Wicked ends to wicket droughts

Two weeks ago, after Alastair Cook converted his Test series average against India from 5.00 to 62.80 with 294 at Edgbaston, we dug up a list of batsmen who ended a run of small scores with a double-century. Harbhajan Singh had the opportunity to perform the bowling equivalent. He averaged 218 for one wicket after Lord's and 143 for 2 after Trent Bridge, but there was no average-plummeting spell from him. He hobbled out of the tour with a stomach injury. Perhaps it'll come against West Indies in November. This week's column is about bowlers who did turn it around, sometimes rather spectacularly.

Bob Holland, the Australia legspinner, was 39. His form had dipped since the five-for at Lord's in 1985 and his figures for the rest of the Ashes were 1 for 90, 0 for 69, 0 for 101 and 0 for 95. He'd been wicketless in the first Test (0 for 106 at the Gabba) of that summer's home series against New Zealand as well, which Australia lost by an innings and 41 runs. At the SCG, however, Holland ended his poor form with 6 for 106 in the first innings and 4 for 68 in the second, becoming the fifth-oldest bowler - the oldest since World War II - to take a ten-wicket haul in a Test.

During West Indies' tour of Australia in 1988-89, two players took five-wicket hauls after going 10 innings with poor results. Before the MCG Test, Steve Waugh had taken only four wickets in 10 previous innings. Waugh then took 3 for 77 in the first innings (lowering his ten-innings average to 75) in Melbourne before picking up 5 for 92 in the second. The fact that he was Australia's most successful bowler meant that West Indies won by 285 runs.

Worst bowling average in the previous 10 innings before taking a five-wicket haul - Tests

Player	Figs	Opp	Start Date	Scorecard		Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	Ave	5	4
PA Strang (Zim)	5/106	v SL	Sep 11, 1996	Test 1333		1020	483	4	1/1	120.75	0	0
AR Border (Aus)	7/46	v WI	Jan 26, 1989	Test 1113		336	117	1	1/25	117.00	0	0
JW Hearne (Eng)	5/49	v SA	Jan 1, 1914	Test 132		330	232	2	1/5	116.00	0	0
JC Adams (WI)	5/17	v NZ	Apr 19, 1996	Test 1325		414	220	2	2/74	110.00	0	0
ME Waugh (Aus)	5/40	v Eng	Jan 26, 1995	Test 1284		390	206	2	2/63	103.00	0	0
ST Jayasuriya (SL)	5/43	v Zim	Jan 12, 2002	Test 1585		480	203	2	1/34	101.50	0	0
GS Chappell (Aus)	5/61	v Pak	Jan 6, 1973	Test 707		490	194	2	1/28	97.00	0	0
Mudassar Nazar (Pak)	6/32	v Eng	Aug 12, 1982	Test 932		210	96	0	0/1	-	0	0
FMM Worrell (WI)	7/70	v Eng	Jul 25, 1957	Test 442		1164	558	6	2/114	93.00	0	0
FH Edwards (WI)	5/38	v Pak	May 26, 2005	Test 1752		1052	647	7	2/61	92.42	0	0
Abdul Razzaq (Pak)	5/35	v SL	Oct 28, 2004	Test 1719		960	529	6	3/70	88.16	0	0
SK Warne (Aus)	5/52	v SL	Sep 9, 1999	Test 1459		1529	833	10	3/106	83.30	0	0
Mohammad Rafique (Ban)	5/62	v Aus	Apr 9, 2006	Test 1797		1554	796	10	5/114	79.60	1	0
DCS Compton (Eng)	5/70	v SA	Jan 1, 1949	Test 309		550	237	3	1/11	79.00	0	0
Iqbal Qasim (Pak)	6/40	v India	Dec 16, 1979	Test 865		1296	542	7	4/135	77.42	0	1
SR Waugh (Aus)	5/92	v WI	Dec 24, 1988	Test 1112		1044	528	7	3/77	75.42	0	0
BKV Prasad (India)	6/33	v Pak	Jan 28, 1999	Test 1442		1284	600	8	2/61	75.00	0	0
Harbhajan Singh (India)	5/147	v WI	Jun 22, 2006	Test 1807		1564	818	11	3/79	74.36	0	0
Mohammad Amir (Pak)	5/79	v Aus	Dec 26, 2009	Test 1943		954	520	7	2/29	74.28	0	0
CS Martin (NZ)	6/54	v SL	Apr 11, 2005	Test 1748		1229	811	11	5/152	73.72	1	1

