Happy hunting grounds

Don Bradman at Headingley, Andy Flower and Anil Kumble at the Feroz Shah Kotla, VVS Laxman at the SCG, Muttiah Muralitharan in Galle. At some grounds it became inevitable that certain players would perform. This week's List looks at batsmen and bowlers who scored lots of runs and took loads of wickets in consecutive innings at a particular venue.

Herbert Sutcliffe played seven Tests at The Oval and after a poor beginning in his first match - he fell for 5 against South Africa in 1924 - he reeled off eight consecutive scores of more than 50 at the venue. Five of those were centuries and he averaged 106.25 at the ground before falling for 38 and 28 in his last game there in 1934, which reduced that average to 91.60. Only Ricky Ponting, with his outstanding record at the Gabba between 2003 and 2007, has matched Sutcliffe's streak of eight successive 50-plus scores at a venue.

Sutcliffe also had a happy hunting ground on the other side of the world - the MCG - where he almost never failed. He scored centuries in his first three innings there, and then another hundred in between two half-centuries, making it six fifty-plus scores in a row. Sutcliffe's average of 103.42 in Melbourne is second only to Bradman's, among batsmen who've played at least two Tests at the MCG.

No batsman has scored more runs at a ground than Mahela Jayawardene has at the SSC in Colombo. He's made 2646 at an average of 80.18 in 23 Tests there. Lots of those runs came between 2006 and 2009, when Jayawardene scored 82, 374, 127, 195, 136 and 79 in consecutive innings. Danish Kaneria then dismissed him for 2, but after that blip Jayawardene continued his prolific run at the SSC, scoring 92, 96 and 174 in consecutive innings.

Jayawardene is only one of two batsmen to have scored four centuries in a row at a venue. The other is Aravinda de Silva, whose four consecutive hundreds were also made at the SSC in 1997.

Most consecutive fifties at the same ground - Tests

Player	Inns		Ground	Scorecard	Scorecard		List
H Sutcliffe (Eng)	8		The Oval	Aug 14, 1926	Jul 29, 1931		76, 161, 63, 104, 109*, 161, 54, 117
RT Ponting (Aus)	8		Brisbane	Dec 4, 2003	Nov 8, 2007		54, 50, 51, 149, 104*, 196, 60*, 56
M Azharuddin (India)	7		Kolkata	Dec 31, 1984	Mar 18, 1998		110, 141, 60, 182, 109, 52, 163*
H Sutcliffe (Eng)	6		Melbourne	Jan 1, 1925	Dec 30, 1932		176, 127, 143, 58, 135, 52
WM Lawry (Aus)	6		Melbourne	Dec 30, 1965	Jan 21, 1971		88, 78, 108, 100, 205, 56
GS Chappell (Aus)	6		Melbourne	Feb 8, 1975	Jan 1, 1977		102, 52, 68, 54*, 121, 67
GS Chappell (Aus)	6		Brisbane	Nov 29, 1974	Dec 1, 1979		58, 71, 123, 109*, 74, 124
DJ Cullinan (SA)	6		Cape Town	Jan 2, 1996	Jan 2, 1999		62, 77, 55, 113, 68, 168
DPMD Jayawardene (SL)	6		Colombo (SSC)	Mar 26, 2006	Jul 20, 2009		82, 374, 127, 195, 136, 79
JB Hobbs (Eng)	5		Durban	Jan 21, 1910	Feb 14, 1914		53, 70, 82, 64, 97
WR Hammond (Eng)	5		Sydney	Dec 14, 1928	Dec 18, 1936		251, 112, 101, 75*, 231*
GM Turner (NZ)	5		Christchurch	Feb 25, 1971	Feb 5, 1976		76, 101, 110*, 98, 117
SM Gavaskar (India)	5		Port of Spain	Mar 6, 1971	Mar 24, 1976		65, 67*, 124, 220, 156
KD Walters (Aus)	5		Adelaide	Jan 26, 1974	Dec 24, 1976		94, 55, 71*, 107, 51
RB Simpson (Aus)	5		Adelaide	Jan 28, 1966	Jan 28, 1978		225, 55, 103, 100, 51
Javed Miandad (Pak)	5		Hyderabad (Sind)	Jan 2, 1978	Nov 25, 1984		88*, 61*, 280*, 104, 103*
Shoaib Mohammad (Pak)	5		Karachi	Sep 15, 1988	Nov 15, 1990		94, 67, 95, 203*, 86
A Flower (Zim)	5		Delhi	Mar 13, 1993	Feb 28, 2002		115, 62*, 183*, 70, 92
TT Samaraweera (SL)	5		Colombo (SSC)	Aug 29, 2001	Dec 18, 2003		103*, 87, 123*, 58, 142
ST Jayasuriya (SL)	5		Colombo (SSC)	Dec 27, 2001	Mar 24, 2004		92, 85, 85, 71, 51
JH Kallis (SA)	5		Cape Town	Jan 2, 2004	Mar 4, 2005		73, 130*, 149, 66, 54
Kamran Akmal (Pak)	5		Lahore	Nov 29, 2005	Oct 8, 2007		154, 102*, 78, 52, 71
ML Hayden (Aus)	5		Melbourne	Dec 26, 2004	Dec 26, 2007		56*, 65, 137, 153, 124
S Chanderpaul (WI)	5		Bridgetown	May 26, 2005	Feb 26, 2009		92, 153*, 79*, 50, 70

