They came, they played, they conquered

Pakistan and Australia clash for the first time since February 2005 today, at an unfamiliar cricket location - Dubai. One-day international cricket has been played in two other Emirates, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, and Dubai will become its 172nd venue. However, for most of Australia's touring party, this is the first time they will be competing in the UAE. In this week's list, we looked at which players have won matches in the most countries, which batsmen have scored centuries in the most countries and so on.

Inzamam-ul-Haq is the only player to have won a Test in all 11 countries - the 11th being Sharjah - that he has played in. Four of his team-mates have also played Tests in as many countries but participated in victories in only 10. Waqar Younis did not win a game in the West Indies (which we've counted as one country), Younis Khan hasn't had success in Australia, Mohammad Yousuf missed out in Australia and West Indies, and Saqlain Mushtaq did not win in South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies.

Steve Waugh, Mark Waugh, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer won a Test in all 10 countries they went to - they never toured Bangladesh. Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne travelled to 11 nations for Test cricket but won in only 10. Warne toured Pakistan only once, in 1994, a series Pakistan won 1-0, while Ponting played only a solitary Test in Pakistan in 1998, which was drawn. Ian Healy, Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist won in nine out of nine countries. Healy didn't go to UAE and Bangladesh, and Hayden and Gilchrist didn't go to Pakistan and Zimbabwe.

Winning a Test in the most nations

Player Span Mat Total Num

List Inzamam-ul-Haq (ICC/Pak) 1992-2007 120

11 11 Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, SL, UAE, WI, Zim

SR Waugh (Aus) 1985-2004 168 10 10

Aus, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, SL, UAE, WI, Zim SR Tendulkar (India) 1989-2009 159

10 10 Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, SL, WI, Zim ME Waugh (Aus)

1991-2002 128 10 10 Aus, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, SL, UAE, WI, Zim

JL Langer (Aus) 1993-2007 105

10 10 Aus, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, SL, UAE, WI, Zim GD McGrath (Aus) 1993-2007

124 10 10 Aus, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, SL, UAE, WI, Zim

JH Kallis (ICC/SA) 1995-2009 131 10

10 Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, SL, WI, Zim R Dravid (ICC/India) 1996-2009 134

10 10 Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, SL, WI, Zim

VVS Laxman (India) 1996-2009 105 10 10

Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, SL, WI, Zim MV Boucher (ICC/SA) 1997-2009 126

10 10 Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, SL, WI, Zim V Sehwag (ICC/India)

2001-2009 69 10 10 Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, SL, WI, Zim

Waqar Younis (Pak) 1989-2003 87

11 10 Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, SL, UAE, Zim SK Warne (Aus) 1992-2007

145 11 10 Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, NZ, SA, SL, UAE, WI, Zim

RT Ponting (Aus) 1995-2009 131 11

10 Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, NZ, SA, SL, UAE, WI, Zim Younis Khan (Pak) 2000-2009 60

11 10 Ban, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, SL, UAE, WI, Zim

Four Indian players - Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag - registered their first win in New Zealand after the recent win in Hamilton and now have victories in all 10 countries they've played Test cricket in.

Dravid, though, is the only batsman to have scored a century in all Test-playing nations. He completed the set by scoring 160 against Bangladesh in Chittagong in 2004. Steve Waugh and Sachin Tendulkar have scored hundreds in nine out of 10 countries. Waugh did not manage a century in Sri Lanka, a country in which he scored only 83 runs in five innings at an average of 16.60. Tendulkar scored three hundreds against Zimbabwe but none of them in Zimbabwe, where he had a high score of 74 and an average of 40 in seven innings.

India was Brian Lara's only bogey country among the nine he played Tests in. He didn't score a century there in three Tests, and surprisingly toured India only once for a Test series. However, he did play 31 ODIs in India, though he didn't manage a century in any of them either.

Scoring a Test hundred in the most nations

Player	Span	Mat	100

Total Num List

R Dravid (ICC/India) 1996-2009 134 26

10 10 Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, SL, WI, Zim SR Waugh (Aus) 1985-2004

168 32 10 9 Aus, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, UAE, WI, Zim

SR Tendulkar (India) 1989-2009 159 42

10 9 Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, SL, WI Inzamam-ul-Haq (ICC/Pak)

1992-2007 120 25 11 9

Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SL, WI, Zim RT Ponting (Aus) 1995-2009 131 37

11 9 Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, NZ, SA, SL, UAE, WI

Mohammad Yousuf (Pak) 1998-2007 79 23 11

9 Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, UAE, WI, Zim BC Lara (ICC/WI) 1990-2006 131

34 9 8 Aus, Eng, NZ, Pak, SA, SL, WI, Zim

G Kirsten (SA) 1993-2004 101 21

9 8 Aus, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, WI, Zim AC Gilchrist (Aus) 1999-2008