In the next Test of that home series against West Indies, at the SCG, Allan Border took 11 for 96 in Australia's seven-wicket victory. In 10 innings prior to his 7 for 46 in the first innings in Sydney, Border had taken one wicket at an average of 117 in 56 overs. In 20 previous innings, he'd taken only one wicket in 91.1 overs. In 17 innings after the 4 for 50 in the second innings at the SCG, Border managed only three wickets. So his career-best was a bolt from the blue.

Daniel Vettori had been struggling for wickets when he came to Bangladesh in 2004. In his previous 19 innings, he'd taken only 20 wickets at more than 70 apiece. Six of his previous nine innings had been wicketless. In the first innings of the first Test, in Dhaka, Vettori took 2 for 26. He was only warming up. In his next three innings - the second in Dhaka and two in Chittagong - he took six wickets each time.

Worst bowling average in the previous 20 innings before taking a five-wicket haul - Tests

Player	Figs	Opp	Start Date	Scorecard		Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	Ave	5	4
AR Border (Aus)	7/46	v WI	Jan 26, 1989	Test 1113		547	233	1	1/25	233.00	0	0
FMM Worrell (WI)	7/70	v Eng	Jul 25, 1957	Test 442		1788	822	8	2/114	102.75	0	0
JC Adams (WI)	5/17	v NZ	Apr 19, 1996	Test 1325		773	438	5	2/74	87.60	0	0
CH Gayle (WI)	5/34	v Eng	Jul 29, 2004	Test 1708		1412	613	8	2/20	76.62	0	0
CL Hooper (WI)	5/26	v SL	Jun 20, 1997	Test 1371		2112	831	11	3/34	75.54	0	0
Shahadat Hossain (Ban)	5/98	v Eng	May 27, 2010	Test 1958		1778	1215	18	5/71	67.50	1	0
DL Vettori (NZ)	6/28	v Ban	Oct 19, 2004	Test 1715		3266	1480	22	4/158	67.27	0	1
TE Bailey (Eng)	7/34	v WI	Mar 30, 1954	Test 386		2094	926	14	3/71	66.14	0	0
Mudassar Nazar (Pak)	6/32	v Eng	Aug 12, 1982	Test 932		875	382	6	3/48	63.66	0	0
FH Edwards (WI)	5/38	v Pak	May 26, 2005	Test 1752		2121	1458	23	4/70	63.39	0	1
DCS Compton (Eng)	5/70	v SA	Jan 1, 1949	Test 309		1168	500	8	2/32	62.50	0	0
HK Olonga (Zim)	5/93	v Pak	Nov 9, 2002	Test 1625		1851	1121	19	3/18	59.00	0	0
TM Alderman (Aus)	6/128	v WI	Nov 9, 1984	Test 997		2671	1286	22	2/23	58.45	0	0
ME Waugh (Aus)	5/40	v Eng	Jan 26, 1995	Test 1284		786	343	6	2/63	57.16	0	0
EP Nupen (SA)	5/83	v Eng	Feb 4, 1928	Test 172		2685	1124	20	5/53	56.20	1	1
CL Hooper (WI)	5/40	v Pak	Apr 16, 1993	Test 1220		2027	882	16	4/75	55.12	0	1
RF Surti (India)	5/74	v Aus	Dec 23, 1967	Test 624		2034	990	18	3/38	55.00	0	0
M Ntini (SA)	5/19	v Ban	Oct 18, 2002	Test 1619		2067	1155	21	4/93	55.00	0	1
RJ Shastri (India)	5/75	v Pak	Oct 5, 1983	Test 963		3177	1308	24	4/43	54.50	0	1
RJ Bright (Aus)	5/94	v India	Sep 18, 1986	Test 1052		2901	1143	21	5/68	54.42	1	0

