Josh Hazlewood drew level with Brett Lee on 310 Test wickets on day five in Durban, with a rising ball that Simon Harmer could only glove behind. One wicket later, he passed him.
Hazlewood finished with 6/49, the best figures of his Test career, as Australia beat South Africa by 214 runs at Kingsmead on 13 October 2026. Set 421, South Africa were bowled out for 206. Australia lead the three-match series 1-0.
He came into the Test on 303, two months after taking his 300th Test wicket in Darwin, and took eight in the match. The ball that matched Lee was the one cricket.com.au clipped and called a “Binga style” ripper. Binga is Lee’s nickname.
The clip shows a short ball and a glove. What it does not show is the ball three deliveries earlier, which did half the work.
South Africa resumed on 102/4. Hazlewood broke a 69-run stand by strangling Wiaan Mulder down the leg side, and Alex Carey took a one-handed catch.
With the second new ball, he beat Marco Jansen through the gate on 35 with one that seamed back and clipped the off bail. Three balls later, Harmer faced a delivery from just back of a length that climbed sharply.
It brushed his glove and shoulder, and Carey leapt high to take the catch. Harmer was out for a duck.
That was wicket 310. Wicket 311 came soon after, when Anrich Nortje popped a pull to short midwicket and Nathan Lyon held the catch to end the match.
“So it was just about running in and hitting that with a bit of a harder ball.”
Josh Hazlewood, post-match, Durban, 13 October 2026
How good was the Binga style ‘rrrripsnorter’ that Josh Hazlewood pulled out to level Brett Lee in a magic moment 🔥
#UnplayablePodcast | @Qantas | #SAvAUS https://t.co/EskaDfu6ex
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) October 13, 2026
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Harmer had spent the day watching an old ball stay low on a pitch that refused to break up. Then he walked in to face the second new ball, three balls after Jansen lost his off bail to one that came back through the gate. Every instinct in that moment says get forward, close bat and pad, and protect the stumps.
That is exactly where a 196cm bowler wants a new batter. A hard ball from just back of a length does not arrive at stump height, it climbs into the gloves of a man already leaning in, with no time to drop them. The Jansen ball put the stumps at the front of Harmer’s mind, and the next one went where he had nothing left to defend.
Hazlewood Among Australia’s Leading Test Wicket-Takers
Hazlewood is now No. 8 on Australia’s all-time Test list.
| Rank | Bowler | Test wickets |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Mitchell Johnson | 313 |
| 8 | Josh Hazlewood | 311 |
| 9 | Brett Lee | 310 |
| 10 | Craig McDermott | 291 |
Lee took his 310 wickets in 76 Tests. Hazlewood has 311 from 79, despite missing the entire Ashes with an Achilles injury. Johnson’s 313 is two wickets away.
Durban was Hazlewood’s 15th Test five-wicket haul. His wickets in 2026 have cost 14.43 each.
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