Stats Analysis

Herath completes 1000 first-class wickets

Rangana Herath became the second Sri Lanka bowler - and the 12th from the subcontinent -to take 1000 first-class wickets.

Shiva Jayaraman
17-Mar-2017
<span class="ds-text-typo-mid3">ESPNcricinfo Ltd</span>

ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Rangana Herath became the second player from Sri Lanka to take 1000 first-class wickets when he dismissed Mustafizur Rahman in Bangladesh's first innings in the Colombo Test. Muttiah Muralitharan, with 1374 wickets from 232 Tests, is the only other bowler from Sri Lanka with 1000 first-class wickets.
Most first-class wickets - Sri Lanka
Bowler Matches Wickets Ave BBI Five-fors Ten-fors
 Muttiah Muralitharan  232  1374  19.64   9/51  119  34
 Rangana Herath  253  1001  24.94   9/127  64  12
 Dinuka Hettiarachchi  222  929  23.36   8/26  64  16
 Sajeewa Weerakoon  188  802  21.83   7/40  49  12
 Chaminda Vaas  227  772  24.64   7/28  34  4
Herath is the 12th bowler from the subcontinent to take 1000 first-class wickets and the first to the milestone since Danish Kaneria, who had taken his 1000th wicket in 2011-12. Apart from Herath and Kaneria, seven other spinners from the subcontinent have taken at least 1000 first-class wickets. Imran Khan, Sarfraz Nawaz and Wasim Akram - all from Pakistan - are the only fast bowlers. Overall, Pakistan legspinner Intikhab Alam leads the wickets list for the subcontinent bowlers with 1571 from 489 matches. India's Bishen Bedi is the only other bowler from the subcontinent to take 1500 wickets.
Most first-class wickets - subcontinent bowlers
Bowler Mats Wkts BBI Ave Five-fors Ten-fors
 Intikhab Alam  489  1571   8/54  27.67  85  13
 Bishan Bedi  370  1560   7/5  21.69  106  20
 Mushtaq Ahmed  309  1407   9/48  25.67  104  32
 Srinivas Venkataraghavan  341  1390   9/93  24.14  85  21
 Muttiah Muralitharan  232  1374   9/51  19.64  119  34
 Imran Khan  382  1287   8/34  22.32  70  13
 Anil Kumble  244  1136   10/74  25.83  72  19
 Bhagwath Chandrasekhar  246  1063   9/72  24.03  75  19
 Wasim Akram  257  1042   8/30  21.64  70  16
 Danish Kaneria  206  1024   8/59  26.16  71  12
 Sarfraz Nawaz  299  1005   9/86  24.62  46  4
 Rangana Herath  253  1001  9/127  24.94  64  12
Herath joins Bedi as the second left-arm orthodox spinner from the subcontinent to collect 1000 first-class victims. Overall, 30 left-arm orthodox spinners have taken 1000 first-class wickets. Wilfred Rhodes leads the list of left-arm orthodox spinners, and also the all-time wicket-takers' list in first-class cricket, with 4204 victims.
Another Sri Lanka bowler, Dinuka Hettiarachchi, is the closest among active players to achieving the milestone. Hettiarachchi has taken 929 wickets at an average of 23.36 from 222 matches. He is followed by another Sri Lankan Sajeewa Weerakoon, who has 802 wickets from 188 matches.
Leading wicket-takers - active players
Bowler Mats Wkts BBI Ave Five-fors Ten-fors
 Dinuka Hettiarachchi  222  929   8/26  23.36  64  16
 Sajeewa Weerakoon  188  802   7/40  21.83  49  12
 Yasir Arafat  206  787   9/35  24.11  44  5
 Harbhajan Singh  196  777   8/84  28.85  41  8
 James Anderson  203  777   7/43  26.45  38  6

Shiva Jayaraman is a senior stats analyst at ESPNcricinfo.com. @shiva_cricinfo