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The New Year did not change the fortunes of England and India as they both lost the final match of their test series without giving any fight whatsoever. At least England can have a sigh of huge relief that next time when they try to regain Ashes, their chief tormentors Shane Warne and Glen McGrath will not be around and Justin Langer will not be there to annoy them with his long standing partnership with Matthew Hayden. They all played their part in the final test match. Warne top scored for Australia in their first innings, McGrath took a wicket with the last ball he bowled in test cricket and Justin Langer was there when Hayden hit the winning runs as Australia registered their historic fifth win of the five match Ashes series. Ricky Ponting fulfilled his dream of thrashing England 5-0 and thereby becoming only the second captain in Ashes history to handover a whitewash to their arch rivals. Warwick Armstrong led Australia for the first ever whitewash 86 years back. Though England was recovering from the War at that time they did have a much better team under JWHT Douglas than Flintoff's army.
India's loss was even more embarrassing as they won the first test after bowling out South Africa for a paltry 84 and then went on to lose the next two test matches. Their defeat marks the eighth instance of a team losing a three test series after winning the first test. Last time it happened India was on the other side of the table as they won that 2000-01 test series destroying the 'final frontier' dream of Steve Waugh. Not only was the test series against South Africa turned out to be a total embarrassment for India but also the batting of Sachin Tendulkar, who for a while batted in such a fashion even the likes of Chetan Chauhan, Yahspal Sharma and Parveen Amre may have felt very annoyed.
Following are some of the statistical highlights of the first two test matches of the year 2007:
England's 5-0 whitewash is only the second whitewash in Ashes history, they being at the receiving end in the prior whitewash too. Warwick Armstrong led Australians in 1920-21 inflicted the first one. In all there are nine 5-0 series victories in test history, England having the dubious distinction of being the sufferer on no less than four different occasions. They lost two back to back test series by 5-0 margin at the hands of Viv Richards’ mighty West Indians in mid eighties. Following is the list of all nine 5-0 whitewashes in Test history.
England in Australia 1920/21
Australia beat South Africa in Australia 1931/32
England beat India in England 1959
West Indies beat India in West Indies 1961/62
West Indies beat England in England 1984
West Indies beat England in West Indies 1985/86
South Africa beat West Indies in South Africa 1998/99
Australia beat West Indies in Australia 2000/01
Australia beat England in Australia 2006/07
 2007 Ashes saw four of the key members of the dominant Australian teams of the last fifteen years announcing their retirements from the test cricket. Each of them is undoubtedly a hall of fame cricketer in his own right. Of course, the Giants of the Australian bowling attacks for the past one and half decades, Warne and McGrath, who accounted for 1271 wickets during their combined test careers, will be impossible to be replaced anytime soon. Following table lists the test career figures of the four Aussies Shane Warne, Glen McGrath, Justin Langer & Damien Martyn.
An interesting record that both Shane Warne and Glen McGrath holds in test cricket is that they are the only two bowlers in test cricket to have dismissed 100 or more batsmen for a duck.
Glenn McGrath took his tally of test victims to 157 from 30 tests against England. Only Shane Warne (195 in 36), Dennis Lillee (167 in 29) and Curtly Ambrose (164 in 34) have taken more wickets against them. Warne’s tally is the most by any bowler against a single Test opposition. He also has the most wickets by any bowler against New Zealand (103) and South Africa (130). He has the highest number of wickets by any bowler against West Indies, with 110 victims.
Warne also leaves the test cricket scene with more victories (92) than any other player in history. He is one of the 15 cricketers in history to have figured in 50 or more test wins. As shown in the following list, this particular category is dominated by Australians, with no less than 11 players , three of them still playing.