JJ Ferris, a left-arm bowler from Australia, was the first bowler to take five consecutive four-wicket hauls at a ground. He did it at the SCG between 1887 and 1888. Several people have matched him since but only Murali had gone past him, and how.

Between August 2001 and 2004, Murali took at least four wickets in ten consecutive innings in Galle. Murali's also taken five four-fors in a row both in Kandy and at the SSC. He's the only bowler to have taken more than 100 wickets at a particular ground and he's done it at three - 166 wickets at the SSC, 117 in Kandy and 111 in Galle.

Most consecutive four-wicket hauls at the same ground - Tests

Player	Inns		Ground	Scorecard	Scorecard		List
M Muralitharan (SL)	10		Galle	Aug 14, 2001	Aug 4, 2004		5/49, 6/126, 5/44, 5/67, 4/24, 7/46, 4/47, 6/59, 5/153, 4/130
JJ Ferris (Aus)	5		Sydney	Jan 28, 1887	Feb 10, 1888		4/27, 5/76, 5/71, 4/69, 4/60
G Giffen (Aus)	5		Sydney	Mar 14, 1885	Dec 14, 1894		7/117, 4/88, 6/72, 4/75, 4/164
BA Reid (Aus)	5		Melbourne	Dec 26, 1986	Dec 26, 1991		4/78, 6/97, 7/51, 6/66, 6/60
CEL Ambrose (WI)	5		Port of Spain	Mar 25, 1994	Mar 14, 1997		5/60, 6/24, 5/45, 4/20, 5/87
A Kumble (India)	5		Delhi	Mar 13, 1993	Feb 4, 1999		5/70, 4/63, 5/67, 4/75, 10/74
M Muralitharan (SL)	5		Kandy	May 3, 2003	Mar 16, 2004		5/49, 4/60, 4/64, 4/48, 5/173
M Muralitharan (SL)	5		Colombo (SSC)	Jul 27, 2006	Dec 9, 2007		4/41, 6/131, 5/15, 4/87, 5/116
GE Palmer (Aus)	4		Sydney	Feb 17, 1882	Mar 3, 1882		7/68, 4/97, 5/46, 4/44
CTB Turner (Aus)	4		Sydney	Feb 25, 1887	Feb 10, 1888		5/41, 4/52, 5/44, 7/43
T Richardson (Eng)	4		Manchester	Aug 24, 1893	Jul 16, 1896		5/49, 5/107, 7/168, 6/76
AEE Vogler (SA)	4		Johannesburg	Jan 1, 1910	Feb 26, 1910		5/87, 7/94, 4/98, 4/109
HV Hordern (Aus)	4		Sydney	Dec 15, 1911	Feb 23, 1912		5/85, 7/90, 5/95, 5/66
SF Barnes (Eng)	4		Durban	Dec 13, 1913	Feb 14, 1914		5/57, 5/48, 7/56, 7/88
MW Tate (Eng)	4		Sydney	Dec 19, 1924	Feb 27, 1925		6/130, 5/98, 4/92, 5/115
AP Freeman (Eng)	4		Manchester	Jul 21, 1928	Jul 27, 1929		5/54, 5/39, 7/71, 5/100
CV Grimmett (Aus)	4		Adelaide	Dec 12, 1930	Jan 29, 1932		7/87, 4/96, 7/116, 7/83
R Benaud (Aus)	4		Sydney	Jan 9, 1959	Jan 13, 1961		5/83, 4/94, 4/86, 4/113
LR Gibbs (WI)	4		Manchester	Jun 6, 1963	Jun 2, 1966		5/59, 6/98, 5/37, 5/69
DK Lillee (Aus)	4		Melbourne	Jan 1, 1977	Mar 12, 1977		6/82, 4/53, 6/26, 5/139

