It's Warne ... for now

A swish, a snick, and when the man at slip rose with a smile, Shane Warne finally had his cherished record. He raised the ball to a rousing ovation as victim No. 533 turned and walked away. It didn't matter that Mutiah Muralitharan would be back making the batsmen sweat all too soon. Warne had it for now, after being only one painful wicket away in early July, as Sri Lanka's battled on in fading light, leaving him stranded on 527, equal with Murali. The record seemed distant then, as Murali was expected to play South Africa at home shortly after. But hampered by his outlawed doosra, he grabbed only five in the first Test, before a shoulder injury sidelined him for four months. Here is a progression of this age's most exciting bowling race:

Progression of wickets	Warne (no. of Tests)	Murali (no. of Tests)
100	23	27
200	42	42
300	63	58
400	92	72
500	108	87
519	111	89
527	112	90
531	113	91
533	114*	-

* denotes Test in progress

Though Murali has played 23 fewer matches than Warne, both have strikingly similar ways of dismissing batsmen. For example, both are roughly equal in stumpings, catches off their own bowling, and catches taken by the fielders.

An analysis of Warne's bowling reveals that, like most good performers, he does better away from home. The strike rate and the average fall, but the average number of wickets he takes in a Test remains more or less the same.

How much has Warne contributed in Australian victories? A lot. Of the 534 wickets he has claimed so far, 378 have come in 66 Australian wins. That leaves 156 wickets in the 48 games his team didn't win. Those wickets cost nearly 37 each.

With the bowling record in his name, Warne is nearly 90 wickets clear of Glenn McGrath in Australia's list of top wicket-takers. With Dennis Lillee, Richie Benaud and Craig McDermott filling up the other spots, the man is in good company. It's notable that both Warne and McGrath have taken part in more victories than the other three.

And that's not the only place Warne stands tall. Of the five, Australia have won more matches when Warne has taken a five-wicket haul in an innings. Nearly four in five matches are won when Warne takes a five-for, while McDermott is at the bottom of the list (no shame there, it's a pretty good list), with his five-wicket hauls bringing victory only 57.1% of the time.