96 17 9 8 Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, NZ, SA, SL, WI

JH Kallis (ICC/SA) 1995-2009 131 31

10 8 Aus, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, WI, Zim DPMD Jayawardene (SL)

1997-2009 102 25 10 8

Aus, Ban, Eng, NZ, Pak, SL, WI, Zim Younis Khan (Pak) 2000-2009 60 16

11 8 Ban, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SL, UAE, WI

MC Cowdrey (Eng) 1954-1975 114 22 7

7 Aus, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, WI KF Barrington (Eng) 1955-1968 82

20 7 7 Aus, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, WI

AR Border (Aus) 1978-1994 156 27

8 7 Aus, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SL, WI

The highest number of countries that a bowler has taken a five-wicket haul in is nine, and only the leading wicket-takers in Test cricket have done it. Muttiah Muralitharan has missed out on a perfect 10 so far because of his performance in Australia, where his best innings figures in seven attempts is only 3 for 55. Shane Warne's taken five in an innings in nine countries but played in 11. The venues that escaped him were the West Indies, where his best figures in seven Tests were 4 for 70, and Zimbabwe, where he took 3 for 69 and 3 for 68 in his only Test in 1999.

Player Span Mat 5

Total Num List M Muralitharan (ICC/SL)

1992-2009 127 66 10 9

Ban, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, SL, WI, Zim SK Warne (Aus) 1992-2007 145 37

11 9 Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, SL, UAE

Wasim Akram (Pak) 1985-2002 104 25 10

8 Aus, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SL, WI, Zim Waqar Younis (Pak) 1989-2003 87

22 11 8 Ban, Eng, NZ, Pak, SA, SL, WI, Zim

CA Walsh (WI) 1984-2001 132 22

8 7 Aus, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, WI Saqlain Mushtaq (Pak) 1995-2004

49 13 11 7 Aus, Ban, Ind, Pak, SL, WI, Zim

GD McKenzie (Aus) 1961-1971 60 16

6 6 Aus, Eng, Ind, Pak, SA, WI DL Underwood (Eng)

1966-1982 86 17 7 6

Aus, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SL Imran Khan (Pak) 1971-1992 88 23

7 6 Aus, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, WI

RJ Hadlee (NZ) 1973-1990 86 36 7

6 Aus, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SL CL Cairns (NZ) 1989-2004 62

13 7 6 Aus, Eng, NZ, Pak, SL, Zim

A Kumble (India) 1990-2008 132 35

10 6 Aus, Ind, Pak, SA, SL, WI GD McGrath (Aus) 1993-2007

124 29 10 6 Aus, Eng, NZ, Pak, SA, WI

SM Pollock (SA) 1995-2008 108 16

10 6 Aus, Eng, NZ, Pak, SA, WI DL Vettori (ICC/NZ)

1997-2009 92 18 10 6

Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, NZ, SL

Dravid has played one-dayers in 18 countries, the most for any player, and has been part of victories in 17 of them. The only country in which Dravid has not won an ODI is the Netherlands, where he's played two games in 2004: India lost the first, to Pakistan, and the next, against Australia, was washed out. Tendulkar has won in all 16 countries he's played in, and he wasn't part of the series in Netherlands. The only other players to win ODIs in 17 countries are Inzamam, Shahid Afridi and Yousuf.

Span Mat Total Num List

Inzamam-ul-Haq (Asia/Pak) 1991-2007 378

17 17 Aus, Ban, Can, Eng, Ind, Ken, Moroc, Neth, NZ, Pak, SA, Scot, Sin, SL, UAE, WI, Zim Shahid Afridi (Asia/ICC/Pak)

1996-2009 271 17 17 Aus, Ban, Can, Eng, Ind, Ken, Moroc, Neth, NZ, Pak, SA, Scot, Sin, SL, UAE, WI, Zim

Mohammad Yousuf (Asia/Pak) 1998-2008 269

17 17 Aus, Ban, Can, Eng, Ind, Ken, Moroc, Neth, NZ, Pak, SA, Scot, Sin, SL, UAE, WI, Zim R Dravid (Asia/ICC/India) 1996-2007

333 18 17 Aus, Ban, Can, Eng, Ind, Ire, Ken, Malay, NZ, Pak, SA, Scot, Sin, SL, UAE, WI, Zim

SR Tendulkar (India) 1989-2009 425 16

16 Aus, Ban, Can, Eng, Ind, Ire, Ken, Malay, NZ, Pak, SA, Sin, SL, UAE, WI, Zim S Chanderpaul (WI) 1994-2009 246

16 16 Aus, Ban, Can, Eng, Ind, Ire, Ken, Malay, NZ, Pak, SA, Sin, SL, UAE, WI, Zim

