<P> As of August 2015 , the retired Sri Lankan bowler Muttiah Muralitharan has the highest aggregate with 800 wickets . He has also taken the most five - wicket hauls in an innings and ten - wicket hauls in a match , 67 and 22 times respectively , and has the fifth best bowling performance in a match , 16 wickets for 220 runs against England in 1998 . Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee is the fastest to accomplish the feat , taking 56 Tests to do so while West Indian Malcolm Marshall has the best bowling average among those to achieve the milestone , taking 376 wickets at an average of 20.94 runs . West Indian Lance Gibbs is the most economical with 1.99 runs per over while South African fast bowler Dale Steyn has the best strike rate of 41.4 balls per wicket . Among those players to have taken 300 wickets , Indian Anil Kumble has the best bowling figures for an innings , 10 wickets for 74 runs against Pakistan in 1999 , which is the second best in the history of Test cricket after English player Jim Laker 's 10 for 53 against Australia in 1956 . </P>
<P> As of August 2015 , the retired Sri Lankan bowler Muttiah Muralitharan has the highest aggregate with 800 wickets . He has also taken the most five - wicket hauls in an innings and ten - wicket hauls in a match , 67 and 22 times respectively , and has the fifth best bowling performance in a match , 16 wickets for 220 runs against England in 1998 . Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee is the fastest to accomplish the feat , taking 56 Tests to do so while West Indian Malcolm Marshall has the best bowling average among those to achieve the milestone , taking 376 wickets at an average of 20.94 runs . West Indian Lance Gibbs is the most economical with 1.99 runs per over while South African fast bowler Dale Steyn has the best strike rate of 41.4 balls per wicket . Among those players to have taken 300 wickets , Indian Anil Kumble has the best bowling figures for an innings , 10 wickets for 74 runs against Pakistan in 1999 , which is the second best in the history of Test cricket after English player Jim Laker 's 10 for 53 against Australia in 1956 . </P>
highest number of test wickets by fast bowler
highest number of test wickets by fast bowler
Sri Lankan bowler Muttiah Muralitharan
Sri Lankan bowler Muttiah Muralitharan