The advent of T20 has really turned cricket into a batsman’s game. Bowlers today are considered those who just fill up the plot. Virtually every day new batting records are being set only to be broken again. Against this back drop there are certain bowling records in Test cricket that have withstood the passage of time. With batsmen getting more and more aggressive these look to remain for some more time. With the South Africa-India Test series beginning shortly, Orissa POST looks at some of these bowling records.
Most maidens in an innings: During the West Indies tour of England in 1950, spinner Alf Valentine bowled 49 maidens in a Test innings and 75 in the whole game. Till date, this is the most number of maidens bowled by a bowler in an innings or in a Test match. For India, the record is in the name of Bapu Nadkarni who bowled 22 maidens against England in the 1963-64 series.
Quickest to 100 wickets: Ravichandran Aswhin may have broken Dennis Lillee’s record by taking 100 wickets in only 18 Test matches. But then there is another bowler who is just a tad ahead of him and looks like will hold on to the record for some more time. English cricketer George Lohmann is quickest to the 100-wicket club and he achieved the feat in 16 Tests. George Lohmann (1865-1901) did not live long but his feat has lived through the ages. He achieved this feat in the 19th century which withstood the passage of time in the 20th and 21st centuries. In 18 Tests that he played, Lohmann took 112 wickets. He took five wickets in an innings five times and 10 wickets in a match five times.
Cheapest five-wicket haul: This record belongs to Australian Earnie Toshack who had figures of 2.3-1-2-5 in a Test against India at Brisbane in 1947. The record has remained intact for the last 72 years and with batsmen playing more and more shots in the modern-day versions of the game, it probably will remain so for some more time.
Best bowling figures in a Test: England spinner Jim Laker’s astounding figures of 19 for 90 against Australia remains till date as the best bowling performance in a Test match. Laker took 10 wickets for 53 runs in the first innings and followed it up with 9/47 in the second. India’s Anil Kumble (10/74) did come close to Laker’s record with a 10-wicket haul against Pakistan at New Delhi in 2001, but that was as far the Indian legend could get.
Most wickets in a series: England fast bowler Sydney Barnes took 49 wickets in four Tests against Australia in a series that lasted from December 1913 to February 1914. Barnes, however, missed out on one game of the five-Test series as he was indisposed. Had he played that game, he could have become the only bowler to achieve the feat of taking 50 wickets in a series. But then, what he managed to do in four Tests, many bowlers have failed to do so in Test series comprising of six games. In the series, Sydney Barnes took five wickets in an innings seven times and 10 wickets in a match thrice. Looks like this record will also stay in place for some more time.
Most number 10 wicket hauls in a Test: This indeed is a feat very hard to achieve. Only two bowlers have achieved this 10 times or more. One of them is Shane Warne who did it 10 times. The other is none other than Muttiah Muralitharan, who has 22 10-wicket hauls in Test cricket. For India, the legendary Anil Kumble has done it eight times. Muralitharan also holds the record of most five-wicket hauls. He has got five wickets in an innings on 67 occasions.
PNN