JH Kallis (Afr/ICC/SA) 1996-2009 291 16 16

Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, Ire, Ken, Moroc, Neth, NZ, Pak, SA, Sin, SL, UAE, WI, Zim Abdul Razzaq (Asia/Pak) 1996-2007 231

16 16 Aus, Ban, Can, Eng, Ind, Ken, Moroc, Neth, NZ, Pak, SA, Scot, Sin, SL, UAE, WI AB Agarkar (India)

1998-2007 191 17 16 Aus, Ban, Can, Eng, Ind, Ire, Ken, Malay, NZ, Pak, SA, Scot, SL, UAE, WI, Zim

Waqar Younis (Pak) 1989-2003 262

15 15 Aus, Ban, Can, Eng, Ind, Ken, Moroc, NZ, Pak, SA, Sin, SL, UAE, WI, Zim

Most players would part with an arm and a leg to have 12 ODI centuries, but Sanath Jayasuriya and Tendulkar have scored centuries in that many countries. Jayasuriya has played ODIs in 15 countries, and the ones in which he hasn't scored a hundred are Kenya, Morocco and Zimbabwe, where he's played six, five and 11 matches respectively. Tendulkar missed out in Canada, Ireland, Kenya and the West Indies.

Scoring an ODI hundred in the most nations

Player	Span	Mat	100

Total Num List

ST Jayasuriya (Asia/SL) 1989-2009 432 28

15 12 Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, Neth, NZ, Pak, SA, Sin, SL, UAE, WI SR Tendulkar (India) 1989-2009

425 43 16 12 Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, Malay, NZ, Pak, SA, Sin, SL, UAE, Zim

Saeed Anwar (Pak) 1989-2003 247 20

14 9 Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, Ken, Pak, SA, UAE, Zim CH Gayle (ICC/WI)

1999-2009 199 19 15 9

Can, Eng, Ind, Ken, NZ, SA, UAE, WI, Zim SC Ganguly (Asia/India) 1992-2007 311 22

16 9 Aus, Ban, Eng, Ind, Ken, SA, SL, UAE, Zim

HH Gibbs (SA) 1996-2009 244 21 15

8 Eng, Ind, Moroc, Pak, SA, SL, WI, Zim BC Lara (ICC/WI) 1990-2007 299

19 16 8 Aus, Ban, Pak, SA, SL, UAE, WI, Zim

ME Waugh (Aus) 1988-2002 244 18

12 7 Aus, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, Zim AC Gilchrist (Aus/ICC) 1996-2008

287 16 12 7 Aus, Eng, Ind, NZ, Pak, SA, WI

MS Atapattu (SL) 1990-2007 268 11

14 7 Aus, Ban, Eng, Pak, SA, SL, UAE

Murali, who is the leading wicket-taker in ODIs, has taken four-wicket hauls in the most countries, 11, although he's played in 14. The ones that got away were Bangladesh, Morocco and Singapore. Wasim Akram, who was the record-holder before Murali overtook him, took four-wicket hauls in 10 out of 14 countries. He didn't manage any in India, Kenya, Morocco and Bangladesh.

Player Span Mat 4+

Total Num List M Muralitharan (Asia/ICC/SL)

1993-2009 329 24 14 11

Aus, Eng, Ind, Ken, NZ, Pak, SA, SL, UAE, WI, Zim Wasim Akram (Pak) 1984-2003 356 23

14 10 Aus, Can, Eng, NZ, Pak, SA, SL, UAE, WI, Zim

Saqlain Mushtaq (Pak) 1995-2003 169 17 15

10 Aus, Ban, Can, Eng, Ind, Ken, Pak, SA, SL, UAE Waqar Younis (Pak) 1989-2003 262

27 15 9 Aus, Eng, Ken, Moroc, NZ, Pak, SA, Sin, UAE

AA Donald (SA) 1991-2003 164 13

12 7 Aus, Eng, Ind, Ken, Moroc, SA, WI GD McGrath (Aus/ICC) 1993-2007

250 16 13 7 Aus, Eng, NZ, Pak, SA, SL, WI

A Kumble (Asia/India) 1990-2007 271 10

14 7 Aus, Can, Ind, NZ, SA, SL, UAE Abdul Razzaq (Asia/Pak)

1996-2007 231 11 16 7

Aus, Ban, Ind, Ken, Pak, UAE, WI AB Agarkar (India) 1998-2007 191 12

17 7 Aus, Eng, Ind, SA, SL, UAE, Zim

J Srinath (India) 1991-2003 229 10 11

6 Aus, Ban, Ind, NZ, SA, Sin

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