Fifties and five-fors for fun

In the last two Test series of 2010, the prolific runs of two batsmen against a particular opponent came to an end. Michael Hussey was finally dismissed for cheap during the Boxing Day Test at the MCG, and failed to score his seventh consecutive 50-plus score against England. In his previous six innings against them, stretching back to the Oval Test in 2009, Hussey had made 121, 195, 93, 52, 61, and 116. During the same week in Durban, India, much to their relief, dismissed Hashim Amla for less than a hundred, after he had made scores of 253*, 114, 123*, and 140 in consecutive innings against them.

A hundred for Amla in the first innings at Kingsmead would have set him apart, for no batsman has made five centuries in a row against a particular team. Three others have scored four: Alan Melville, for South Africa, against England between 1939 and 1947; Everton Weekes against India in 1948; and Shoaib Mohammad against New Zealand between 1989 and 1990. A hat trick of centuries against a team is a relatively common feat - it's been done 29 times.

Melville preceded his run of four consecutive centuries with two half-centuries, while Weekes followed his patch of hundreds with two fifties. Both batsmen appear in our table below, which contains players with the most consecutive 50-plus scores against a particular team. The leader is Inzamam-ul-Haq, who scored more than 50 in nine consecutive innings against England between 2001 and 2006. Jacques Kallis could soon join him, though. He presently has scores of 51, 155, 100*, 59, 107*, 73, 135*, and 105 in his previous eight innings against Pakistan.

Most consecutive fifties against the same opposition - Tests

Player	Inns		Opposition	Scorecard	Scorecard		List
Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pak)	9		v England	May 31, 2001	Jul 13, 2006		114, 85, 53, 72, 109, 100*, 97, 69, 56*
CH Lloyd (WI)	8		v England	Jun 19, 1980	Jun 14, 1984		56, 101, 64, 100, 66, 58, 95, 71
JH Kallis (SA)	8		v Pakistan	Jan 26, 2007	Nov 20, 2010		51, 155, 100*, 59, 107*, 73, 135*, 105
GS Sobers (WI)	7		v India	Apr 13, 1962	Jan 13, 1967		104, 50, 50, 53*, 70, 95, 74*
KD Walters (Aus)	7		v West Indies	Dec 26, 1968	Feb 16, 1973		76, 118, 110, 50, 242, 103, 72
Mohammad Yousuf (Pak)	7		v West Indies	Feb 7, 2002	Nov 27, 2006		60, 52*, 192, 56, 191, 102, 124
EH Hendren (Eng)	6		v West Indies	Feb 1, 1930	Apr 3, 1930		77, 205*, 56, 123, 61, 55
GA Headley (WI)	6		v England	Jan 24, 1935	Jul 22, 1939		93, 53, 270*, 106, 107, 51
A Melville (SA)	6		v England	Feb 18, 1939	Jun 21, 1947		67, 78, 103, 189, 104*, 117
ED Weekes (WI)	6		v India	Nov 10, 1948	Feb 4, 1949		128, 194, 162, 101, 90, 56
RN Harvey (Aus)	6		v South Africa	Jan 20, 1950	Dec 5, 1952		151*, 56*, 100, 116, 109, 52
GS Sobers (WI)	6		v Pakistan	Jan 17, 1958	Mar 13, 1958		52, 52, 80, 365*, 125, 109*
A Flower (Zim)	6		v India	Nov 18, 2000	Jun 7, 2001		183*, 70, 55, 232*, 51, 83
S Chanderpaul (WI)	6		v India	Apr 19, 2002	Oct 9, 2002		67*, 101*, 136*, 58, 59, 54
Taufeeq Umar (Pak)	6		v South Africa	Jan 2, 2003	Oct 24, 2003		135, 67, 111, 63, 68, 71
AC Gilchrist (Aus)	6		v New Zealand	Nov 30, 2001	Mar 26, 2005		83*, 126, 50, 121, 162, 60*
MEK Hussey (Aus)	6		v England	Aug 20, 2009	Dec 16, 2010		121, 195, 93, 52, 61, 116

Scoring consecutive hundreds is relatively easy compared to taking consecutive five-wicket hauls. You only have to depend on yourself for one, and not have to compete with rampant team-mates for scalps. Only four bowlers have managed four consecutive five-fors against an opponent in the 21st century and all of them are spinners - Harbhajan Singh, Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill.

