Easily the greatest rivalry in the sport of cricket, The Ashes provides the best of entertainment in the longest format of the game. Having begun all the way back in 1882/83, the competition has an ever greater history than the ICC World Cup and other bilateral competitions, which means plenty of records and milestones have been achieved over the years and decades.
Earlier, we put up an Ashes most runs list with all those batsmen who have amassed the most runs in this series over time and now, we want to focus on the bowlers a little bit more. We think bowlers are the ones who win Test matches and here, we’re listing down the highest wicket-takers in Ashes history, from both Australia as well as England…
The Ashes – most wickets list
Ending his career with the second most Test wickets of all-time only behind Muttiah Muralitharan, it’s no surprise that Shane Warne leads the charts in terms of Ashes wickets as well, ending just 5 short of 200 wickets in this competition. Check out our complete Ashes highest wicket-takers list, last updated on 3rd May 2023, before the start of the Ashes 2023 series in England:
| Bowler | Career span | Wickets (Matches) | 4-fers/5-fers | Best spell |
| Shane Warne 🇦🇺 | 1993-2007 | 195 (36) | 15 / 11 | 8/71 |
| Glenn McGrath 🇦🇺 | 1994-2007 | 157 (30) | 7 / 10 | 8/38 |
| Hugh Trumble 🇦🇺 | 1890-1904 | 141 (31) | 8 /9 | 8/65 |
| Stuart Broad 🏴 | 2009-present | 131 (35) | 5 / 8 | 8/15 |
| Dennis Lillee 🇦🇺 | 1971-1982 | 128 (24) | 8 /7 | 7/89 |
| Ian Botham 🏴 | 1977-1989 | 128 (32) | 7 /7 | 6/95 |
| Bob Willis 🏴 | 1971-1983 | 123 (31) | 4 /7 | 8/43 |
| Monty Noble 🇦🇺 | 1898-1909 | 115 (39) | 1 / 9 | 7/17 |
| Ray Lindwall 🇦🇺 | 1946-1959 | 114 (29) | 3 / 6 | 7/63 |
| James Anderson 🏴 | 2006-present | 112 (35) | 8 /5 | 6/47 |
Six out of the top 10 wicket-takers in Ashes history are from Australia and most of them are pacers and not spinners. In terms of current players, two Englishmen in Stuart Broad and James Anderson have done brilliantly to sustain and have longer Test careers, currently being the only two on the list from current international cricketers.
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While Anderson has a better overall Test record, Broad has made it count more in the all-important Ashes Tests over the years. From players on this Ashes most wickets list, Warne also holds the records for the most 4-fers and 5-fers with 15 and 11 of them respectively. And in terms of the least matches played from players on this list, Dennis Lillee appeared in only 24 Ashes Tests but still managed 128 wickets in them.
Narrowly missing out on a spot on this elite list of Ashes Test wickets was Wilfred Rhodes (109), Sydney Barnes (106), and Clarrie Grimmett (106). From the current lot of active players, Nathan Lyon is the highest outside this list with 101 wickets in hi Ashes career so far. If Lyon has a good Ashes 2023, he’s likely to enter the top 10 most wickets list in Ashes history.
For more updates on Ashes 2023 and on the overall cricketing industry from around the world, stay tuned to ReadScoops.com…
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