Topping the ton – the bowler equivalent

This feature follows on from the earlier feature covering batsmen who had managed to notch up consecutive matches scoring at least 100 runs. Here, we look at bowlers who have most often managed to take at least six wickets in a match.

Originally this feature was going to be based on five-wicket Test match performances, however the correlation between the numbers of century matches is not the same as for five-wicket match hauls, ton-up batsmen being more rare than five-wicket bowlers – what happens is that effectively everybody ends up looking good. I actually completed the work based on five wicket Test performances then repeated the effort with six wickets, which is why this has taken so long to be posted on the site – apologies for that. Anyway, let’s look at the bowlers.

The various parameters we’re looking at are:-

– most consecutive matches with six or more wickets taken (6wM)
– most separate runs of two or more consecutive 6wMs
– most separate runs of three or more consecutive 6wMs
– most separate runs of four or more consecutive 6wMs
– highest number of total 6wMs
– highest percentage of matches with 6wMs (minimum 20 Tests)
– most consecutive matches taking most wickets
– most separate runs of two or more consecutive matches taking most wickets
– most separate runs of three or more consecutive matches taking most wickets
– highest number of total matches taking most wickets
– highest percentage of matches taking most wickets (minimum 20 Tests)

There have been more than 3,300 occasions of a bowler taking six or more wickets in a match, of which 576 were achieved in consecutive Tests (the equivalents for 5wMs are about 5,000 and 1600 respectively. Australia’s Tom Kendall was the first to take six wickets in consecutive Tests, managing that in the first two Tests ever played. England’s bowler George Lohmann was the first to achieve that feat in three consecutive Tests, and was also first to four.

Fred “The Demon” Spofforth was the first of the greats, and indeed he managed to capture six wickets or more in seven of his 18 Tests. However it was his teammate, all-rounder George Giffen, who was the first to manage the feat in four consecutive matches. The man with the lowest average in Test cricket history, Englishman George Lohmann, went past Giffen shortly after with no less than five consecutive six-wicket matches (6wMs) – he did it in some style too, with two ten-wicket matches. Also, despite being somewhat maligned by history as having feasted on then minnows South Africa, significantly all of the 6wMs in his run of five came against Australia. Lohmann also became the first to log two separate three-Test consecutive runs.

Australia’s Charlie Turner equaled Lohmann’s feat of five in a row in the very next Test; like Lohmann, all of these came in Ashes contests and, perhaps more impressively, they came in what were his first five Test matches. He also equaled Lohmann’s record of most 6wMs, with ten in his career. Turner also become the first player to take most wickets in a match on six occasions, shortly after matched by England’s Tom Richardson.

Ernie Jones, while not matching the record of five in a row shared by Lohmann and Turner, did have one incredible hot strek of 32 wickets in four matches – his other 15 Tests averaged just 2.1 wickets (see the foot of this feature for a list of highest wicket totals in consecutive Tests). FR Foster was just one wicket from a record six consecutive 6wMs.

The incomparable SF Barnes was the first to log two separate runs of four or more consecutive 6wMs, while also having a 5-run and 3-run separated by two 4w hauls – two more wickets in each of those and he’d have had a run of 10, while a 5w haul separated performances of 13, 10, 17, 8 and 14 which would have been a record six consecutive. Barnes also passed Lohmann and Turner to stretch the aggregate record to 18 and, with 27 Tests played, Barnes’s percentage of 6wMs has not been approached since. Similarly, with 12 of 27 matches taking most wickets (44.4%), he was also best in that regard.

At this point the record progression looked like this (Most Consecutive 6wMs, Most runs of at least two consecutive 6wMs, Most runs of at least three consecutive 6wMs, Most runs of at least four consecutive 6wMs, Most career 6wMs, Highest career % 6wMs, Most Consecutive most wickets, Most runs of at least two consecutive most wickets, Most runs of at least three consecutive most wickets, Most career matches with most wickets, Highest career % matches with most wickets) :-

After Maurice Tate captured the record for most consecutive matches taking most wickets with five, next came Clarrie Grimmett. The great Australian leggie surpassed Barnes’ record with 19 total 6wMs, as well as his record of 12 matches with most wickets – Grimmett notched up 17, giving him a percentage of 46.0% which also surpassed Barnes’ record. He also came close to the record for consecutive 6wMs, as one more wicket in a 5w haul [t237] would have a new record at seven in what were the last seven Tests in which he bowled. Grimmett made the following records his own:-

– five runs of two or more consecutive 5wMs (surpassed Peel and Barnes on four)
– 19 total 6wMs (surpassed Barnes 18)
– four runs of two or more consecutive most wickets in a match (Johnny Briggs, Turner, Wilfred Rhodes and Barnes on two)
– three runs of three or more consecutive most wickets in a match (Barnes with two)
– 17 total matches with most wickets (12 by Barnes)
– 46.0% of matches with most wickets (Barnes 44.4%)

