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 Jayaraman17-Mar-2017Rangana 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.

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.

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.