McGrath-Warne, Tendulkar-Dravid & other prolific pairs

The 1001 wickets that Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne scalped in 104 Tests is a statistic that received much attention in recent weeks. To put it in perspective, take a look at second place, occupied by Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas with 772 wickets in 81 Tests. If they continue to take an average of 9.53 wickets per match - which is what they have done to date - Murali and Vaas will have to play at least 24 more games together to beat McGrath and Warne. It's unlikely that they will but stranger things have happened. This week's List is about prolific partnerships of all sorts.

Australia won 71 Tests in which McGrath and Warne both took the field. It's a watertight record unless Adam Gilchrist plays for another 18 months and the nine Tests in that period; Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting are second with 63 wins together. Despite featuring in 104 Tests, though, McGrath and Warne do not hold the record for playing in the most matches together. That honour belongs to the Waugh twins who played together an astonishing 108 times. Incidentally, Mark played 107 of his 128 matches at a stretch, which is the second longest streak after Allan Border.

Most matches playing alongside each other - Tests

Player	Span	Mat	Runs	100s	Wkts	5wi
ME Waugh, SR Waugh (Aus)	1991-2002	108	14326	41	95	2
A Kumble, SR Tendulkar (India)	1990-2007	105	10381	29	531	30
N Kapil Dev, DB Vengsarkar (India)	1978-1992	104	10534	22	364	21
GD McGrath, SK Warne (Aus)	1993-2007	104	2892	0	1001	51
IA Healy, MA Taylor (Aus)	1989-1999	103	11497	23	1	0
SK Warne, ME Waugh (Aus)	1992-2002	103	8507	16	517	24
IA Healy, SR Waugh (Aus)	1988-1999	101	10862	24	61	2
CG Greenidge, IVA Richards (WI)	1974-1991	99	13811	38	25	0
MA Atherton, AJ Stewart (Eng)	1990-2001	99	12700	24	1	0
SK Warne, SR Waugh (Aus)	1992-2002	96	8630	20	486	21

Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble, currently on 105 Tests, are poised to overtake the Waughs' record when they tour England later this year. Tendulkar has also amassed 16,156 runs in 95 matches with Rahul Dravid and the closest competitors in this category are Ponting and Matthew Hayden, who've scored 14,326 runs at 186.30 per Test. They, with 57 wins for Australia, are closest to the McGrath-Warne record followed by Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher with 45 wins. Our bet, however, is on Ponting and Brett Lee nailing that particular record: they've so far featured in 43 wins for Australia.

You'd think that Brian Lara would figure high up on the list of run-scoring pairs, given that he has scored the most Test runs, but the first West Indian pairing is Gordon Greenidge and Viv Richards who scored 13,811 runs in the 99 Tests they played together. Lara's absence from the top ten highlights the lack of another prolific batsman in the West Indies line-up for a length of time.

Most runs in matches with each other - Tests

Player	Span	Mat	Runs	100s	Runs/Mat
R Dravid, SR Tendulkar (India)	1996-2007	95	16156	48	170.06
ME Waugh, SR Waugh (Aus)	1991-2002	108	14326	41	132.64
ML Hayden, RT Ponting (Aus)	2000-2007	76	14159	51	186.30
JL Langer, RT Ponting (Aus)	1998-2007	83	13944	47	168.00
CG Greenidge, IVA Richards (WI)	1974-1991	99	13811	38	139.50
R Dravid, SC Ganguly (India)	1996-2007	91	13385	33	147.08
SM Gavaskar, DB Vengsarkar (India)	1976-1987	94	13373	40	142.26
RB Kanhai, GS Sobers (WI)	1957-1974	73	13032	39	178.52
DC Boon, AR Border (Aus)	1984-1994	89	12899	33	144.93
MA Atherton, AJ Stewart (Eng)	1990-2001	99	12700	24	128.28

Hayden and Ponting and Gary Kirsten and Graeme Smith, who average 186.05 per Test, are the only two pairs from the 21st century to feature in the top 15 highest averages, which are dominated by batsmen who played most of their cricket before 1975. The most surprising pairing in the top 20 is Inzamam-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi, who average 172.72 in the 22 Tests they've played together.

Highest average of runs/match in matches with each other - Tests (qualification: 20 matches)

Player	Span	Mat	Runs	100s	Runs/Mat
DG Bradman, WH Ponsford (Aus)	1928-1934	20	4373	16	218.65
DG Bradman, SJ McCabe (Aus)	1930-1938	33	6734	22	204.06
DG Bradman, WM Woodfull (Aus)	1928-1934	28	5657	19	202.03
JB Hobbs, H Sutcliffe (Eng)	1924-1930	25	4843	17	193.72
WR Hammond, E Paynter (Eng)	1931-1939	20	3746	12	187.30
ML Hayden, RT Ponting (Aus)	2000-2007	76	14159	51	186.30
G Kirsten, GC Smith (SA)	2002-2004	20	3721	13	186.05
B Mitchell, AD Nourse (SA)	1935-1949	24	4465	13	186.04
EJ Barlow, RG Pollock (SA)	1963-1970	23	4266	13	185.47
GS Chappell, IR Redpath (Aus)	1970-1976	28	5114	17	182.64

Ironically, Stuart MacGill and Glenn McGrath have the highest average number of wickets per match - 9.74, which is marginally higher than Warne and McGrath's 9.62. It must be noted that MacGill and McGrath played together in only 27 Tests - largely due to Warne's presence. Unlike the batting averages table, the top ten bowling averages for pairs is dominated by bowlers in the 21st century, an indication that teams these days rely on just one or two bowlers to take the bulk of their wickets.

Highest average of wickets/match in matches with each other - Tests (qualification: 20 matches)

Player	Span	Mat	Wkts	5wi	Wkts/Mat
SCG MacGill, GD McGrath (Aus)	1998-2006	27	263	18	9.74
Harbhajan Singh, A Kumble (India)	1998-2006	42	406	31	9.66
GD McGrath, SK Warne (Aus)	1993-2007	104	1001	51	9.62
M Muralitharan, WPUJC Vaas (SL)	1994-2006	81	772	49	9.53
B Lee, SK Warne (Aus)	1999-2007	45	421	21	9.35
MA Noble, H Trumble (Aus)	1898-1904	22	204	16	9.27
DK Lillee, MHN Walker (Aus)	1972-1977	20	185	10	9.25
CRD Fernando, M Muralitharan (SL)	2000-2006	21	194	15	9.23
Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram (Pak)	1989-2002	61	559	37	9.16
A Kumble, IK Pathan (India)	2003-2006	25	228	16	9.12