Most wickets taken by a pace trio in a calendar year in Test cricket

(4) Curtly Ambrose / Malcolm Marshall / Courtney Walsh - 118 wickets in 1988

Sir Curtly Ambrose was at the peak of the ICC rankings for most of his career

The West Indies team of the 1970s-80s has always been touted as one of the greatest teams to ever play the 'Gentleman's Game', and huge credit is duly given to their fierce pace attack. Ambrose and Walsh were over 6 ft 5 in, and their height assisted them to bounce the ball unusually high. Malcolm Marshall was relatively short but generated fearsome pace, bowling regularly over 90 mph throughout his career.

Curtly Ambrose debuted in 1988, snapping an astounding 49 wickets in 11 games. The West Indies won 8 Tests out of 12 that year, including a comprehensive 4-0 series win over England and a 3-1 series win over Australia. Marshall took his career best figures of 15.4–5–22–7 in the third Test against England, ending the year with 60 wickets to his name.

Malcolm Marshall - 60 wickets at an avg of 17.87

Curtly Ambrose - 49 wickets at an avg of 23.20

Courtney Walsh - 35 wickets at an avg of 30.83

(The cumulative wickets taken were 144, but 118 wickets were taken when they played together as a pace trio)