Deadly double acts

Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis razed India, taking 19 wickets between them in 87.5 overs during the first Test at the SSC. The duo overshadowed everyone else: Sri Lanka's new-ball attack, Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Kulasekera, bowled only 30 overs and took one wicket. India's spinners, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, toiled for 80 overs. Kumble didn't take a wicket, while Harbhajan took only two. This week we look at pairs of bowlers who have taken the most wickets in a Test.

Two bowlers have shared 20 wickets in a match on six occasions. The first pair to do it was Australia's Monty Noble and Hugh Trumble, who took 20 England wickets at the MCG in 1902. Noble had figures of 7 for 17 and 6 for 60 and Trumble complemented him with 3 for 38 and 4 for 49. The second occurrence was also in an Ashes Test, at Edgbaston in 1909, when Colin Blythe and George Hirst took 11 for 102 and 9 for 86 to bowl England to a ten-wicket victory.

To say Jim Laker and Tony Lock shared 20 wickets against Australia at Old Trafford in 1956 is overstating it a bit. Laker took a world-record 19 wickets and Lock picked up the one left over. They had a more equitable distribution against New Zealand at Headingley in 1958 where Lock took 11 for 65 and Laker 8 for 44.

The most recent instance, relatively speaking, of two bowlers taking all 20 was at Lord's in 1972. Bob Massie shattered the record for best figures on debut by taking 16 for 137 against England. Dennis Lillee sent down 49 overs to pick up 4 for 140.

Most wickets by two bowlers in a match - Tests (qualification: at least one wicket for each player)

Player	Figs	Player	Figs	Wkts		Team	Opposition	Start Date	Scorecard
MA Noble	13/77	H Trumble	7/87	20		Australia	v England	Jan 1, 1902	Test 66
C Blythe	11/102	GH Hirst	9/86	20		England	v Australia	May 27, 1909	Test 101
AEE Vogler	12/181	GA Faulkner	8/160	20		South Africa	v England	Jan 1, 1910	Test 106
JC Laker	19/90	GAR Lock	1/106	20		England	v Australia	Jul 26, 1956	Test 428
Fazal Mahmood	13/114	Khan Mohammad	7/112	20		Pakistan	v Australia	Oct 11, 1956	Test 430
RAL Massie	16/137	DK Lillee	4/140	20		Australia	v England	Jun 22, 1972	Test 699
FR Spofforth	14/90	HF Boyle	5/43	19		Australia	v England	Aug 28, 1882	Test 9
SF Barnes	11/110	FR Foster	8/70	19		England	v South Africa	Jun 10, 1912	Test 122
SF Barnes	13/57	FE Woolley	6/65	19		England	v South Africa	Aug 12, 1912	Test 128
AER Gilligan	11/90	MW Tate	8/115	19		England	v South Africa	Jun 14, 1924	Test 153
WJ O'Reilly	11/129	CV Grimmett	8/120	19		Australia	v England	Jun 8, 1934	Test 233
H Verity	15/104	WE Bowes	4/122	19		England	v Australia	Jun 22, 1934	Test 234
GAR Lock	11/65	JC Laker	8/44	19		England	v New Zealand	Jul 3, 1958	Test 456
EAS Prasanna	11/140	BS Chandrasekhar	8/179	19		India	v New Zealand	Jan 24, 1976	Test 769
Imran Khan	14/116	Tauseef Ahmed	5/108	19		Pakistan	v Sri Lanka	Mar 22, 1982	Test 927
SK Warne	11/110	CJ McDermott	8/143	19		Australia	v England	Nov 25, 1994	Test 1275
Mohammad Zahid	11/130	Mushtaq Ahmed	8/139	19		Pakistan	v New Zealand	Nov 28, 1996	Test 1342
PCR Tufnell	11/93	AR Caddick	8/118	19		England	v Australia	Aug 21, 1997	Test 1377
AA Donald	11/127	SM Pollock	8/80	19		South Africa	v England	Nov 25, 1999	Test 1471
SJ Harmison	11/76	MS Panesar	8/93	19		England	v Pakistan	Jul 27, 2006	Test 1811
M Muralitharan	11/110	BAW Mendis	8/132	19		Sri Lanka	v India	Jul 23, 2008	Test 1882

In the same Test that Noble and Trumble took 20 England wickets, Sydney Barnes and Blythe shared 18 Australian wickets between them. Barnes also had extraordinary success against South Africa . He took 83 wickets in seven Tests at an average of 9.85 against them. He and Frank Foster took 11 for 110 and 8 for 70 in the first Test against South Africa at Lord's in 1912, and in the Oval Test , Barnes' 13 for 57 was complemented by Frank Woolley's 6 for 65. On the tour of South Africa in 1913-14, Barnes took 17 for 159 at the Old Wanderers, while Woolley, Wilfred Rhodes and Albert Relf shared the remaining wickets. He and Rhodes took 18 wickets between them at Lord's in Durban with Barnes accounting for 14 and Rhodes four.

Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas have never taken all the wickets in a Test between them but they've shared all ten in an innings on five occasions, which is the most by any pair. They did it first against New Zealand at McLean Park in 1995, then against India at the SSC and West Indies in Galle in 2001, against Zimbabwe in Kandy in 2004, and once again at the SSC against West Indies, in 2005. The Noble-Trumble combination is second, having taken all ten in an innings four times.

Vaas and Muralitharan are also one among three combinations that has taken all ten wickets in a one-day international. Vaas broke the world record for best figures in ODIs by taking 8 for 19 against Zimbabwe at the SSC in 2001. He had two overs left to try and take all ten when Muralitharan snapped up the last two wickets in his first over.

The first pair to do it was Greg Chappell and Gary Cosier, both of whom took five-fors against England at Edgbaston in 1977. It was only the second time that Cosier was bowling in his ODI career. England were dismissed for 171 but Australia collapsed for 70 in reply. It remains the only occasion where two bowlers have taken exactly five wickets in the same innings. It happened in the 43rd ODI and hasn't happened in 2693 matches since.

The final instance of two bowlers taking ten wickets between them in an innings was at Trent Bridge in 2005, where Paul Collingwood became the second player after Viv Richards to score a hundred and take a five- for in a match. He took 6 for 31 and Chris Tremlett took the other four wickets as England crushed Bangladesh by 168 runs.