So the all-time record progression now looks like this:-

Bert Ironmonger had two 4w hauls which separated what could have been a run of nine successive 6wMs. Alec Bedser had a 5w haul which would otherwise have seen him surpass the existing record of five, though he did tie the record of four consecutive Tests with most wickets (with Barnes and Freeman). That little pal Alfred Valentine also came close to a new record, as 5w and 4w hauls prevented would could have been eight 6wMs in a row. Richie Benaud took a number of Grimmett’s records; he took most wickets in 18 matches, overtaking Grimmett by one. He also equalled Grimmett’s record for most runs of consecutive 6wMs and most runs of consecutive Tests with most wickets. The latter record didn’t last long, as Fred Trueman notched up 21 Tests taking the most wickets while also taking Grimmett’s record of aggregate 6wMs, and going past Grimmett and Benaud. The all-time record progression now looks like this:-

Garry Sobers provides a good example of the difference between reviewing 6wMs rather than 5wMs – Sobers had 19 Test performance with at least five wickets in the match, but just five of those were worth six or more. Graham McKenzie became just the third bowler with his own total of five separate runs of two or more consecutive 5wMs, joining fellow Aussies Grimmett and Benaud, and he also equalled Fred Trueman’s record for most 6wMs with 21. Lance Gibbs almost matched Trueman with 20 total 6wms.

But Dennis Lillee was like no one before him. While fellow Australian Richie Benaud had managed to equal Grimmett’s run of five with two or more 6wMs in a row, Lillee achieved a sustained level of consistent greatness not seen before, with no less than eight separate runs of two or more consecutive 6wMs, of which three were three or more in a row (equalling Barnes). Trueman and McKenzie had managed a total of 21 6wMs, better than anyone else before – Lillee knocked up no less than 31. He also equalled Trueman’s record of 21 Tests taking most wickets. Record progression:-

Imran Khan was no slouch, either – his record of 25 Tests taking the most wickets surpassed the previous record of 21 jointly held by Trueman and Lillee, including an equal best four in a row. That latter record was also matched by Australians Jeff Thomson and Max Walker, Walker’s coming in his first four Tests.Richard Hadlee was the next great paceman to re-write the record book, equalling Lillee with eight separate runs of consecutive 6wMs. His total of 32 total 6wMs was one more than Lillee had managed, and he left Imran’s record of matches with most wickets far behind, adding six more to notch up 31. While Hadlee certainly had more opportunity to take most wickets for his team, it should be noted that the award for most wickets in a match is based on all bowlers including the opposition.At that point the record progression looks like this:-

Michael Holding became the seventh bowler to notch five consecutive 6wMs before (though we’re not looking at that here). Colin Croft equaled a feat previously only recorded by Dennis Lillee by taking four or more wickets in 11 successive Test matches. Yet another fast bowler from that formidable West Indian team, Joel Garner, managed to go one better than with 12 in a row, while Ian Botham breezed past Imran and Hadlee with seven separate runs of consecutive matches with most wickets taken. Here I’s like to digress and compare the four great all-rounders of the 1980s:-

It’s fair to say from the above that Imran and Hadlee show as the top bowlers of the quartet. In comparison, Imran shared his wickets with the likes of Abdul Qadir, Wasim Akram, Sarfraz Nawaz and Iqbal Qasim, while Hadlee’s bowling partners were chiefly Ewen Chatfield, Lance Cairns, John Bracewell and Stephen Boock.

Going back to the bowler review, Rodney Hogg then achieved something not matched since Maurice Tate in 1925 by taking the most wickets in five consecutive Tests, the cherry on the top being that these were his first five ever Tests. Malcolm Marshall continued the dominance of the West Indies pacemen by becoming the first bowler ever to take six wickets or more in a Test six times in a row; the first player to achieve five in a row had been George Lohmann in 1888, with Marshall’s feat coming almost 100 years later and after eight bowlers had equaled Lohmann’s record – Charlie Turner, Sydney Barnes, Bert Vogler, Walter Whitty, AP Freeman, (after a big gap) Michael Holding and Rodney Hogg had all previously fallen at the final hurdle. Marshall also became the first to achieve two separate runs of five or more 6wMs, and he was just one away from equalling Hadlee’s aaggregate of 32 total 6wMs. Courtney Walsh was the next great West Indian fast bowler, and it was he who surpassed Hadlee’s total of 32 6wms with an aggregate of 34. Walsh also was the first since Rodney Hogg to take most wickets in five consecutive Tests, and just missed out on the record for most separate consecutive runs of 6wMs with seven, one less than Hadlee.The record progressions list now looked like this:-

We’ll stop there and discuss the bowlers from the nineties onwards and produce some all-time lists in the next feature.