5 bowlers who took the most wickets in their respective last Tests

Test cricket is the purest format of the game and the one in which all players aspire to achieve the highest level of success.

Unlike the T20 and ODI format, it is the bowlers who win you matches in the Test format as unless a team picks up 20 wickets in a match, there is no way that the result will go their way no matter how much domination they showed with the bat.

The longest format of the game has seen many champion bowlers grace the sport with their legendary careers but there are many who tailored away in the latter part of their career, while there are some who bowed out on a high despite having a not so memorable career.

Let's have a look at the 5 bowlers who took the most number of wickets in their final Test match. As you will see, it is a list which is dominated by quite a few unfamiliar names.

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#5 Colin Blythe (England) - 10/104 vs South Africa at Cape Town, 1910

Considered as one of the finest bowlers of his era, starting from the beginning of the 20th century up until the First World War - often referred to as the Golden Age of Cricket - Colin Blythe enjoyed remarkable success for both England and Kent.

An orthodox slow left-arm bowler who was highly deceptive through the air, Blythe picked up more than 2000 first-class wickets and holds the world record for the highest number of first-class wickets (17) taken in a single day's play.

Though his England career was restricted to just 19 Tests, Blythe managed to pick up 100 wickets with 4 ten-wicket hauls, including one in his final Test against South Africa at Capetown in March 1910.

The hosts had already sealed the 5-match Test series by winning three of the first four matches but England left a good impression of themselves before signing off winning the final match of the series by 9 wickets, with Blythe emerging as the match-winner.

After England had piled on 417 in the first innings, Blythe literally bowled South Africa out of the match picking up 7 wickets in just 18 overs as the hosts were bowled out for just 103.

England skipper Frederick Fane unsurprisingly opted to follow on and Blythe picked up three more wickets in the South Africa's second innings to finish with match figures of 10/104.

England scored the 16 runs needed for victory losing a sole wicket and despite his heroics, the Capetown Test proved to be Blythe's final one for England.

He played on for Kent till 1914 but had an untimely death three years later as he was killed while on war duty during the First World War.

#4 Charles Marriott (England) - 11/96 vs West Indies at The Oval, 1933

Marriott picked up 11 wickets in his one and only Test for England

Considered as the greatest one-Test wonder in the history of the game, the fact that Charles Marriott's England career was restricted to just one Test despite picking up 11 wickets on his debut against the West Indies in 1933 will always remain a mystery.

No other bowler has managed to pick up more than 7 wickets in his one and only Test match and it is truly unfortunate that a player who helped England defeat the West Indies in a little over two days by an innings and 17 runs played no further part with the national side.

Marriott picked up 5 for 37 in the first innings and 6 for 59 in the second as the hosts won the 3-match Test series 2-0 and though he was selected in away tours to both South Africa and India, he was not included in the playing eleven for England.

The fact that his England debut came at the age of 38 might be one reason he wasn't considered for national duty afterward, but as one of the best leg-spinners of his generation, there was still a case for Marriott to be given more chances, especially in an era where players carried on well into their 40s.

#3 Clarrie Grimmett (Australia) - 13/173 vs South Africa at Durban, 1936

Grimmett picked up 216 Test wickets from just 37 matches

New Zealand's loss proved to be Australia's gain as Clarie Grimmett made the switch-over across the Tasman to Sydney and then Melbourne, after making his first-class debut for Wellington at the age of just 17.

The leg-spin wizard had a slow start to his domestic career in Australia but enjoyed the best bits of his career at the international level, picking up 216 wickets from just 37 Test matches.

With 77 wickets in just 10 matches against South Africa, including a match in which he didn't get to bowl a single delivery as the Proteas were bowled out for just 36 and 45 in their two innings, Grimmett was a nemesis for South Africa and he reserved the best for last, picking up 13 wickets in his final Test, aged 44.

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Grimmett's 7/100 helped Australia dismiss South Africa for 222 in the first innings of the fifth and final Test of their 1935/36 tour at Durban and after the tourists took a 233-run lead, Grimmett was at it again picking up six South African wickets in the second innings, conceding just 73 runs from 48 overs.

#2 JJ Ferris (England) - 13/91 vs South Africa at Cape Town, 1892

Ferris represented both Australia and England at the international level

One of the few cricketers to play Test cricket for more than one country, J J Ferris was a devastating left-arm swing bowler who picked up 61 wickets from just 9 Tests at an astonishing average of 12.70, the second-best in history for bowlers with more than 50 Test wickets.

Born in Sydney, Australia, Ferris played the first eight matches of his Test career for his country of birth before moving out to settle in England.

He played only one Test for his adopted country but made it one to remember, picking up 13 wickets as South Africa were bowled out for 97 and 83 in their two innings. England, who scored 369, won the match by an innings and 189 runs.

Despite his impressive performance, Ferris' cricket career was restricted to just Gloucestershire and South Australia afterward and he died aged just 33 after contracting enteric fever during the Boer War where he was serving with the British army.

#1 Sydney Barnes (England) - 14/144 vs South Africa at Durban, 1914

Barnes holds the record for being the quickest bowler to 150 Test wickets

Referred to as "The Bradman of Bowling", Sydney Barnes is one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game, and holds the record for being the quickest to 150 Test wickets, achieving the feat in just 24 matches.

Barnes had an immense ability to swing the ball very late as well as moving the ball from leg to off much like a spinner.

Barnes seemed to get better with age helping England secure the 1911/12 Ashes series Down Under picking up 34 wickets from 5 matches.

The finest episode of Barnes' Test career, however, came in his final series against South Africa as he picked up an astonishing 49 wickets from 4 matches, which is still the record for most number of wickets in a Test series.

South Africa had no clue against Barnes as he ripped through their batting line-up on a regular basis. He recorded figures of 7/56 and 7/88 in the fourth Test of England's tour of South Africa in 1913/14 before pulling out of the final Test owing to a financial disagreement with the England board.

The Durban Test would prove to be Barnes' final match at the international level as the First World War broke out soon after.