There is a very famous saying in cricket that says, “Batters win you matches, Bowlers win you tournaments.” This statement cannot be underestimated, as this fact is true to a large extent. If we look at the results of big tournaments over the years, a bowler or multiple bowlers must be the star performers for the winning team in that particular tournament.
The same is the case with World Cup qualifiers, where a lot of bowlers have been the heroes for their particular teams. To acknowledge those performances, we will have a look at the top 5 bowlers with the most wickets in ICC ODI Cricket World Cup Qualifiers history.
S. No. Player Country Innings Wickets
1 Roland Lefebvre Netherlands 43 71
2 Ole Mortensen Denmark 26 63
3 John Blain Scotland 27 50
4 Aasif Karim Kenya 30 48
5 Pacer Edwards Bermuda 23 44
Roland Lefebvre (Netherlands)
The bowler with the most number of wickets in World Cup qualifiers is Roland Lefebvre of Netherlands. The Dutch bowler has taken a total of 71 wickets in the 43 innings that he has bowled in the tournament’s history. He played for his country from 1986–2001 for 15 years and was the captain of the Netherlands ODI team as well. He was a right-arm medium bowler in his career.
Ole Mortensen (Denmark)
Next on the list is Denmark’s Ole Mortensen, who has 63 wickets to his name in this tournament in just 26 innings. Ole is one of the most legendary players in the history of Danish cricket. He did not play international cricket but was a beast in domestic cricket and World Cup qualifiers. His career in the qualifiers was fifteen years long, from 1979 to 1994.
John Blain (Scotland)
With 50 wickets in 27 innings to his name in this tournament, Scottish John Blain is third on this list of bowlers with the most number of wickets in World Cup Qualifiers history. He was a right-arm medium-fast bowler who had an excellent skill set and talent. Blain played until 2009 in World Cup qualifiers. He was also inducted into Scotland’s Hall of Fame but was then removed due to some conflict.
Aasif Karim (Kenya)
The only spinner on this list of highest wicket-takers is Kenya’s Aasif Karim, who was a left-arm offspinner and took a lot of wickets in his career. He also captained the Kenya national cricket team on the international stage. Karim has 48 wickets in 30 innings in the tournament. He was considered an all-rounder during his playing days, as Karim was a very useful lower-order batter who finished many games for his team.
Pacer Edwards (Bermuda)
The last player on this list is Bermuda’s fast bowler, who took 44 wickets in 23 ICC ODI Cricket World Cup Qualifier matches. Edwards was a very famous bowler from 1986 to 1994. His name was Anthony Edwards, but he always wanted to be known as Pacer Edwards because of his exceptional fast bowling. Hence, after his death, his name was changed to Pacer Edwards, who is a legend of Bermuda cricket.
