New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond has the chance to smash a national record by becoming the bowler to assemble the fastest 50 Test wickets

Lynn McConnell29-Apr-2003New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond has the chance to smash a national record by becoming the bowler to assemble the fastest 50 Test wickets.While he has not been able to land a big haul of wickets in the first Test against Sri Lanka, in what was his ninth Test match, he ended the match sitting on 41 wickets.That has him on target still, with one more Test in this series, and two, or possibly three, more in India in October-November and two home Tests against Pakistan, to achieve 50 Test wickets ahead of the 14 Tests and 25 innings in which it took Frank Cameron, Richard Hadlee and Daniel Vettori to do it. Hedley Howarth took the same number of Tests but one more innings to reach the milestone.The first Sri Lankan Test has seen him complete his 15th innings.Cameron, probably the longest serving New Zealand selector spanning the period from 1968/69 until 1985/86, had a late start to his Test career on the tour to South Africa in 1961/62. He had made his first-class debut in 1952/53. A medium-pace swing bowler, he became an integral part of New Zealand’s side during the early 1960s.Hadlee is the current chairman of selectors and took 431 Test wickets in a career which lasted from 1972/73 to the 1990 tour of England where he was knighted mid-series. His tally of wickets stood as a world record until being overtaken by India’s Kapil Dev in 1994.Vettori was the youngest New Zealander to play Test cricket when making his debut in both first-class and Test matches against England in the summer of 1996/97. A left-arm spinner he has now taken 142 wickets.The list of New Zealand bowlers to take 50 Test wickets and the number of matches and innings taken is:

Tests   InningsFrank Cameron           14       25Daniel Vettori          14       25Richard Hadlee          14       25Hedley Howarth          14       26Simon Doull             15       21Chris Cairns            16       24Dion Nash               16       26Richard Collinge        16       28Shayne O'Connor         16       29Danny Morrison          17       26Dayle Hadlee            17       27Bruce Taylor            17       28John Bracewell          17       32Dick Motz               18       30Ewen Chatfield          18       31Lance Cairns            19       28Stephen Boock           20       32Bob Cunis               20       37Tony MacGibbon          21       30Martin Snedden          21       34Dipak Patel             27       36John Reid               38       45Bevan Congdon           49       50

Bond is even more closely poised to take his 50th wicket in One-Day Internationals. He has taken 49 wickets at 19.63 in 26 matches.The best New Zealander is former left-arm pace bowler Geoff Allott, who took 50 wickets in 28 matches.Should Bond take a wicket in his next match, he would join Pakistan’s Waqar Younis in seventh-equal fastest position.The world record is held by India’s Ajit Agarkar who took 23 matches. Dennis Lillee (Australia) took 24 matches and countryman Shane Warne 25 matches. Australian Len Pascoe and West Indians Patrick Patterson and Curtly Ambrose each took 26 matches.Ian Bishop (West Indies), Saqlain Mushtaq (Pakistan) and Allott all share 28 matches for the feat.Meanwhile, Daryl Tuffey has extended his already outstanding record for first over dismissals in internationals as the result of having Marvan Atapattu out leg before wicket in the opening over of the Sri Lankan innings.He has now performed the feat seven times in Tests and nine times in One-Day Internationals.His record is:Tests:Marcus Trescothick (England at Auckland, 2001/02 – second ball), Mark Butcher (England at Auckland 2001/02 – fifth ball), Shahid Afridi (Pakistan at Lahore, 2002 – third ball), Virender Sehwag (India at Wellington, 2002/03 – sixth ball), Sanjay Bangar (India at Hamilton, 2002/03 – third ball), Parthiv Patel (India at Hamilton, 2002/03 – sixth ball, second innings), Marvan Atapattu (Sri Lanka at Colombo, 2003 – fourth ball).ODIs:Saeed Anwar (Pakistan at Napier 2000/01 – first ball), Saeed Anwar (Pakistan at Christchurch, 2000/01 – sixth ball), Marvan Atapattu (Sri Lanka at Sharjah, 2000/01 – second ball), Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka at Sharjah 2000/01 – third ball), Marcus Trescothick (England at Auckland, 2001/02 – third ball), Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka at Sharjah, 2001/02 – third ball), Imran Nazir (Pakistan at Rawalpindi, 2002 – first ball), Sourav Ganguly (India at Napier, 2002/03 – third ball), Sourav Ganguly (India at Wellington 2002/03 – first ball).