Wicked ends to wicket droughts
Bowlers who came back from poor stretches of form with impressive performances
Travis Basevi and George Binoy
31-Aug-2011

Brett Lee ended a stretch of six unproductive ODIs with 4 for 48 in Port Elizabeth in 2006 • Hamish Blair/Getty Images
Two weeks ago, after Alastair Cook converted his Test series average against India from 5.00 to 62.80 with 294 at Edgbaston, we dug up a list of batsmen who ended a run of small scores with a double-century. Harbhajan Singh had the opportunity to perform the bowling equivalent. He averaged 218 for one wicket after Lord's and 143 for 2 after Trent Bridge, but there was no average-plummeting spell from him. He hobbled out of the tour with a stomach injury. Perhaps it'll come against West Indies in November. This week's column is about bowlers who did turn it around, sometimes rather spectacularly.
Bob Holland, the Australia legspinner, was 39. His form had dipped since the five-for at Lord's in 1985 and his figures for the rest of the Ashes were 1 for 90, 0 for 69, 0 for 101 and 0 for 95. He'd been wicketless in the first Test (0 for 106 at the Gabba) of that summer's home series against New Zealand as well, which Australia lost by an innings and 41 runs. At the SCG, however, Holland ended his poor form with 6 for 106 in the first innings and 4 for 68 in the second, becoming the fifth-oldest bowler - the oldest since World War II - to take a ten-wicket haul in a Test.
During West Indies' tour of Australia in 1988-89, two players took five-wicket hauls after going 10 innings with poor results. Before the MCG Test, Steve Waugh had taken only four wickets in 10 previous innings. Waugh then took 3 for 77 in the first innings (lowering his ten-innings average to 75) in Melbourne before picking up 5 for 92 in the second. The fact that he was Australia's most successful bowler meant that West Indies won by 285 runs.
Player | Figs |
---|
Opp
Start Date
Scorecard
Balls
Runs
Wkts
BBI
Ave
5
4
PA Strang (Zim)
5/106
v SL
Sep 11, 1996
Test 1333
1020
483
4
1/1
120.75
0
0
AR Border (Aus)
7/46
v WI
Jan 26, 1989
Test 1113
336
117
1
1/25
117.00
0
0
JW Hearne (Eng)
5/49
v SA
Jan 1, 1914
Test 132
330
232
2
1/5
116.00
0
0
JC Adams (WI)
5/17
v NZ
Apr 19, 1996
Test 1325
414
220
2
2/74
110.00
0
0
ME Waugh (Aus)
5/40
v Eng
Jan 26, 1995
Test 1284
390
206
2
2/63
103.00
0
0
ST Jayasuriya (SL)
5/43
v Zim
Jan 12, 2002
Test 1585
480
203
2
1/34
101.50
0
0
GS Chappell (Aus)
5/61
v Pak
Jan 6, 1973
Test 707
490
194
2
1/28
97.00
0
0
Mudassar Nazar (Pak)
6/32
v Eng
Aug 12, 1982
Test 932
210
96
0
0/1
-
0
0
FMM Worrell (WI)
7/70
v Eng
Jul 25, 1957
Test 442
1164
558
6
2/114
93.00
0
0
FH Edwards (WI)
5/38
v Pak
May 26, 2005
Test 1752
1052
647
7
2/61
92.42
0
0
Abdul Razzaq (Pak)
5/35
v SL
Oct 28, 2004
Test 1719
960
529
6
3/70
88.16
0
0
SK Warne (Aus)
5/52
v SL
Sep 9, 1999
Test 1459
1529
833
10
3/106
83.30
0
0
Mohammad Rafique (Ban)
5/62
v Aus
Apr 9, 2006
Test 1797
1554
796
10
5/114
79.60
1
0
DCS Compton (Eng)
5/70
v SA
Jan 1, 1949
Test 309
550
237
3
1/11
79.00
0
0
Iqbal Qasim (Pak)
6/40
v India
Dec 16, 1979
Test 865
1296
542
7
4/135
77.42
0
1
SR Waugh (Aus)
5/92
v WI
Dec 24, 1988
Test 1112
1044
528
7
3/77
75.42
0
0
BKV Prasad (India)
6/33
v Pak
Jan 28, 1999
Test 1442
1284
600
8
2/61
75.00
0
0
Harbhajan Singh (India)
5/147
v WI
Jun 22, 2006
Test 1807
1564
818
11
3/79
74.36
0
0
Mohammad Amir (Pak)
5/79
v Aus
Dec 26, 2009
Test 1943
954
520
7
2/29
74.28
0
0
CS Martin (NZ)
6/54
v SL
Apr 11, 2005
Test 1748
1229
811
11
5/152
73.72
1
1
In the next Test of that home series against West Indies, at the SCG, Allan Border took 11 for 96 in Australia's seven-wicket victory. In 10 innings prior to his 7 for 46 in the first innings in Sydney, Border had taken one wicket at an average of 117 in 56 overs. In 20 previous innings, he'd taken only one wicket in 91.1 overs. In 17 innings after the 4 for 50 in the second innings at the SCG, Border managed only three wickets. So his career-best was a bolt from the blue.
