | 2013/14 | 5 | 37 | 1132 | 517 | 13.97 | 2.74 | |
| 10 | Glenn McGrath | Australia | 1997 | 6 | 36 | 1499 | 701 | 19.47 | 2.80 |
