Most Test Wickets For New Zealand

When it comes to the New Zealand their population may be not that much as other cricket playing nations but they have earned love and respect from all over the world because of cricket players and spirit they shows on the field. Players like Brendon McCullum, Trent Boult, Daniel Vettori, Tim southee and many more players impressed the fans over the globe with their performance. When we look at the New Zealand in terms of Test Cricket they has always known as strong contender of this format mainly because of their bowlers. But have you ever thought who has most test wickets for New Zealand?

Certainly New Zealand has produced great bowler in the test cricket who has been a big threat for the batsman’s of world cricket. Hence, let’s talk about some players who has the Most Test Wickets For New Zealand.

Table of Contents

Top 5 New Zealand Bowlers Who has taken the most test wickets

1. Richard Hadlee

Actually I don’t have any words to describe this legendary bowler, When I saw the highlights of Sir Richard Hadlee bowling it was treat for the eyes. Richard Hadlee has the most test wickets for New Zealand where he has played 86 matches and grabbed 431 wickets with outstanding average of 22.29 which also contains 36-times five wicket hauls and 9-times 10 wicket hauls.
I think the above stats is enough to describe what kind of bowler he was in his era, Possibly Richard Hadlee has the smoothest bowling action I have ever seen in the cricket. His ability to swing the ball inside and outside from the off stump was absolutely stunning to watch.
If we talks about records, he was the only bowler for the zealand to take 15 wickets in a test match which came against Australia and also helped New Zealand to win their first ever test match on Australian soil with his match winning spell of 15/123. Apart from his bowling he his loved for his calmness and smile on his face on the field regardless of the situation.

2. Tim Southee

The current captain of Kiwis, Tim Southee is the 2nd player with most test wickets for New Zealand where he deceived almost every modern day test legends with his hard length and pace bowling. Southee’s test career has started in 2008 and still going on in 2023, in the span of 14 years of his test cricket he scalped 370 test wickets out of 94 games he played.
Moreover, Tim Southee takes wicket in every 29 balls where he also got 19- fifers and 1-10 wickets haul in his test journey. Southee has almost played in every possible condition be it England, Australia or Asia but one thing which remained constant was his performance and skill of deceiving batsman with his bowling.
Captain Southee is not only adds value with his bowling to the team but also with his handy batting on crucial situations, where he scored 1,976 runs with 6-half centuries as well. If you are confused why Williamson is not the test captain of New Zealand instead of Southee let me clear, It’s because of Kane Williamson stepped down as a test captain in 2022 to manage the workload.

3. Daniel Vettori

If there is ever a discussion on the best left arm spinners in the cricket history, it is not possible to consider Daniel Vettori on that list. Vettori may look like a calm and decent man by wearing spects but, when it comes to destroying batsmans mentally and with his spin he was definitely not that person.
Vettori’s test career started in year 1997 and dominated the international cricket till 2014, where he played 112 test matches in which he picked 361 wickets and became the 3rd player to register in the list of most test wickets for New Zealand. No doubt Vettori’s leg spin was his main aspect of his success but to not forget his arm ball and slider which was also a threat for batsmans to face.
Furthermore, If we look at vettori’s performance on Indian rank turners it was not up to the mark for was vettori is known for. Nevertheless, his best bowling figure on Indian pitches was at the Ahmedabad where he got 6 wickets by giving 199 runs which was not that bad though.

4. Trent Boult

As a Indian fan, we all know how good Trent Boult is with his left arm pace bowling where he showed his masterclass in 2019 world cup semi-final against India and made the top order completely hopeless. The Swing master Trent Boult claims 4th position when it comes to having the most test wickets for New Zealand by taking 317 wickets in just 78 matches till now.
The stock delivery of Trent Boult mainly for right handers, when ball comes from 4th stump to middle stump on in-swing delivery at the good length spot, where he dismissed many batsman from that line and length. Especially on the English conditions he becomes more dangerous to face.
Apart from test cricket, he has earned his name for white ball cricket as well, T20 leagues like IPL gave him that platform to showcase his skills in short format. At present, Boult plays for the Rajasthan Royals franchise where he is known for his ability of taking wicket in first over itself.

5. Neil Wagner

One of most underrated bowler in test cricket, Left hand fast bowler Neil Wagner ends this list by having 258 test wickets in 63 games with best bowling spell of 9/73 against the aussies and became the 5th bowler who has picked most test wickets for New Zealand.
Furthermore, possibly he is the only bowler who troubled the current best test batsman Steve Smith in the test series in Australia in 2019. In that tour, Neil wagner owned Steve Smith with his great tactics and short length bowls where he dismissed him 4 times on the same short balls.
He not only became headache for Smith but also players like Marnus Labuschagne, David Warner, and Trevis Head who struggled against the hard length deliveries of Wagner. However, Wagner’s test career was began in 2012 which is still running at the age of 37 years, if he can play another 1 or 2 years he will surely go up in this wickets tally.

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Dhruvv

Founder and Senior Content Writer at Cric Eye.

Contact me at : founder@criceye.com