In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") refers to a bowler taking five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded as a notable achievement, and , only 54 bowlers have taken 15 or more five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers. Richie Benaud, a leg spinner and former captain of the Australia cricket team, played 63 Tests for his country between 1952 and 1964. He took 248 wickets at an average of 27.03, including 16 five-wicket hauls. The cricket almanack Wisden named him one of their Cricketers of the Year in 1962. He was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2007, and into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame as one of the inaugural members in January 2009. Leo McKinstry, a cricket writer, in 1998 described Benaud as "one of cricket's greatest legends" and "one of the great all-rounders", and further noted him being the first to take 200 wickets and make 2,000 runs in Tests.
Benaud made his Test debut in January 1952 against the West Indies at the Sydney Cricket Ground, a match Australia won by 202 runs. His first Test five-wicket haul came in the first match of the 1956–57 series against India at the Corporation Stadium. He took 7 wickets for 72 runs in the first innings of the match, his best bowling figures for an innings. Benaud took his solitary pair of five-wicket hauls in the third Test of the series at the Eden Gardens. He accumulated 11 wickets for 105 runs in the match, his career-best performance in Test cricket. Benaud claimed his 16 five-wicket hauls against five different opponents, and Australia never lost any of the games on such instances. He was most successful against India and South Africa, taking 5 five-wicket hauls against each side. Benaud took his five-wicket hauls at 12 cricket grounds, including 11 at venues outside Australia. As of August 2014, he is thirty-first among all-time combined five-wicket haul takers.
Key
Symbol Meaning Date Date the match was held, or starting date of the match for Test matches Inn The innings of the match in which the five-wicket haul was taken Overs Number of overs bowled in that innings Runs Runs conceded Wkts Number of wickets taken Batsmen The batsmen whose wickets were taken in the five-wicket haul Econ Bowling economy rate (average runs per over) Result The result for Australia in that match One of two five-wicket hauls by Benaud in a match 10 wickets or more taken in the match Benaud captained Australia Drawn The match was drawn
Test five-wicket hauls + Five-wicket hauls in Test cricket by Richie BenaudNo.DateGroundAgainstInnOversRunsWktsEconBatsmenResult 1 Corporation Stadium, MadrasMadras has since been renamed as Chennai. Vinoo Mankad Pankaj Roy Polly Umrigar Vijay Manjrekar Jasu Patel Ghulam Ahmed Subhash Gupte Won 2 Eden Gardens, CalcuttaCalcutta has since been renamed as Kolkata. Nari Contractor Vijay Manjrekar Vinoo Mankad Gulabrai Ramchand A. G. Kripal Singh Naren Tamhane Won 3 Eden Gardens, Calcutta Polly Umrigar Vijay Manjrekar Vinoo Mankad AG Kripal Singh Naren Tamhane Won 4 Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town Eight-ball overs were bowled in this match. Dick Westcott Roy McLean Russell Endean Ken Funston Clive van Ryneveld Won 5 Kingsmead Cricket Ground, Durban Russell Endean Roy McLean Hugh Tayfield Peter Heine Neil Adcock Drawn 6 New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg Jackie McGlew Russell Endean Trevor Goddard John Waite Peter Heine Won 7 Crusaders Ground St George's Park, Port Elizabeth Trevor Goddard Clive van Ryneveld Jackie McGlew Peter Carlstein Peter Heine Won 8 Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Tom Graveney Colin Cowdrey Roy Swetman Fred Trueman Jim Laker Drawn 9 Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Peter May Fred Trueman Tony Lock Frank Tyson Godfrey Evans Won 10 National Stadium, Karachi Shujauddin Butt Duncan Sharpe Ijaz Butt Fazal Mahmood Munir MalikDrawn 11 Feroz Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi Nari Contractor Chandu Borde Bapu Nadkarni Surendranath Ramakant Desai Won 12 Corporation Stadium, Madras Budhi Kunderan Nari Contractor Gulabrai Ramchand Bapu Nadkarni Ramakant Desai Won 13 Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Cammie Smith Rohan Kanhai Garfield Sobers Joe Solomon Wes Hall Drawn 14 Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester Raman Subba Row Ted Dexter Peter May Brian Close John Murray David Allen Won 15 The Gabba, Brisbane Geoff Pullar David Sheppard Ted Dexter Ken Barrington Peter Parfitt Fred Titmus Drawn 16 The Gabba, Brisbane Trevor Goddard Eddie Barlow Peter Carlstein Denis Lindsay Peter Pollock Drawn
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