The most consecutive scores of more than 50 and 100 at a particular venue in ODIs belong to Pakistan batsmen. Mohammad Yousuf made 125, 52, 73, 107*, 68, 67 and 72 in seven successive innings at the National Stadium in Karachi between 2002 and 2008. He went past Javed Mianded, who had scored six half-centuries in a row in Sharjah between 1987 and 1988.

Zaheer Abbas was the first batsman to score three ODI centuries in a row at a venue. He did it in Lahore in 1982. More than a decade later, in 1993, Saeed Anwar also scored three consecutive hundreds in Sharjah. Sanath Jayasuriya's done it as well, and his hat-trick of hundreds have come at an unlikely venue - the SCG.

Most consecutive fifties at the same ground - ODIs

Player	Inns		Ground	Scorecard	Scorecard		List
Mohammad Yousuf (Pak)	7		Karachi	Apr 21, 2002	Jan 21, 2008		125, 52, 73, 107*, 68, 67, 72
Javed Miandad (Pak)	6		Sharjah	Apr 3, 1987	Oct 22, 1988		74*, 60, 52*, 79, 52, 76
RT Ponting (Aus)	5		Melbourne	Jan 23, 2000	Feb 9, 2001		53, 50, 73, 68, 63
R Dravid (India)	5		Nagpur	Mar 22, 1999	Jan 21, 2007		116, 79, 51, 85*, 54*
Younis Khan (Pak)	5		Karachi	Feb 19, 2006	Jun 26, 2008		74*, 79, 69, 67, 59
Zaheer Abbas (Pak)	4		Lahore	Mar 29, 1982	Mar 9, 1984		123, 109, 105, 59*
SM Gavaskar (India)	4		Melbourne	Jan 11, 1981	Jan 31, 1986		80, 54, 59, 72
IVA Richards (WI)	4		Sydney	Feb 6, 1985	Jan 28, 1987		68, 76, 51, 70
DL Haynes (WI)	4		Port of Spain	Apr 17, 1985	Mar 18, 1988		85*, 53, 77*, 142*
Saleem Malik (Pak)	4		Sharjah	Mar 23, 1989	Oct 15, 1989		71, 100*, 74, 68*
DC Boon (Aus)	4		Sharjah	Apr 3, 1987	Apr 26, 1990		71, 62, 73, 92*
DL Haynes (WI)	4		Georgetown	Mar 21, 1989	Apr 3, 1993		152*, 50, 58, 82
Basit Ali (Pak)	4		Sharjah	Nov 5, 1993	Oct 13, 1995		127*, 75*, 57, 64
SV Manjrekar (India)	4		Sharjah	Oct 25, 1991	Apr 14, 1996		52, 50, 59, 53
M Azharuddin (India)	4		Colombo (RPS)	Aug 28, 1996	Aug 17, 1997		58, 81*, 81, 111*
ST Jayasuriya (SL)	4		Colombo (RPS)	Jul 26, 1997	Jan 24, 1998		63, 73, 66, 50
A Flower (Zim)	4		Dhaka	Oct 24, 1998	Mar 23, 1999		77, 83, 79, 73
ME Waugh (Aus)	4		Adelaide	Dec 7, 1997	Jan 26, 2000		104, 57, 65, 116
Saeed Anwar (Pak)	4		Sharjah	Oct 22, 1999	Apr 13, 2001		53, 90, 81*, 88
NJ Astle (NZ)	4		Dunedin	Feb 14, 1999	Feb 26, 2002		95, 81, 119, 122*

Sharjah is also the venue at which two bowlers have taken four-fors in three consecutive ODIs. Narendra Hirwani did in in 1988 and Waqar Younis in 1990. The last two of Waqar' performances were five wicket-hauls, making him the first bowler to take consecutive five-fors at a venue.