Daniel Vettori had been struggling for wickets when he came to Bangladesh in 2004. In his previous 19 innings, he'd taken only 20 wickets at more than 70 apiece. Six of his previous nine innings had been wicketless. In the first innings of the first Test, in Dhaka, Vettori took 2 for 26. He was only warming up. In his next three innings - the second in Dhaka and two in Chittagong - he took six wickets each time.
Player | Figs | Opp | Start Date |
---|
Scorecard
Balls
Runs
Wkts
BBI
Ave
5
4
AR Border (Aus)
7/46
v WI
Jan 26, 1989
Test 1113
547
233
1
1/25
233.00
0
0
FMM Worrell (WI)
7/70
v Eng
Jul 25, 1957
Test 442
1788
822
8
2/114
102.75
0
0
JC Adams (WI)
5/17
v NZ
Apr 19, 1996
Test 1325
773
438
5
2/74
87.60
0
0
CH Gayle (WI)
5/34
v Eng
Jul 29, 2004
Test 1708
1412
613
8
2/20
76.62
0
0
CL Hooper (WI)
5/26
v SL
Jun 20, 1997
Test 1371
2112
831
11
3/34
75.54
0
0
Shahadat Hossain (Ban)
5/98
v Eng
May 27, 2010
Test 1958
1778
1215
18
5/71
67.50
1
0
DL Vettori (NZ)
6/28
v Ban
Oct 19, 2004
Test 1715
3266
1480
22
4/158
67.27
0
1
TE Bailey (Eng)
7/34
v WI
Mar 30, 1954
Test 386
2094
926
14
3/71
66.14
0
0
Mudassar Nazar (Pak)
6/32
v Eng
Aug 12, 1982
Test 932
875
382
6
3/48
63.66
0
0
FH Edwards (WI)
5/38
v Pak
May 26, 2005
Test 1752
2121
1458
23
4/70
63.39
0
1
DCS Compton (Eng)
5/70
v SA
Jan 1, 1949
Test 309
1168
500
8
2/32
62.50
0
0
HK Olonga (Zim)
5/93
v Pak
Nov 9, 2002
Test 1625
1851
1121
19
3/18
59.00
0
0
TM Alderman (Aus)
6/128
v WI
Nov 9, 1984
Test 997
2671
1286
22
2/23
58.45
0
0
ME Waugh (Aus)
5/40
v Eng
Jan 26, 1995
Test 1284
786
343
6
2/63
57.16
0
0
EP Nupen (SA)
5/83
v Eng
Feb 4, 1928
Test 172
2685
1124
20
5/53
56.20
1
1
CL Hooper (WI)
5/40
v Pak
Apr 16, 1993
Test 1220
2027
882
16
4/75
55.12
0
1
RF Surti (India)
5/74
v Aus
Dec 23, 1967
Test 624
2034
990
18
3/38
55.00
0
0
M Ntini (SA)
5/19
v Ban
Oct 18, 2002
Test 1619
2067
1155
21
4/93
55.00
0
1
RJ Shastri (India)
5/75
v Pak
Oct 5, 1983
Test 963
3177
1308
24
4/43
54.50
0
1
RJ Bright (Aus)
5/94
v India
Sep 18, 1986
Test 1052
2901
1143
21
5/68
54.42
1
0
Brett Lee has the best ODI strike rate (29.1) among bowlers with more than 100 one-day wickets. His record took a beating in February and March 2006, though, when he went wicketless in four consecutive innings, against Sri Lanka and South Africa. That streak - the only time Lee has been wicketless for more than two successive matches - was bookended by two one-wicket hauls. So he had an average of 210 in four matches before the third ODI against South Africa in Port Elizabeth, where he took 4 for 28 in Australia's 24-run victory.