| Player | Mat | Runs | HS | BatAv | 100 | 50 | Wkts | Best | BowlAv | 5w | Ct | St | | Warne SK | 92 | 1830 | 86 | 18.30 | 0 | 8 | 510 | 8 for 71 | 22.47 | 27 | 86 | 0 | | SR Waugh | 86 | 6460 | 200 | 69.46 | 25 | 25 | 31 | 5 for 28 | 29.25 | 1 | 65 | 0 | | McGrath GD | 84 | 432 | 61 | 7.85 | 0 | 1 | 414 | 8 for 24 | 19.19 | 18 | 27 | 0 | | RT Ponting* | 78 | 6909 | 257 | 65.80 | 26 | 25 | 2 | 1 for 0 | 62.00 | 0 | 96 | 0 | | ME Waugh | 72 | 4794 | 153* | 48.91 | 15 | 28 | 23 | 3 for 40 | 47.52 | 0 | 117 | 0 | | JL Langer | 70 | 5229 | 250 | 48.41 | 15 | 19 | - | - | - | - | 58 | 0 | | AC Gilchrist* | 69 | 4199 | 204* | 55.98 | 14 | 22 | - | - | - | - | 278 | 31 | | ML Hayden* | 64 | 5652 | 380 | 57.09 | 21 | 19 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 92 | 0 | | IVA Richards | 63 | 4300 | 291 | 52.43 | 12 | 22 | 9 | 2 for 24 | 63.11 | 0 | 69 | 0 | | DL Haynes | 60 | 4041 | 167 | 45.92 | 10 | 20 | - | - | - | - | 36 | 0 | | CG Greenindge | 57 | 4653 | 226 | 54.74 | 14 | 18 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 63 | 0 | | IA Healy | 55 | 2135 | 161* | 33.35 | 2 | 11 | - | - | - | - | 202 | 17 | | MA Taylor | 52 | 3812 | 219 | 45.92 | 11 | 22 | - | - | - | - | 101 | 0 | | CA Walsh | 52 | 345 | 30* | 8.21 | 0 | 0 | 239 | 7 for 37 | 19.72 | 10 | 12 | 0 | | AR Border | 50 | 3186 | 200* | 51.38 | 5 | 23 | 18 | 6 for 46 | 21.11 | 1 | 66 | 0 |
Following table lists all the active players who are closer to figuring in 50 test victories.
| Player | Mat | Runs | HS | BatAv | 100s | 50 | Wkts | Best | BowlAv | 5w | Ct | St | | MV Boucher | 48 | 1697 | 125 | 32.63 | 2 | 11 | - | - | - | - | 207 | 9 | | Inzamam-ul-Haq | 48 | 4597 | 329 | 77.91 | 17 | 19 | - | - | - | - | 40 | 0 | | JH Kallis | 47 | 3653 | 177 | 60.88 | 11 | 20 | 120 | 6 for 54 | 23.40 | 3 | 62 | 0 | | SM Pollock | 47 | 1388 | 111 | 31.54 | 1 | 4 | 214 | 6 for 30 | 18.20 | 9 | 41 | 0 | | B Lee | 46 | 685 | 64 | 18.51 | 0 | 2 | 174 | 5 for 30 | 29.25 | 5 | 14 | 0 | | DR Martyn | 44 | 3054 | 161 | 54.53 | 10 | 16 | 2 | 1 for 0 | 41.50 | 0 | 27 | 0 |
**Damien Martyn’s name included in this table , though he is retired from test cricket , just to show how vital his contribution was for the Aussies. He figured in as many as 44 test wins missing the chance to be among the cricketers with 50 or more test wins by just six victories. It is also worthwhile noting the fact that last 69 Aussie wins came while John Buchanan coached them. He too coached his last test match as he already announced that he will be stepping down from his position at the end of the World Cup 2007. What a coching career he had, He started his stint with 15 consecutive test wins in 1999 and finished his phenomenal job with 12 straight wins winning 69 of the 90 tests he guided the Kangaroos.
The greatest bowing combination of all-time, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne played a Test together for the first time 13 years back, against New Zealand at Perth. There was no indication then of what a deadly combination they were going to become. McGrath, making his debut, finished with 3 for 142, while Warne toiled very hard for 40 overs claiming just a solitary wicket in the drawn game. Since then, in the 104 Tests that the two have played together, they accounted for 1001 wickets with Warne claiming 513 and McGrath 488, Australia have won 71 of those matches and have lost just 16. That’s a hallmark of match winning performers.
With a wicket with the last ball in test cricket , Glen McGrath becomes the 16th Australian and 101st cricketer to have claimed a wicket with the last delivery he bowled in test cricket. 30 Englishmen, 16 South Africans, 8 West Indians, 10 New Zealanders, 7 Indians, 5 Pakistanis, 6 Sri Lankans, 2 Zimbabweans and 1 Bangladeshi have all played their last test and claimed a wicket with their final delivery in test cricket.
Note : Cricketers who have still not announced their retirement and have claimed a wicket with the last ball they bowled as of today are not included while considering for this statistic. Some of the players took a wicket with the last ball they bowled in test but not necessarily in their final test. David Hookes’ was such a case for Australia.
For the first time in test cricket more than fifty percent of the wickets fallen in a completed test match involved a wicket keeper. As many as fifteen of the 30 wickets that fell in this match were claimed by Wicket Keepers with Adam Gilchrist accounting for nine of them and Chris Read six. The previous best was 15 out of 32 in the test match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka at Hamilton in 1990/91. Kiwi glovesman Ian Smith dismissed eight batsmen behind the wickets and Hasan Tilakaratne claimed seven victims for Sri Lanka.
