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Vettori 1st left-arm spinner to bag 300 Test wkts

By Rajneesh Gupta
August 26, 2009

Daniel Vettori became second New Zealander (after Richard Hadlee) and 24th bowler overall to take 300 wickets in Test cricket, when he dismissed Kumar Sangakkara's on the first day of second and final Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo on Wednesday.

More remarkably, Vettori is the first left-arm spinner to accomplish the feat.

He was already the most successful left-arm spinner in history, having surpassed Englishman Derek Underwood's tally of 297 wickets in the first Test in Galle last week.

Having already completed his 3,000 runs in Test cricket, Vettori also completed the coveted double of 3,000 runs and 300 wickets, thus joining the ranks with seven other all-rounders.

Top-10 left-arm spinners in Test cricket

Top-10 left-arm spinners in Test cricket

Mts

Overs

Runs

Wkts

Best

Avg

SR

RpO

5WI

10WM

DL Vettori (NZ+)

94

3808.3

10047

300

 7-87

33.49

76.17

2.63

18

3

DL Underwood (Eng)

86

3643.4

7674

297

 8-51

25.84

73.61

2.11

17

6

BS Bedi (Ind)

67

3560.4

7637

266

 7-98

28.71

80.32

2.14

14

1

GS Sobers  (WI)

93

3599.5

7999

235

6-73

34.03

91.91

2.22

6

0

GAR Lock (Eng)

49

2191.1

4451

174

 7-35

25.58

75.56

2.03

9

3

Iqbal Qasim (Pak)

50

2169.5

4807

171

 7-49

28.11

76.13

2.22

8

2

MH Mankad (Ind)

44

2447.4

5236

162

 8-52

32.32

90.65

2.14

8

2

WA Johnston (Aus)

40

1841.2

3826

160

 6-44

23.91

69.05

2.08

7

0

RJ Shastri (Ind)

80

2625.1

6185

151

 5-75

40.96

104.31

2.36

2

0

H Verity (Eng)

40

1862.1

3510

144

8-43

24.37

77.59

1.88

5

2

Note: Garry Sobers and Bill Johnston also took wickets bowling medium pacers. However, it is known how many of their wickets came off each style.

3000 runs & 300 wickets double:

Player

Mts

Runs

Avg

Wkts

Avg

Tests for 3000 + 300 double

Season

IT Botham (Eng)

102

5200

33.55

383

28.40

72

1984

Imran Khan (Pak)

88

3807

37.69

362

22.81

75

1988-89

RJ Hadlee (NZ)

86

3124

27.17

431

22.30

83

1989-90

Kapil Dev (Ind)

131

5248

31.05

434

29.65

83

1986-87

SM Pollock (SA)

108

3781

32.32

421

23.12

87

2004-05

DL Vettori (NZ+)

94

3329

28.69

300

33.49

94

2009

WPUJC Vaas (SL)

111

3089

24.32

355

29.58

108

2008-09

SK Warne (Aus)

145

3154

17.33

708

25.42

142

2006-07

Rajneesh Gupta

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