The whitewashers get whitewashed

There have been few crashes in cricket harder than the one England just suffered. From the heights of their 4-0 whitewash of India at home, during which they wrested the No. 1 Test ranking, England hit terra firma in the UAE, where they were whitewashed 3-0 by Pakistan. The longevity of their No. 1 status is now tied to South Africa's fortunes in New Zealand. Very few teams have won all the Tests in one series, and then lost all the Tests in the next.

England's reversal in results is best illustrated by the difference between their batting averages in the Pataudi Trophy and the Mobilink Jazz Cup. Against India, England's batsmen averaged 59 in four Tests. Against Pakistan, they managed 19.06 in three, a fraction more than the number of awards handed out at the end of the series. England's 4-0, 0-3 turnaround was the ninth time a team lost all Tests in a series after winning all Tests in the previous one.

All of the previous eight instances, however, involved a two-Test series, and six out of the eight involved either Zimbabwe or Bangladesh. So a relatively stronger Test team would clean sweep Zimbabwe or Bangladesh and then be whitewashed by a more formidable opponent. The two exceptions are New Zealand's 2-0 victory against West Indies at home in the summer of 1999-00 followed by a 0-3 defeat to Australia, and Bangladesh's 2-0 sweep of a weakened West Indies in the Carribean followed by their 0-2 loss at home to India in 2009-10.

Winning all matches in a series followed by losing all matches in a series - Tests (ignoring one-off Tests)

Team		Series	Host Country	Season	Mat			Series	Host Country	Season	Mat
Sri Lanka		v Zimbabwe	in SL	1996	2			v New Zealand	in NZ	1996/97	2
Sri Lanka		v Zimbabwe	in SL	1997/98	2			v South Africa	in SA	1997/98	2
New Zealand		v West Indies	in NZ	1999/00	2			v Australia	in NZ	1999/00	3
Sri Lanka		v Bangladesh	in SL	2002	2			v South Africa	in SA	2002/03	2
Pakistan		v Zimbabwe	in Zim	2002/03	2			v South Africa	in SA	2002/03	2
New Zealand		v Bangladesh	in Ban	2004/05	2			v Australia	in Aus	2004/05	2
Sri Lanka		v Bangladesh	in SL	2007	3			v Australia	in Aus	2007/08	2
Bangladesh		v West Indies	in WI	2009	2			v India	in Ban	2009/10	2
England		v India	in Eng	2011	4			v Pakistan	in UAE	2011/12	3

While the first time a team whitewashed another and then got whitewashed themselves was as late as 1996, the reverse took place as early as 1931-32. South Africa were beaten 0-5 on their tour of Australia: three were innings defeats, the others by 169 runs and ten wickets. Bradman scored a hundred in each of the first four matches, including the only unbeaten 299 in Test cricket. South then went to New Zealand, where they won both of the Tests.

The most recent of the ten entries in the table below is Bangladesh's 2-0 win in the Caribbean, which was preceded by a 0-2 defeat at home to Sri Lanka.

Losing all matches in a series followed by winning all matches in a series - Tests (ignoring one-off Tests)

Team		Series	Host Country	Season	Mat			Series	Host Country	Season	Mat
South Africa		v Australia	in Aus	1931/32	5			v New Zealand	in NZ	1931/32	2
Sri Lanka		v Australia	in Aus	1995/96	3			v Zimbabwe	in SL	1996	2
West Indies		v New Zealand	in NZ	1999/00	2			v Zimbabwe	in WI	1999/00	2
New Zealand		v Australia	in NZ	1999/00	3			v Zimbabwe	in Zim	2000/01	2
Pakistan		v Australia	in SL/UAE	2002/03	3			v Zimbabwe	in Zim	2002/03	2
Pakistan		v South Africa	in SA	2002/03	2			v Bangladesh	in Pak	2003	3
Sri Lanka		v Australia	in SL	2003/04	3			v Zimbabwe	in Zim	2004	2
New Zealand		v England	in Eng	2004	3			v Bangladesh	in Ban	2004/05	2
New Zealand		v South Africa	in SA	2007/08	2			v Bangladesh	in NZ	2007/08	2
Bangladesh		v Sri Lanka	in Ban	2008/09	2			v West Indies	in WI	2009	2

In 2008, England had a similar experience in one-day internationals, achieving a comprehensive victory at home and then losing badly in Asia. They beat South Africa 4-0 in the ODI series during the summer; the fifth match was abandoned with the visitors 6 for 1. England then travelled to India, where they lost the first five out of seven one-day games before the tour was interrupted by the terror attacks in Mumbai and the last two fixtures were cancelled.