The longest streak of five-wicket hauls against a particular team is also the earliest in the table below. Charlie Turner took six in a row against England between February and August 1888. He could have had eight but he managed only 4 for 52 in the second innings at the SCG in 1887 during a period in which he took 5 for 41, 4 for 52, 5 for 44, 7 for 43, 5 for 27, 5 for 36, 6 for 112, and 5 for 86.

Sydney Barnes also tormented South Africa in 1912 and 1913 by grabbing five or more in an innings six times in a row. His streak could have been ten but for the four-wicket haul interrupting this succession of figures - 5 for 25, 6 for 85, 6 for 52, 4 for 63, 5 for 28, 8 for 29, 5 for 57, 5 for 48, 8 for 56 and 9 for 103.

Most consecutive five-wickets against the same opposition - Tests

Player	Inns		Opposition	Scorecard	Scorecard		List
CTB Turner (Aus)	6		v England	Feb 10, 1888	Aug 30, 1888		5/44, 7/43, 5/27, 5/36, 6/112, 5/86
SF Barnes (Eng)	6		v South Africa	Aug 12, 1912	Dec 26, 1913		5/28, 8/29, 5/57, 5/48, 8/56, 9/103
T Richardson (Eng)	5		v Australia	Mar 1, 1895	Jul 16, 1896		6/104, 6/39, 5/134, 7/168, 6/76
AV Bedser (Eng)	5		v Australia	Feb 23, 1951	Jun 25, 1953		5/46, 5/59, 7/55, 7/44, 5/105
DL Underwood (Eng)	5		v New Zealand	Aug 21, 1969	Mar 5, 1971		6/41, 6/60, 6/12, 6/85, 5/108
J Briggs (Eng)	4		v Australia	Mar 24, 1892	Aug 14, 1893		6/49, 6/87, 5/34, 5/114
JC Laker (Eng)	4		v Australia	Jul 12, 1956	Jul 26, 1956		5/58, 6/55, 9/37, 10/53
FS Trueman (Eng)	4		v West Indies	Jun 20, 1963	Jul 4, 1963		6/100, 5/52, 5/75, 7/44
RM Hogg (Aus)	4		v England	Dec 15, 1978	Dec 29, 1978		5/65, 5/57, 5/30, 5/36
Imran Khan (Pak)	4		v India	Dec 23, 1982	Jan 14, 1983		8/60, 6/98, 5/82, 6/35
MD Marshall (WI)	4		v Australia	Nov 23, 1984	Dec 22, 1984		5/82, 5/69, 5/38, 5/86
RJ Hadlee (NZ)	4		v Australia	Dec 11, 1987	Mar 15, 1990		5/68, 5/109, 5/67, 5/39
Saqlain Mushtaq (Pak)	4		v India	Jan 28, 1999	Feb 4, 1999		5/94, 5/93, 5/94, 5/122
Harbhajan Singh (India)	4		v Australia	Mar 11, 2001	Mar 18, 2001		7/123, 6/73, 7/133, 8/84
M Muralitharan (SL)	4		v Bangladesh	Sep 6, 2001	Jul 21, 2002		5/13, 5/98, 5/39, 5/59
SK Warne (Aus)	4		v Sri Lanka	Mar 8, 2004	Mar 16, 2004		5/116, 5/43, 5/65, 5/90
SCG MacGill (Aus)	4		v Bangladesh	Jul 18, 2003	Apr 9, 2006		5/65, 5/77, 5/56, 8/108

In one-day internationals, the most hundreds anyone has scored consecutively against a particular opponent is three. Five people have done it - the two most recent being Sachin Tendulkar, during his battering of Australia in 1998, and Sourav Ganguly, who scored three against Kenya between 2001 and 2003.

