Highest ODI wicket-takers in each calendar year since 1971

Mitchell Starc leads the table of highest One-Day International (ODI) wicket-takers in 2015 followed by Trent Boult, Steven Finn and Imran Tahir. Bharath Seervi lists the highest wicket-takers in ODIs in each calendar year since 1971.

At the end of September, Mitchell Starc has most ODI wickets in 2015 (41 wickets from 18 ODIs). He is followed by Trent Boult (36), Steven Finn (31) and Imran Tahir (30). With three months left in the year, the positions may change as Australia will not play any more ODIs while New Zealand will play 3, England 4 and South Africa 5. Boult, Finn and Tahir can thus replace Starc at the top.

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In the last calendar year Mohammed Shami and Ajantha Mendis were the joint highest ODI wicket-takers with 38 wickets each. In 2013 it was Saeed Ajmal, who took 62 wickets whereas Lasith Malinga was the topper in 2011 and 2012.

Let us have a look at the highest ODI wicket-takers in each calendar year since 1971 when ODIs began.

–          Only one ODI was played in the first year (1971), in which 3 bowlers took 3 wickets each; they were the joint-highest wicket-takers in ODIs that year.

–          In the 1975 World Cup, Gary Gilmour took 6 wickets in the semi-final and 5 wickets in the final to be the leading wicket-taker of that World Cup as well as that calendar year. He was also the first to take more than 10 ODI wickets in a calendar year.

–          In 1979, Ian Botham and Bob Willis were the joint highest wicket-takers with 16 wickets in 14 and 12 ODIs respectively.

–          Greg Chappell was the first player to take 25 ODI wickets in a year (1981); Shane Warne was the first to take 50 (1994).

–          Saqlain Mushtaq has taken the most wickets in a year in ODIs (69 in 1997).

Team-wise distribution of highest ODI wicket-takers in a calendar year

–          No Bangladesh player has been the highest Test wicket-taker in any calendar year but Mashrafe Mortaza and Shakib Al Hasan topped in ODIs in 2006 and 2010 respectively.

–          For Australia 3 instances were in 1970s, 4 in 1980s, 2 in 1990s and 3 since 2000.

–          For Pakistan 6 of the 10 instances were in 1990s, 2 in 1970s and 2 since 2000.

–          The West Indians were the toppers mostly in 1980s (5 out of 7). The last West Indian to make it to the list was Curtly Ambrose (1991). For England the last was John Emburey (1987).

–          The 1970s were dominated by Australia and England; the 1980s by West Indies; and the 1990s by Pakistan. Since 2000 it has been a mixed composition. Only in 2011 and 2012 have the player was from the same team. In no other consecutive years there was player from the same team.

Bowlers being the highest ODI wicket-taker in a calendar year most number of times (twice or more)

–          Ambrose is the only bowler to top the ODI bowling tables three times, and even that was in a span of just 4 years — 1988, 1989 and 1991.

–          Ambrose, Geoff Arnold, Wasim Akram, Saqlain and Malinga are the only bowlers to be the highest ODI wicket-takers in two consecutive calendar years.

–          Saqlain was the highest ODI wicket-taker only twice, but they were successive years and the number of wickets was incredible — 65 in 1996 and 69 in 1997. He had 134 wickets in 69 ODIs in 2 years.

Bowlers being the among top three highest ODI wicket-taker in a calendar year most number of times (thrice or more)

–          Waqar Younis was the highest ODI wicket-taker only once (1990) but he was the second-highest in 1993 and 2002 and the third-highest in 1994, 1996 and 2001.

–          Dennis Lillee, Chris Old, Arnold, Willis and Saqlain are the only ones to feature in the top three ODI wicket-takers in 3 consecutive years. Arnold and Old did this in the early years of ODIs when not too many matches were played.

–          Since 2000, Malinga is the only bowler to feature on the list, but his 3 times came in 4 years.

Most ODI wickets in a calendar year not to finish as the highest wicket-taker in that year (50 or more wickets)

–          In 1996 (a World Cup year) 4 bowlers took more than 50 wickets; 3 of them appear on this table.

–          In fact, 3 bowlers took more than 60 wickets that year. In no other year has there been more than one bowler with 60 scalps.

–          In 2002 and 2013 three bowlers took more than 50 wickets.

Highest difference in the top two highest ODI wicket-takers in a calendar year (difference of more than 10 wickets)

Bonus Trivia:

Greg Chappell is the only player who has featured in top three highest ODI run-getters as well as highest ODI wicket-takers in the same calendar year. He featured twice — in 1977 (highest run-getter with 174 runs, second-highest wicket-taker with 6 wickets in 3 matches) and 1981 (second-highest run-getter with 454 runs and highest wicket-taker with 25 wickets in 14 matches).

Nobody else has managed this all-round feat, though 14 men have done this in Tests, the last being Botham in 1982.

(Bharath Seervi is a cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at @SeerviBharath and on Facebook here)