Most Catches in International Cricket in all Formats
Most Catches in International Cricket in all Formats: Former Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene holds the record for most catches in International Cricket in all formats. The renowned Sri Lankan batsman took a combined 440 catches in 652 matches (including Test Matches, ODI, and T-20 matches), translating to a catch return of 0.572 per dismissal.
Mahela Jayawardene, whose cricket career spanned from 1997 to 2015, has played 448 One-Day International (ODI) matches, 149 Test matches and 55 T20 International matches for his team. During his cricket career, he scored a total of 25,957 runs at an average rate of 38.15.
Former Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene continues to top the list of most catches in ODI history. During his cricket career, the legendary batsman took 218 catches in 448 ODI matches, becoming the only cricket player to take more than 200 catches in the 50-over cricket format.
Read: Most Catches in International Cricket in all Formats
As far as Test Cricket is concerned, he is one of the three players along with Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis who holds the records for more than 200 catches in this format. He finished his Test career with 205 catches. Finally, he has taken 17 catches in 55 matches in the T20 International format. Interestingly, Mahela Jayawardene is the only cricket player to have taken more than 400 catches in International Cricket.
In the meantime, former World Cup-winning captain Ricky Ponting is second on the list of the most catches in International Cricket. The Australian batsman took 364 catches in 560 matches across all three formats (ODI, Test, and T20), at an average rate of 0.507 per match. Ricky Ponting, who played the most ODI matches (230 matches) as captain, has scored 27,483 runs in 560 matches at a significant average rate of 45.95.
The next renowned cricket player on the list is Ross Taylor, who is a renowned New Zealand cricketer. Considered one of New Zealand’s best-ever batsmen, Ross Taylor took 351 catches in just 450 matches, which translates to 0.642 catches per innings. Taylor’s best statistics in terms of catches came in the shortest format of cricket i.e. T20 format, where he took 163 catches in just 112 matches.
Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid finish in the top five list with 338 and 334 catches respectively in international cricket. Jacques Kallis holds 200 catches in 166 ODI cricket matches with an average rate of 0.509 catches per match during his cricket career.
Rahul Dravid, on the other hand, registered a total of 210 catches in Test matches while taking 124 catches in 244 ODI matches as an Indian cricketer. As far as the top 10 list is concerned, New Zealand’s cricketer Stephen Flaming (with 306 catches), South Africa’s cricketer Graeme Smith (with 292 catches), Australia’s cricketer Mark Waugh (with 289 catches), West Indies’s cricketer Brian Lara (with 284 catches) and Alan Border (with 283 catches) occupy the remaining places in the list.
Most Catches in International Cricket Formats
Cricket Player | Matches | Catches |
Mahela Jayawardene | 652 | 440 |
Ricky Ponting | 560 | 364 |
Ross Taylor | 450 | 351 |
Jacques Kallis | 519 | 338 |
Rahul Dravid | 509 | 334 |
Stephen Flaming | 396 | 306 |
Graeme Smith | 347 | 292 |
Mark Waugh | 372 | 289 |
Brian Lara | 430 | 284 |
Alan Border | 429 | 283 |