Strike force

In last week's List, we dug up bowlers who had taken a wicket in every Test they played. Since then, we received a few emails asking for the one-day international equivalent and so we've given it a run. You'll notice that while Fred Trueman and Joel Garner managed a wicket in each of their 67 and 58 Tests, and Shane Bond struck in all his 30 Test innings, the corresponding numbers for ODIs are significantly smaller.

Former England and Surrey fast bowler Martin Bicknell lingers in memory largely because of his surprise inclusion in the national squad for two Tests against South Africa in 2003, a decade after he made his debut. Bicknell, however, had played one-day internationals two years before getting onto the Test circuit, and he took wickets in each of his seven matches. He was included in the squad for the Ashes tour in 1990-91 at the age of 21 and, although he didn't play a Test, he featured in ODIs in Australia and New Zealand. He finished with 13 wickets at an average of 26.70 and strike-rate of 31.70 but never made the ODI team again.

Pakistan fast bowler Jalal-ud-Din, who took the first ODI hat-trick, also took wickets in every match he bowled in. He played eight matches but Pakistan bowled in only seven of them and Jalal-ud-Din ended his career with 14 wickets at an average of 15.07.

If you run a Statsguru query, without a minimum number of balls bowled or wickets taken, for bowlers with the best averages, the first few names are those of players who've bowled once, maybe twice - Mohammad Yousuf, Mohsin Khan and Vinod Kambli for example. As you scroll down, you'll reach Gary Gilmour, who played only five one-dayers but took 16 wickets at an average of 10.31 and strike-rate of 20. He had three wickets in two matches before he came to the 1975 World Cup and didn't make the starting XI during the initial stages. He played the semi-final against England and knocked them out for 93 with figures of 6 for 14 in 12 overs - a record that stood until 1983. Gilmour took 5 for 48 in the final as well, against West Indies, but Australia still lost. He played only one more ODI - a one-off against West Indies in Adelaide in December.

The bowlers with the highest proportion of matches with wickets aren't from the Who's Who list of one-day cricket either. Australian fast bowlers Tony Dodemaide and Michael Kasprowicz are the only two who've played more than 20 ODIs and taken wickets in over 85% of their matches.

Dodemaide was the first bowler to take a five-for on debut - against Sri Lanka in 1988 - but that was as good as it got. He rarely went wicketless, though, striking in 21 out of 24 matches. The first player with over 100 ODIs in the table is Brett Lee, who has taken a wicket in 80% of his 173 matches.

The most consecutive ODIs in which a bowler has taken a wicket is 25. The Test equivalent is 69. Ian Bishop struck in 25 consecutive matches between January 1993 and 1996 and took 40 wickets at 26.50 which, coincidentally, is the same as his career average. He faded quickly after that streak, going wicketless in ten out of his last 18 matches.

If we introduce a cut-off that a bowler must have bowled a minimum of 30 balls for the innings to qualify, then Glenn McGrath's streak of wickets in 28 ODIs between December 1997 and August 1999 beats Bishop. The only bowler in the table, who is currently on a streak, is Andrew Flintoff. He's taken wickets in 16 matches since March 2007 - 37 wickets at an average of 15.54 and strike-rate of 22.

Click here for the full tables.

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