Durban, Oct 13 (SocialNews.XYZ) Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood surpassed former speedster Brett Lee in the list of bowlers taking most wickets for Australia in Test cricket with a career-best six-wicket haul in the first Test against South Africa at Kingsmead in Durban on Tuesday.
Hazlewood led the charge for the Aussies with his best haul of 6-49 as he played a vital role in bowling out the Proteas for 206 in the second innings to set up a 214-run win in Durban.
The right-arm speedster has gone past Lee and has become Australia's sixth-highest wicket-taking fast bowler with 311 scalps. Coming into the Test, Hazlewood had 303 wickets, but he took eight in the match, with two coming in the first innings too. Lee had scalped 310 wickets in the format during his illustrious career.
He is the eighth-highest wicket-taker overall for Australia as late spin legend Shane Warne leads the chart with 708 scalps. Nathan Lyon is the only other spinner in the top 10 as he holds the second spot with 573 wickets.
Meanwhile, Hazlewood has also surpassed the likes of West Indies pacer Kemar Roach (304), ex-England speedster Fred Trueman (307), former Windies off-spinner Lance Gibbs (309), and former Proteas speedster Morne Morkel (309) during this Test. He is level with ex-Indian fast bowlers Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan on 311 and has Mitchell Johnson next, with the former Aussie speedster having 313 wickets to his name.
Hazlewood produced brilliance on Day 5 to plot South Africa's downfall. With the Proteas on 102/4 at the start of the final day and needing 319 for an improbable win, Hazlewood took four of the six wickets, including crucial wickets of Wiaan Mulder and Maroc Jansen. Mulder showed resistance as he played 110 balls for 29 but fell to Hazlewood.
Jansen blended resistance with attacking courage but was cleaned up on 35 off a jaffa from the Aussie star, while he also bounced off Simon Harmer in the same over. He got Jansen before bouncing off Anrich Nortje for the final wicket to seal a memorable win.
Source: IANS
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