'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
#5 Graham Gooch (34 and 154 not out against the West Indies in 1991)
From 1980 to 1995 the West Indies did not lose a single series.
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During this time, they seemed to particularly delight in tormenting England. Prior to the 1991 series, the past 35 meetings between the two sides had seen West Indies record 22 victories to England’s one.
The West Indies had many strengths, but it was still their pace battery that stood out.
In the first Test of the 1991 series in Headingly, the Windies boasted Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Balfour Patterson. A quartet that would make any batting side tremble.
When England were sent into bat on a bowler-friendly pitch, it seemed their fate was sealed.
Gooch opened the batting and saw off the new ball, but failed to go much further. His 34 was England's second-highest score as they fell for 198.
Somewhat surprisingly, when Gooch strode to the crease for a second time, England held a 25-run lead.
Sir Vivian Richards had threatened to take the game away from England with a typically cavalier 73, but he lacked support, as none of the six batsmen who came in after him managed to reach double figures and the West Indies only made 173.
England had hoped, however, that in the third innings they would not only have to contend with West Indies' sublime pace attack once more but would have to do so on a deteriorating pitch that neither side had managed to pass 200 on.
Ambrose struck thrice in his first spell - Michael Atherton, Graeme Hick, and Allan Lamb all fell while Gooch watched on at the other end.
Debutant Mark Ramprakash eked 27 runs off 109 balls before he too fell to Ambrose. Derek Pringle similarly managed 27 off 94 before being dismissed by Marshall.
No other English batsmen made more than 6, except for Gooch, who carried the bat through the innings to finish on 154. The rest of the England's team only managed 98. Gooch struck 18 of the 25 boundaries England hit.
The West Indies dominated England, but Gooch dominated the West Indies.
On one of the toughest batting pitches of the modern era, against one of the best bowling attacks in the history of the game, Gooch was imperious.
His innings would prove to be the decisive factor in the match as England claimed a 115-run victory.
They went on to tie the series 2-2, with Gooch being named joint Player of the Series, along with Ambrose.
#4 Muttiah Muralitharan (7/155 and 9/65 against England in 1998)
Muttiah Muralitharan claimed 22 10-wicket hauls in his career, more than twice the amount of the next best player (Shane Warne with 10).
The best of these 22 performances came at Kennington Oval, where Muralitharan produced 113 overs of sorcery.
England made an impressive start to the game, scoring 445 in the first innings.
At this stage, the pitch was not doing much but Muralitharan was still extracting every bit of life out of it.
During his 7/155, it became apparent that even England’s finest batsmen were struggling to pick his 'doosra', which was an ominous sign.
Sanath Jayasuriya (213) and Aravinda de Silva (152) lead Sri Lanka’s response, with the visitors finishing on 591.
Muralitharan even chipped in with a 36-ball 30 at the end, adding further suffering to a tired bowling attack.
England took only one wicket from spin bowling during the innings.
When England went out to bat again, it soon became apparent they were not battling Sri Lanka as much as they were battling Muralitharan.
Muralitharan made a decent batting pitch seem like a minefield. The most remarkable thing about England’s 181 was that they batted quite well.
They fought doggedly, but Muralitharan was simply too good, taking 9/65 and only being denied a tenth due to a run out.
#3 VVS Laxman (59 and 281 against Australia in 2001)
When Australia arrived in India in 2001, they were on a record-breaking 15-Test winning streak.
In the first Test in Mumbai, they extended their record to 16 matches and seemed poised to claim their first series win in India in more than three decades.
The start of the Kolkata Test did little to dissuade this feeling. The three-match Test series appeared to only have one winner as Australia scored 445 in the first innings before bowling India out for 171 in Kolkata.
Apart from a rampant Harbhajan Singh taking seven wickets, the only bright spot for India was VVS Laxman’s 59, which included a 42-run tenth-wicket stand with Venkatesh Prasad.
Laxman was 27 at the time but was yet to find his feet in Test cricket. In 20 matches he averaged just 27.06.
Had it not been for his incredible 167 against Australia a little over a year earlier, he probably would not have been in the team but thankfully for India, the selectors believed he would reward their faith.
With a 274-run lead, Steve Waugh decided to enforce follow on. India seemed frail, and with Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz and Shane Warne at his disposal, Waugh probably felt confident in his decision.
Shiv Sunder Das and Sadagopan Ramesh fought off the new ball. But Warne then removed Ramesh to end the 52-run opening stand.
Surprisingly, it was not Rahul Dravid who walked to the crease at number three as had been the case in the first innings but was instead Laxman.
Laxman would play the innings of his career. He would only be dismissed when India were on 608, having shown complete mastery over a strong bowling attack.
His 376-run partnership with Dravid would not only turn the course of the match, but the entire series.
Despite having seemed to be in an unwinnable position, India defeated Australia by 171 runs in the Kolkata Test. They would then defeat them by two wickets in Chennai to claim the series, with Laxman again playing a key role.
Laxman’s Kolkata masterpiece would see him enter a new chapter of his career. The next time he faced Australia he would average 44.27 and be regarded as a definite starter in the team.
#2 Sir Ian Botham (50 and 149 not out, 6/95 and 1/14 against Australia in 1981)
In the early years of his career, there was no one like Sir Ian Botham.
Three hundreds and five fiver-fors in his first seven Tests made his immense talent immediately apparent to the cricketing world.
Yet come the 1981 Ashes, Botham was experiencing the first rough patch of his career.
The West Indies comfortably defeated England in a five-match series in which Botham would average 10.43 with the bat and 32.80 with the ball.
