England’s Number 1 Bowlers in Test Match Cricket

Cricket is a game packed with numbers and barely a match goes by without some record being broken. It might be the highest partnership for the eighth wicket in a match between Yorkshire and Hampshire at Scarborough but it is a stat and a record nonetheless. One of the easiest types of statistics to understand and also the most important are those put out by the ICC (International Cricket Council).

For the three main formats of the game – Test, One Day International and T20 – the ICC offer rankings for the various teams, as well as for individual players. In terms of players, there are separate rankings for the three different versions of the game, whilst there are ranks for batters, bowlers and all-rounders.

Our focus here is on the bowlers and, in particular, the rankings for them in the longest, purest and oldest form of the game: Test match cricket. To be more specific still, we are looking at English bowlers, and only those that have made it all the way to the top of the pile.

Over the years a number of wonderful English batsmen have made it to number one. Indeed, Joe Root has occupied top spot on several occasions over the years, whilst David Gower also topped the rankings back in 1985. But what about bowlers?

Jimmy Anderson

Where else to start but James Anderson? Jimmy has a career-high ICC bowler ranking of 903 points which was, unsurprisingly, enough for top spot in the standings. We say unsurprisingly because only 19 bowlers have ever, in the long history of Test cricket, achieved 904 ranking points or more. Indeed, the highest score ever for a bowler is 932, and that was way back in 1914, when the game was a very different sport.

It should be noted that the ratings were only introduced in the late 1980s but they have been applied retrospectively based on the performances of all cricketers since Tests began. In the 21st century, only one bowler has ever reached a score of more than 912, the brilliant Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralidaran (920 in 2002).

To bring a little bit more perspective to the mark that Jimmy reached, in 2018, right now only one player is ranked higher than 865 points and England do not have anyone over 700! Of course, Anderson is a true legend and one of the greatest bowlers to ever play the game and certainly England’s best of all time.

Anderson played 188 Tests for his country and took a mammoth 704 wickets. That puts him at number three on the all-time list and no other fast bowler boasts more than the 604 his long-time colleague Stuart Broad took. Jimmy was remarkably consistent and adaptable, changing his game and adding new tools as he aged and lost pace. Like a fine wine, if anything he got better with age, and actually topped the Test rankings as recently as February 2023. At the age of 40! Make that 40 years and 207 days, in fact!

Records are there to be broken but it is hard to see any English bowler going past Anderson’s Test haul in terms of wickets for a long time. He topped the rankings on several occasions over the years and was genuinely a world-class bowler.

Ian Botham

Ian Botham, now Lord Botham, was one of the game’s greatest all-rounders and was world-class with both bat and ball. It shows just how good he was that despite smashing – and they invariably were smashed – 14 Test centuries, and boasting a top score of 208, he was without any doubt a better bowler than batsman.

He averaged a very respectable 33.54 with the bat, amassing over 5,000 runs from his 102 Tests. With the ball, he took 383 wickets, which was a world record at the time, at an average of 28.40. Having a batting average higher than your bowling is generally taken to be the sign of being a top all-rounder, whilst a benchmark as low – compared to Beefy’s stats – of over 4,000 runs and 200 wickets is also sometimes used.

The former Somerset and Worcestershire star was also a brilliant catcher of the ball and an inspirational leader, whether he was captain at the time or not. He often dragged England through games through force of will and produced many performances that live long in the memory.

Botham achieved a career-high rating as a bowler of 911, sneaking him into the top 10 in terms of career-best rating. That he was able to do this whilst also performing as a batsman makes it all the more special and like Anderson, he would be an automatic pick for any England dream team.

Too Many to Mention

There are, in truth, far too many England bowlers who have topped the rankings over the years, for us to detail them all. As such, here is relatively brief information about many of the others: three of whom have a higher career-best score than Botham according to the ICC rankings!

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  Sydney Barnes – Barnes boasts the highest rating of any test bowler, ever, with a mammoth 932. He did, however, ply his trade on the low-quality wickets at the start of the 20th century. He was fast-medium on a good day but took an incredible 189 wickets from just 27 Tests. He first topped the rankings based on performances up to the 19th of December, 1911.

• George Lohman – Only true cricket historians will know the name of Lohman, who played in the 19th century and had a peak rating of 931, the second highest of all time.
• Tony Lock – Lock played more recently than the players above, making his Test debut in 1952 and playing through to 1968. 49 Tests brought 174 wickets but it was enough to see him top the rankings in 1958, when he peaked at a score of 912.
• Derek Underwood – Underwood was an exceptional left-armer who bowled more at medium pace than the orthodox spin he would typically be described as. Often unplayable in English conditions, he took 297 wickets during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
• Alec Bedser – Bedser was rated at 903 at his highest (the same as Jimmy), but is far less known, despite his 236 wickets.
• Fred Trueman – One of the quickest bowlers to represent England, Yorkshireman Trueman took 307 wickets at just 21.58, stunning stats.
• Jim Laker – Laker topped the rankings and hit his peak during his sensational series against Australia in 1956. He famously took 19 wickets against the old enemy in the Old Trafford Test.

Other England players to have made it to the number one spot include the aforementioned Broad, Steve Harmison, Maurice Tate, plus brilliant spinner and war hero Hedley Verity. Charlie Blythe, Bob Willis, John Snow, Bobby Peel, Wilfred Rhodes and Tom Richardson also achieved the impressive feat.