Brett Lee has the best ODI strike rate (29.1) among bowlers with more than 100 one-day wickets. His record took a beating in February and March 2006, though, when he went wicketless in four consecutive innings, against Sri Lanka and South Africa. That streak - the only time Lee has been wicketless for more than two successive matches - was bookended by two one-wicket hauls. So he had an average of 210 in four matches before the third ODI against South Africa in Port Elizabeth, where he took 4 for 28 in Australia's 24-run victory.

Worst bowling average in the previous 10 innings before taking a four-wicket haul - ODIs

Player	Figs	Opp	Start Date	Scorecard		Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	Ave	5	4
TM Dilshan (SL)	4/52	v SA	Aug 22, 2004	ODI 2158		303	244	1	1/12	244.00	0	0
RT Latham (NZ)	5/32	v Aus	Mar 28, 1993	ODI 827		138	155	1	1/27	155.00	0	0
Ijaz Faqih (Pak)	4/43	v Aus	Jan 30, 1984	ODI 243		438	304	2	1/41	152.00	0	0
RR Singh (India)	5/31	v SL	May 26, 1999	ODI 1463		354	287	2	2/45	143.50	0	0
SR Tendulkar (India)	4/56	v SA	Mar 15, 2000	ODI 1574		252	241	2	1/39	120.50	0	0
JK Kamande (Kenya)	4/36	v Neth	Jul 3, 2010	ODI 3010		372	327	3	1/37	109.00	0	0
CZ Harris (NZ)	4/40	v India	Jan 19, 1999	ODI 1387		471	375	4	2/44	93.75	0	0
PV Simmons (WI)	4/18	v Aus	Mar 12, 1995	ODI 987		384	279	3	1/22	93.00	0	0
Khaled Mahmud (Ban)	4/19	v Zim	Mar 14, 2004	ODI 2113		496	462	5	2/67	92.40	0	0
HK Olonga (Zim)	6/28	v Kenya	Dec 15, 2002	ODI 1920		384	369	4	1/30	92.25	0	0
PD Collingwood (Eng)	4/38	v NZ	Feb 20, 2002	ODI 1811		307	275	3	1/31	91.66	0	0
Maninder Singh (India)	4/22	v Pak	Dec 5, 1986	ODI 406		534	366	4	2/30	91.50	0	0
CJ McDermott (Aus)	4/56	v India	Oct 9, 1987	ODI 453		570	447	5	1/24	89.40	0	0
RS Kalpage (SL)	4/45	v WI	Dec 16, 1993	ODI 864		537	418	5	3/64	83.60	0	0
S Lee (Aus)	5/33	v SL	Feb 7, 1999	ODI 1403		312	243	3	2/20	81.00	0	0
NO Miller (WI)	4/43	v Zim	Mar 6, 2010	ODI 2970		493	401	5	2/24	80.20	0	0
DL Vettori (NZ)	4/14	v SL	May 19, 2003	ODI 2014		534	314	4	2/18	78.50	0	0
PA de Silva (SL)	4/30	v Eng	Jan 13, 2003	ODI 1934		294	232	3	2/35	77.33	0	0
XJ Doherty (Aus)	4/28	v SL	Aug 20, 2011	ODI 3182		492	383	5	2/37	76.60	0	0
IR Bishop (WI)	4/38	v Pak	Jan 3, 1997	ODI 1157		474	382	5	2/35	76.40	0	0