Winning all matches in a series followed by losing all matches in a series - ODIs (excluding no results and one-off matches)

Team		Series	Host Country	Season	Mat			Series	Host Country	Season	Mat
England		v India	in Eng	1974	2			v Pakistan	in Eng	1974	2
New Zealand		v India	in NZ	1975/76	2			v England	in Eng	1978	2
England		v Australia	in Eng	1980	2			v West Indies	in WI	1980/81	2
India		v Pakistan	in India	1983/84	2			v West Indies	in India	1983/84	5
India		Rothmans Asia Cup	in UAE	1983/84	2			v Australia	in India	1984/85	3
West Indies		v Pakistan	in WI	1987/88	5			v England	in Eng	1988	3
India		v New Zealand	in India	1988/89	4			v West Indies	in WI	1988/89	5
West Indies		v England	in WI	1989/90	3			v Pakistan	in Pak	1990/91	3
New Zealand		v Zimbabwe	in Zim	1992/93	2			v Sri Lanka	in SL	1992/93	2
Zimbabwe		President's Cup	in Kenya	1997/98	6			v Sri Lanka	in SL	1997/98	3
Pakistan		Asia Cup	in Ban	2000	4			Singer Triangular Series	in SL	2000	4
New Zealand		ICC KnockOut	in Kenya	2000/01	3			v South Africa	in SA	2000/01	5
Zimbabwe		v Bangladesh	in Zim	2000/01	3			Coca-Cola Cup (Zimbabwe)	in Zim	2001	4
Bangladesh		v Kenya	in Ban	2005/06	4			v Australia	in Ban	2005/06	3
Kenya		v Canada	in Can	2006	2			v Bangladesh	in Kenya	2006	3
Bermuda		v Canada	in Can	2006	2			v Kenya	in Kenya	2006/07	3
Ireland		Quadrangular Series (Ireland)	in Ire	2007	2			v Bangladesh	in Ban	2007/08	3
Bangladesh		v Ireland	in Ban	2007/08	3			v Pakistan	in Pak	2007/08	5
West Indies		v Sri Lanka	in WI	2007/08	2			v Australia	in WI	2008	5
Netherlands		v Bermuda	in Neth	2007	2			European Championship Division One	in Ire	2008	2
South Africa		v Bangladesh	in Ban	2007/08	3			v England	in Eng	2008	4
West Indies		Scotiabank Series	in Can	2008	3			v Pakistan	in UAE	2008/09	3
England		v South Africa	in Eng	2008	4			v India	in India	2008/09	5

England now have the chance to do the reverse. In their previous ODI series, in October 2011, shortly after they routed India at home, they were beaten 0-5 in India. Given their recent performance against spin, though, only the bravest (or perhaps most foolish) man would back them to sweep Pakistan in four ODIs in the UAE.

Perhaps the most remarkable turnaround in ODI form was Australia's performance in the 2006-07 season. After whitewashing England 5-0 in the Ashes, Australia lost the triangular series finals to Andrew Flintoff's team and sent a slightly weakened squad to New Zealand, where they were beaten 0-3 in the Chappell-Hadlee series. It was then that Australia, who had several players on the wrong side of 30, were given the 'Dad's Army' label, and they went to the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean on a five-match losing streak. They did not drop any of their 11 games in the West Indies, steamrolling all opponents on their way to a third consecutive world title.

Losing all matches in a series followed by winning all matches in a series - ODIs (excluding no results and one-off matches)

Team		Series	Host Country	Season	Mat			Series	Host Country	Season	Mat
India		v England	in Eng	1982	2			v Sri Lanka	in India	1982/83	3
Pakistan		v England	in Eng	1982	2			v Australia	in Pak	1982/83	2
Sri Lanka		v New Zealand	in NZ	1982/83	3			v Australia	in SL	1982/83	2
India		v West Indies	in India	1983/84	5			Rothmans Asia Cup	in UAE	1983/84	2
India		Austral-Asia Cup	in UAE	1990	2			v England	in Eng	1990	2
Zimbabwe		v Pakistan	in Pak	1996/97	3			v England	in Zim	1996/97	3
West Indies		v Pakistan	in Can	1999	3			v Bangladesh	in Ban	1999/00	2
England		NatWest Series	in Eng	2001	6			v Zimbabwe	in Zim	2001/02	5
Zimbabwe		Khaleej Times Trophy	in UAE	2001/02	4			v Bangladesh	in Ban	2001/02	3
Zimbabwe		v Pakistan	in Zim	2002/03	5			v Kenya	in Zim	2002/03	2
Zimbabwe		v West Indies	in WI	2006	5			ICC Tri-Series (in West Indies)	in WI	2006	3
Sri Lanka		v Pakistan	in SL	2005/06	2			v England	in Eng	2006	5
Kenya		v Bangladesh	in Ban	2005/06	4			v Canada	in Can	2006	2
Kenya		v Bangladesh	in Kenya	2006	3			v Bermuda	in Kenya	2006/07	3
Australia		v New Zealand	in NZ	2006/07	3			ICC World Cup	in WI	2006/07	11
Netherlands		Quadrangular Series (Ireland)	in Ire	2007	2			v Bermuda	in Neth	2007	2
New Zealand		v Australia	in Aus	2007/08	2			v Bangladesh	in NZ	2007/08	3
Bangladesh		v South Africa	in Ban	2007/08	3			v Ireland	in Ban	2007/08	3
West Indies		v South Africa	in SA	2007/08	5			v Sri Lanka	in WI	2007/08	2
Ireland		Associates Tri-Series (in Scotland)	in Scot	2008	2			European Championship Division One	in Ire	2008	2
West Indies		v Australia	in WI	2008	5			Scotiabank Series	in Can	2008	3
South Africa		v England	in Eng	2008	4			v Kenya	in SA	2008/09	2
Netherlands		European Championship Division One	in Ire	2008	2			ICC World Cup Qualifiers	in SA	2009	3
Ireland		v Pakistan	in Ire	2011	2			ICC Intercontinental Cup One-Day	in Ire	2011-20	2