The fast Australian team achieved a historic feat: Mitchell Starc took 450 wickets in Test matches against South Africa. With this, he became the first left-arm bowler in the world to reach this milestone.
This significant milestone was reached on the third day of the match, which is being played at the Stuut-George Park in Gqeberha against South Africa. Starc secured his 450th wicket by dismissing Wayne Mulder, who was caught by Matt Renshaw.
It is particularly noteworthy that Starc broke the record of the great Australian bowler Glenn McGrath for the number of balls bowled. McGrath took his 450 wickets by bowling 23,474 deliveries, whereas Starc achieved this fantastic figure in only 20,577 deliveries.
Although McGrath reached this result in 100 matches, Starc achieved this benchmark in his 109th Test match. Overall, the record for the fastest accumulation of 450 Test wickets belongs to Mutiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka, who achieved it in his 80th match.
Furthermore, after Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, and Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc became the fourth bowler in Australian history to take 450 or more Test wickets. His outstanding performance proved crucial for the Kangaroos team.
In the list of left-arm bowlers, Starc holds leading positions:
- Mitchell Starc: 450* wickets (109 matches)
- Rangana Herath: 433 wickets (93 matches)
- Wasim Akram: 414 wickets (104 matches)
- Daniel Vitori: 362 wickets (113 matches)
- Ravindra Jadeja: 556 wickets (91 matches)