Of the 96 wickets that fell in the 5-test series, Australia’s strike bowlers Stuart Clark (26 @ 17.04), Shane Warne (23 @ 30.35), Glen McGrath (21 @ 23.95) and Brett Lee (20 @ 33.20) accounted for as many as 90 and Andrew Symonds chipped in with 2 important wickets at a crucial time. Remaining 4 were run-outs. This is the first time that four bolwers claimed 20 or more wickets in a 5-test series and only second time in test history that four bowlers could claim 20 or more wickets in any test series. The only time It happened prior to this was when CEL Ambrose(21), KCG Benjamin(23), IR Bishop(27) and CA Walsh(26) took 97 wickets amongst them against England in England in 1995 in 6-test drawn series.
Chris Read for the 3rd time in his career claimed 6 victims behind the wickets thus joining Mark Boucher of South Africa as the only wicket keepers to have done so in test cricket.
Test #1827 India in South Africa 2006-07(3rd Test) at Newlands, Cape Town.
 When India bowled out South Africa for a paltry 84 and registered a thumping victory in the first test, their first in South Africa, no one would have bet against them that they would lose the series by 2-1 margin. But as South Africa came out of their overconfident and complacent nature of dealing with the underdogs India, their batsmen coped the Indian attack much better and their bowlers made sure that none of the Indian statwarts get settled and score big. The final result of 2-1 which is only the eighth time that a side registered a come-from-behind series victory kept their record of not losing a test series to India. Following is the list of all come-from-behind wins in a 3-test series.
England against Australin in England 1888
South Africa against New Zealand in South Africa 1994/95
Pakistan against Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe 1994/95
Sri Lanka against Pakistan in Pakistan 1995/96
Sri Lanka against New Zealand in Sri Lanka 1998/99
England against Sri Lanka in in Sri Lanka 2000/01
India against Australia in India 2000/01
South Africa against India in South Africa 2006/07
Note :The first Ashes series was won by IFW Bligh's XI in Australia 1882/83 2-1 margin after losing the first test in three test series. However one more test was arranged after England won the series which was won by Australia , hence the series was not considered for the statistical point of view.
While scoring the twin half centuries (94 & 55) South Africa’s Graeme Smith crossed the 4000 run mark in test cricket. He is 97th cricketer to do so and joins four other South Africa batsmen to aggregate 4000 or more runs in test cricket.
When Jacques Kallis caught Wasim Jaffer of the bowling off Dale Steyn, he took his hundredth test catch. His victims also include 4 catches he took while playing for ICC World XI at Sydney in October 2005. Following is the list of all cricketers who have taken 100 or more catches in test cricket excluding wicket keepers.
| Player | Country | Career | Tests | Catches | | Waugh, M E | Australia | 1991-2002 | 128 | 181 | | Lara, B C* | West Indies | 1990- | 131 | 164 | | Fleming, S P* | New Zealand | 1994- | 104 | 159 | | Taylor, M A | Australia | 1989-1999 | 104 | 157 | | Border, A R | Australia | 1978-1994 | 156 | 156 | | Dravid, R * | India | 1996- | 107 | 147 | | Warne, S K* | Australia | 1992- | 145 | 125 | | Ponting, R T* | Australia | 1995- | 110 | 124 | | Chappell, G S | Australia | 1970-1984 | 87 | 122 | | Richards, I V A | West Indies | 1974-1991 | 121 | 122 | | Botham, I T | England | 1977-1992 | 102 | 120 | | Cowdrey, M C | England | 1954-1975 | 114 | 120 | | Hayden, M L* | Australia | 1994- | 89 | 118 | | Hooper, C L | West Indies | 1987-2002 | 102 | 115 | | Jayawardene, D P M* | Sri Lanka | 1997- | 85 | 113 | | Waugh, S R | Australia | 1985-2004 | 168 | 112 | | Hammond, W R | England | 1927-1947 | 85 | 110 | | Simpson, R B | Australia | 1957-1978 | 62 | 110 | | Sobers, G S A | West Indies | 1954-1974 | 93 | 109 | | Gavaskar, S M | India | 1971-1987 | 125 | 108 | | Azharuddin, M | India | 1984-2000 | 99 | 105 | | Chappell, I M | Australia | 1964-1980 | 75 | 105 | | Thorpe, G P | England | 1993-2005 | 100 | 105 | | Gooch, G A | England | 1975-1995 | 118 | 103 | | Kallis, J H* | South Africa | 1995- | 105 | 103 |
Wasim Jaffer, while hitting the third century of his test career became the 49th Indian and 428th cricketer in test history to have aggregated 1000 or more runs in a test career. At the end of the third test his record reads as :
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More Views by Vijay Jeedigunta
