The sub-30 bowling machines

Which bowler has come closest to averaging less than 30 against all nine other Test nations and in all 10 of them? If you're thinking Muttiah Muralitharan, the taker of 800 wickets, with an average of 22.72 in 133 Tests, you'd be wrong. He conceded more than 30 per wicket against, and in, Australia and India. Shaun Pollock is a better guess, but he missed out in Australia and against them overall as well. The right answer is Glenn McGrath.

McGrath averaged less than 30 against all nine Test teams - the only bowler to do so - and 10 if you include the ICC XI as well (we haven't), against whom he took three wickets at 14 each in the Super Test. His best average, 15, was against Zimbabwe, against whom he played only one Test, and his worst, relatively speaking, was against the South Africans, who scored 27 runs for every wicket they lost to McGrath. He also averaged less than 30 in nine out of 10 countries he played Tests in, including India (21.30), where several celebrated bowlers have struggled to achieve the results they attained elsewhere. The only host country that spoiled McGrath's below-30 record is Pakistan, where he took 19 wickets in five Tests at 31 apiece.

There's only one bowler in the table below with sub-20 averages against every team he bowled against - John Trim, who played four Tests for West Indies between 1948 and 1952. Trim, a right-arm fast bowler, was the first West Indian cricketer from Berbice and he made his debut late, at the age of 33, because of the Second World War. Trim's four Tests were spread out against Australia, England and India, against whom he averaged 11, 14 and 18 respectively. He took 5 for 34 in his final Test at the MCG and little is known about why he did not play on, or why he played so few Tests during his career.

Among the current lot of bowlers, Mohammad Asif and Dale Steyn have the best shot at averaging less than 30 against every team, and perhaps in every country as well. Asif's average against Australia dipped below 30 during the "home series" in England, giving him a sub-30 average against all six teams he's played against. He also has excellent averages in Sri Lanka, New Zealand, South Africa and England, but his figures in Australia and in Pakistan are 35 and 42 in four Tests each.

Steyn averages less than 30 against six out of the eight teams he's played against, and in six out of the eight countries he's played in. He goes for more than 30 per wicket against Sri Lanka and England and in both of those countries as well.

Curtly Ambrose wreaked havoc on batting line-ups wherever he went, averaging less than 30 in all seven of the countries he played Tests in. He averaged nine in his only Test in Sri Lanka, and his most expensive destination was Pakistan, where a wicket cost him about 25 runs.

Ambrose, however, never played any of his 98 Tests in India. West Indies toured India for Tests only once during his career, in 1994, when Ambrose was sidelined with a shoulder injury. Their previous visit was before Ambrose's debut and their next was after he retired in 2000. However, he did visit India for three one-day tournaments - the Nehru Cup in 1989, the Hero Cup in 1993 and the World Cup in 1996 - and took 32 wickets in 25 ODIs at 22 runs apiece.

He did play nine Tests against India, though, in the Caribbean - four in 1989 and five in 1997 - and took 15 wickets at an average of 38.26. They are the only team Ambrose averaged more than 30 against.

Pollock and Wasim Akram are the two other bowlers, along with McGrath, with averages of less than 30 in nine out of the 10 countries they played Tests in. Pollock's average against Australia was below 30 in Australia for a large part of his career, but his performances in his last couple of Tests there in 2005-06 lifted it from 29 to 34.

Akram played only two Tests in South Africa and took seven wickets at 39, his only average above 30 in a particular country. Among teams he's played against, Akram averaged less than 30 against all but two: he was wicketless in his 21.4 overs against Bangladesh, and took 57 wickets in 18 Tests against England at 30.66 apiece. His lowest average against England was 26.35, right after the tour in 1992.

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