Javed Miandad's seven consecutive half-centuries against England between 1985 and 1987 are the most for a batsmen in ODIs. Dean Jones is the only one with two entries in the table below, though. He had 50-plus scores in five consecutive innings against both New Zealand and Sri Lanka between 1988 and 1990.

Most consecutive fifties against the same opposition - ODIs

Player	Inns		Opposition	Scorecard	Scorecard		List
Javed Miandad (Pak)	7		v England	Mar 26, 1985	May 25, 1987		71, 59, 77*, 60, 113, 71*, 68
G Boycott (Eng)	6		v Australia	Dec 8, 1979	Jun 4, 1981		68, 105, 86*, 99, 78, 75*
BC Lara (WI)	6		v Australia	Jan 16, 1993	Mar 4, 1996		67, 60, 55, 62, 139, 60
Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pak)	6		v West Indies	Sep 19, 1999	Apr 19, 2000		55*, 71, 61, 51*, 69, 66
MS Atapattu (SL)	6		v Pakistan	Feb 13, 2000	Jul 5, 2000		119*, 57, 77, 62, 100, 62
GC Smith (SA)	6		v Zimbabwe	Jul 5, 2003	Aug 25, 2007		58, 69, 50, 117, 50, 96
Salman Butt (Pak)	6		v Bangladesh	Apr 11, 2008	Jul 4, 2008		76, 132, 74, 136, 70, 56*
CG Greenidge (WI)	5		v England	Dec 23, 1979	May 28, 1980		85*, 50, 80, 98*, 78
AH Jones (NZ)	5		v Pakistan	Feb 6, 1989	Mar 14, 1989		55*, 62*, 67, 82, 63*
DM Jones (Aus)	5		v New Zealand	Jan 22, 1988	Mar 11, 1990		58*, 53*, 107, 59, 102*
DM Jones (Aus)	5		v Sri Lanka	Oct 25, 1989	May 2, 1990		85, 85*, 69, 80*, 117*
NS Sidhu (India)	5		v Sri Lanka	Oct 29, 1988	Dec 1, 1990		50, 76, 80, 64, 52
M Azharuddin (India)	5		v Sri Lanka	Jan 4, 1991	Nov 7, 1993		54*, 53, 62, 85, 75*
Saeed Anwar (Pak)	5		v Sri Lanka	Feb 2, 1993	Aug 3, 1994		55, 110, 107, 111, 70*
ST Jayasuriya (SL)	5		v Pakistan	Oct 30, 1993	Aug 7, 1994		58, 65, 77, 54, 50
SR Tendulkar (India)	5		v West Indies	Nov 5, 1994	Feb 21, 1996		66, 54, 88, 105, 70
PA de Silva (SL)	5		v Zimbabwe	Nov 5, 1994	Apr 3, 1997		97*, 107*, 91, 127*, 60
Yasir Hameed (Pak)	5		v New Zealand	Nov 29, 2003	Dec 7, 2003		52, 53, 63, 61, 127*
RT Ponting (Aus)	5		v New Zealand	Jan 28, 2007	Dec 20, 2007		111, 104, 66, 107*, 134*
Yuvraj Singh (India)	5		v Pakistan	Nov 11, 2007	Jun 14, 2008		77, 53*, 50, 55, 56

Only two bowlers have taken consecutive five-fors in ODIs against a particular team and their feats came about 20 years apart. Waqar Younis took 5 for 11 and 5 for 16 against New Zealand in 1990 while Ryan Harris claimed 5 for 43 and 5 for 19 against Pakistan in 2010. And while a host of bowlers have taken four-fors in two consecutive games, only Ian Bishop - against Pakistan in 1993 - and Vasbert Drakes - against Bangladesh in 2002 - have done it in three.