There is no denying the fact that batsmen set up a Test match for a team, but it’s the bowlers who seal the game for a team win a five-day game’, but it holds true even today, and it will continue to so. No matter how many runs batsmen accumulate, if teh bowlers fail to take 20 wickets, then the most that a team can do is avoid a defeat. The chances of a team winning a five-day game without a potent bowling attack are extremely slim.

And, perhaps, the inaugural cycle of the ICC World Test Championship and the eventual positions of all the teams testify that to the hilt. Here are the top 5 teams with the most wickets taken by their bowlers during the inaugural WTC cycle:

#5 South Africa – Matches- 12, Innings- 21, Wickets- 181, Avg/SR- 34.33/60.9, 5/10- 8/0

The World Test Championship coincided with South Africa’s decline in international cricket and the fact that they played 5 of their 12 Test matches in the sub-continent India (3) and Pakistan (2) definitely worked against them. Even in the home Tests, they serve flat tracks to the English and Sri Lankan teams. In India, South Africa failed to claim 20 wickets in all three Tests, however, their bowling attack managed to scaped 181 wickets in 111 innings across 12 Tests at an average of 34.33 and a strike rate of 60.9. 

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Their best bowler throughout the cycle was undoubtedly Anrich Nortje, who claimed as many as 46 wickets in 11 Tests at an average of 27.06 as he also scalped 3 five-wicket-hauls. Kagiso Rabada took 32 wickets in 15 innings at 29.53 with just 1 five-for. Their issues in Asia can be gauged from the fact that their leading spinner, Keshav Maharaj, was largely ineffective. In 16 innings, Maharaj managed a mere 28 wickets at an average of 50.35.