World-record holders over the years

708: Muttiah Muralitharan bowled Paul Collingwood in his 116th Test, against England in Kandy 2007-08, to go past Shane Warne's record of 708 Test wickets.

532: Warne broke Murali's tally of 532 wickets by dismissing Irfan Pathan in Chennai in October 2004. It was Warne's 114th Test.

527: Murali grabbed the record after both, Warne and he, were on 527 wickets each. Martin van Jaarsveld was Murali's 528th wicket in Galle in August 2004.

527: Warne equalled the world record for the first time when he had Upul Chandana stumped in Cairns in 2004 but he couldn't go past Murali in his 112th Test.

519: Murali claimed the record for the first time, from Courtney Walsh, by dismissing Mluleki Nkala in Harare in 2004. It was his 89th Test and it was the first time that a spinner had the record since Lance Gibbs.

434: Walsh became the first, and to date only, West Indian fast bowler to hold the record for most Test wickets. Walsh surpassed Kapil Dev's 434 wickets when he dismissed Henry Olonga in his 114 Test at Sabina Park in March 2000.

431: Kapil Dev huffed and puffed past Richard Hadlee's record of 431 wickets in his 130th Test, against Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad in February 1994. Hashan Tillakaratne was his victim. He had equalled Hadlee in the previous Test against Sri Lanka in Bangalore.

373: Hadlee equalled Ian Botham's tally of 373 wickets against Australia in Melbourne in December 1987; went wicketless in his next Test against England in February 1988; and broke the record in his 75th Test, against India in Bangalore in November 1988.

355 - Botham took the record from Dennis Lillee in his 86th Test. He returned from drugs ban at The Oval in 1986 and dismissed Bruce Edgar with his first ball to equal Lillee's record, prompting Graham Gooch to ask "Who writes your scripts?" He dismissed Jeff Crowe in his second over to claim the record.

309 - Lillee destroyed West Indies with 7 for 83 in Melbourne in December 1981 to take the record from Lance Gibbs. Lillee was playing his 58th Test and Larry Gomes was his 310th wicket.

307: Gibbs drew level with Fred Trueman's tally of 307 wickets in the fifth Test against Australia in Adelaide in January 1976 and broke the record when he dismissed Ian Redpath in the next Test in Melbourne, which was his last match.

242: Fred Trueman beat Brian Statham's 242 Test wickets in his 56th Test, by taking 9 for 91 against New Zealand in Christchurch in March 1963.

236: Brian Statham became the world-record holder, surpassing Alec Bedser, when he took his 237th wicket - Barry Shepherd - in Adelaide in January 1963.

216: Bedser broke Clarrie Grimmett's record of 216 wickets in his 46th Test when he dismissed Australia's Gil Langley at Headingley in July 1953.

189: Grimmett went past Sydney Barnes' record tally of 189 in his 35th Test by taking 10 for 88 against South Africa at Newlands in 1936.

142: Barnes overtook Hugh Trumble's 141 wickets in only his 23rd Test when took 10 for 105 against South Africa in Durban in December 1913.

119: Trumble beat Johnny Briggs' 119 wickets when he took 9 for 141 against England in Melbourne in 1904.

We'll stop the timeline at Briggs because he was the record holder at the turn of the 20th century and the record changed hands far too frequently before that.