Player | Figs |
---|
Opp
Start Date
Scorecard
Balls
Runs
Wkts
BBI
Ave
5
4
TM Dilshan (SL)
4/52
v SA
Aug 22, 2004
ODI 2158
303
244
1
1/12
244.00
0
0
RT Latham (NZ)
5/32
v Aus
Mar 28, 1993
ODI 827
138
155
1
1/27
155.00
0
0
Ijaz Faqih (Pak)
4/43
v Aus
Jan 30, 1984
ODI 243
438
304
2
1/41
152.00
0
0
RR Singh (India)
5/31
v SL
May 26, 1999
ODI 1463
354
287
2
2/45
143.50
0
0
SR Tendulkar (India)
4/56
v SA
Mar 15, 2000
ODI 1574
252
241
2
1/39
120.50
0
0
JK Kamande (Kenya)
4/36
v Neth
Jul 3, 2010
ODI 3010
372
327
3
1/37
109.00
0
0
CZ Harris (NZ)
4/40
v India
Jan 19, 1999
ODI 1387
471
375
4
2/44
93.75
0
0
PV Simmons (WI)
4/18
v Aus
Mar 12, 1995
ODI 987
384
279
3
1/22
93.00
0
0
Khaled Mahmud (Ban)
4/19
v Zim
Mar 14, 2004
ODI 2113
496
462
5
2/67
92.40
0
0
HK Olonga (Zim)
6/28
v Kenya
Dec 15, 2002
ODI 1920
384
369
4
1/30
92.25
0
0
PD Collingwood (Eng)
4/38
v NZ
Feb 20, 2002
ODI 1811
307
275
3
1/31
91.66
0
0
Maninder Singh (India)
4/22
v Pak
Dec 5, 1986
ODI 406
534
366
4
2/30
91.50
0
0
CJ McDermott (Aus)
4/56
v India
Oct 9, 1987
ODI 453
570
447
5
1/24
89.40
0
0
RS Kalpage (SL)
4/45
v WI
Dec 16, 1993
ODI 864
537
418
5
3/64
83.60
0
0
S Lee (Aus)
5/33
v SL
Feb 7, 1999
ODI 1403
312
243
3
2/20
81.00
0
0
NO Miller (WI)
4/43
v Zim
Mar 6, 2010
ODI 2970
493
401
5
2/24
80.20
0
0
DL Vettori (NZ)
4/14
v SL
May 19, 2003
ODI 2014
534
314
4
2/18
78.50
0
0
PA de Silva (SL)
4/30
v Eng
Jan 13, 2003
ODI 1934
294
232
3
2/35
77.33
0
0
XJ Doherty (Aus)
4/28
v SL
Aug 20, 2011
ODI 3182
492
383
5
2/37
76.60
0
0
IR Bishop (WI)
4/38
v Pak
Jan 3, 1997
ODI 1157
474
382
5
2/35
76.40
0
0
Travis Basevi is a cricket statistician and UK Senior Programmer for Cricinfo and other ESPN sports websites. George Binoy is an Assistant Editor at ESPNcricinfo