Things continued poorly for him in the first two Tests of the Ashes. While his bowling remained serviceable, Botham scored just 1 and 33 at Trent Bridge before making a pair at Lord's
Botham was demoted to second change with the ball and pushed down to number seven in the batting order. England were 1-0 down in the series and needed change.
Australia continued to impress in the first innings, scoring 401. But Botham looked back to his old self with the ball, taking 6/96 – his first five-for in 13 Tests.
Yet any optimism from Botham’s resurgence with the ball was quickly quashed as England’s top order crumbled. Botham came to the crease at 5/87. He added some respectability to England’s score with a quickfire 50 but it was not enough to stop Kim Highes from enforcing the follow-on, as Australia still had a 227-run lead.
England’s top order again imploded.
Soon after Botham walked to the crease, the score was 7/135. Most English fans were likely hoping to simply avoid an innings defeat but Botham had other plans.
Botham’s 149 not out was scored in just 148 deliveries. The carnage only ceased when he ran out of batting partners but by this stage, England had a 130-run lead.
Bob Willis then took over and claimed 8/43 with the ball to dismiss Australia for just 111 and earn England one of their greatest Test victories. Botham played his part in the final innings, taking the first by finding the edge of Graeme Wood’s bat when the opener was only on 10.
Botham took 5/11 in the next match to help his team to another unlikely win, with England eventually securing the Ashes 3-1.
Botham was unsurprisingly named Player of the Series.
Honorable mentions:
Needless to say, there are many great performances that did not quite make this list.
Aubrey Faulkner’s one-man show in the defeat to England in 1910, Stan McCabe’s defiance in the face of Bodyline in 1932, and Brian Lara’s fourth innings masterpiece against Australia in 1999 are perhaps the three performances closest to troubling the top 10.
Here is a list of honorable mentions, compiled in chronological order:
George Lohmann (7/38 and 8/7 vs South Africa in 1896)
Aubrey Faulkner (78 and 123; 5/120 and 3/40 against England in 1910)
Victor Trumper (214 not out and 28 against South Africa in 1911)
Sydney Barnes (8/56 and 9/103 vs South Africa in 1913)
Stan McCabe (187 not out and 32 against England in 1932)
Don Bradman (244 and 77 against England in 1934)
Don Bradman (13 and 270 against England in 1937)
Mulvantrai Mankad (8/52 and 5/79 against Pakistan in 1952)
Hugh Tayfield (4/79 and 9/113 against England in 1957)
Hanif Mohammed (17 and 337 against the West Indies in 1958)
Alan Davidson (44 and 80; 5/135 and 6/87 against the West Indies in 1960)
Polly Umrigar (5/107; 56 and 172 against the West Indies in 1962)
Garfield Sobers (174; 5/41 and 3/39 against England in 1966)
Sunil Gavaskar (124 and 220 against the West Indies in 1971)
Derek Underwood (5/20 and 8/51 against Pakistan in 1974)
Michael Holding (8/92 and 6/57 against England in 1976)
Sarfraz Nawaz (2/29 and 9/86 against Australia in 1979)
Ian Botham (114; 6/58 and 7/48 against India in 1980)
Allan Border (98 not out and 100 not out against the West Indies in 1984)
Richard Hadlee (54; 9/52 and 6/71 against Australia in 1985)
Abdul Qadir (9/56 and 4/45 against England in 1987)
Anil Kumble (4/75 and 10/74 against Pakistan in 1999)
Brian Lara (8 and 153 not out against Australia in 1999)
Brian Lara (221 and 130 against Sri Lanka in 2001)
Harbhajan Singh (7/133 and 8/84 against Australia in 2001)
Andy Flower (142 and 199 not out against South Africa in 2001)
Rahul Dravid (233 and 72 not out against Australia in 2003)
Kumar Sangakkara (57 and 192 against Australia in 2007)
Virender Sehwag (201 and 50 against Sri Lanka in 2008)
Brendon McCullum (8 and 302 against India in 2014)
Steve Smith (144 and 142 against England in 2019)
Ben Stokes (1/45 and 3/56; 8 and 135 not out against Australia in 2019)
#1 Jim Laker (9/37 and 10/53 against Australia in 1956)
65 years on, Jim Laker’s Old Trafford masterclass remains Test cricket’s greatest performance.
Statistically, there is no comparison.
The second-best Test match figures in Test history are Sydney Barnes' 17/159. That performance was in 1913, against a South African side far inferior to the Australian one of 1956.
In all of first class cricket, no other bowler has taken 19 wickets in a match. Two bowlers are recorded as having taken 18 wickets in a match, but these performances were before Test matches even began.
Laker’s 1956 performance stands alone above the rest.
Highlighting the extent of Australia’s capitulation was that Laker dismissed Neil Harvey for a pair, with the two dismissals coming just four hours apart due to Australia being asked to follow on.
Only Jim Burke, who fell to Laker’s fellow spinner, Tony Lock, prevented Laker from taking all 20.
The only caveat to Laker’s performance was the pitch.
It was technically the same pitch Richie Benaud had managed just 2/123 from when England batted first. But some rain after the first day – in which England made 3/307 – greatly changed its properties.
Australia felt aggrieved by the way the pitch had been tendered, yet Brian Statham, Trevor Bailey and Tony Lock all bowled 117 overs between them for just a single wicket.
Laker took 11 wickets in the match before and would take a further seven in the Test to follow during Australia’s two innings.
Australian captain Ian Johnson summed up the situation after the match:
"When the controversies and side issues of this match are forgotten. Laker's wonderful bowling will remain."
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