No Australian left-arm Test spinner has taken five or more wickets in an innings three times in succession – Steve O’Keefe intends to correct that stat.
His back-to-back 6-35s at Pune in the first Test were instrumental in Australia romping home by 333 runs.
The second Test starts at Bangalore tomorrow, and even though there’s likely to be more grass than dust in the track, O’Keefe has the moral advantage over the Indians.
The Indians were humiliated in Pune, and there’s no doubt their champion batsmen will hit back hard – especially Virat Kohli.
O’Keefe will lap up that contest. The more they attack, the better O’Keefe will thrive on it.
This is a fascinating contest between the top-ranked Indians, and the second-ranked Australians, with rival skippers Steve Smith and Kohli individually ranked one and two respectively.
But this is a salute to highly-successful Test bowlers, led by Australian paceman Charlie Turner with a world record haul of six successive innings of five or more wickets.
Below are the Australian Test bowlers with the most successive innings with five or more wickets in history, with a predominance of seven quicks led by Charlie Turner from 129 years ago.
He holds the world record of six successive innings, which will obviously take some beating.
Dennis Lillee, Rodney Hogg, Alan Davidson, Geoff Lawson, Merv Hughes, Glenn McGrath, and Mitchell Starc are there, but no Ray Lindwall, Keith Miller, Bill Johnston, Grahame McKenzie, Jeff Thomson, Craig McDermott, Brett Lee, or Jason Gillespie.
The slowies are well in the minority, but champion leggie Clarrie Grimmett is a standout.
The consistency of Grimmett, who not only always bowled with his cap on, but he’s the only Australian leggie to appear more than once.
You’d expect Shane Warne, the world’s leading leg-spinning wicket-taker, and the world’s most under-rated leggie, Stuart MacGill, to be there, but the surprise is no Richie Benaud.
Ashley Mallett was also a very under-rated offie, so much so Kerry Packer wouldn’t have him in World Series Cricket, even though Ian Chappell put up a very strong case for his inclusion.
Charlie Turner (6)
5-44 against England at the SCG in 1888.
7-43 England SCG 1888.
5-27 England Lord’s 1888.
5-36 England Lord’s 1888.
6-112 England The Oval 1888.
5-86 England Old Trafford 1888.Dennis Lillee (4)
5-51 New Zealand Eden Park 1977
6-72 New Zealand Eden Park 1977
Just before the Centenary Test at the MCG
6-36 England MCG 1977
5-139 England MCG 1977.Rodney Hogg (4)
5-65 England WACA 1978.
5-57 England WACA 1978
5-30 England MCG 1978.
5-36 England MCG 1978.Shane Warne (4)
5-116 Sri Lanka Galle 2004.
5-43 Sri Lanka Galle 2004.
5-65 Sri Lanka Kandy 2004.
5-90 Sri Lanka Kandy 2004.Clarrie Grimmett (3)
5-45 England SCG 1925.
6-37 England SCG 1925.
5-8 England Headingley 1926.Grimmett (3)
6-92 South Africa MCG 1931.
7-116 South Africa Adelaide 1932.
7-83 South Africa Adelaide 1932.Grimmett (3)
7-40 South Africa Johannesburg 1936.
7-100 South Africa Durban 1936.
6-73 South Africa Durban 1936.Alan Davidson (3)
5-135 West Indies Gabba 1960.
6-87 West Indies Gabba 1960 – first tied Test.
6-53 West Indies MCG 1960.Ashley Mallett (3)
5-91 India Chennai 1969.
5-53 India Chennai 1969.
5-126 South Africa Newlands 1970.Geoff Lawson (3)
5-108 England WACA 1982.
6-47 Eng;and Gabba 1982.
5-87 England Gabba 1982.Merv Hughes (3)
5-57 Sri Lanka WACA 1988
5-130 West Indies WACA 1988.
8-87 West Indies WACA 1988.Glenn McGrath (3)
5-56 West Indies Port of Spain 1999.
5-28 West Indies Port of Spain 1999.
5-93 West Indies Kingston 1999.Stuart MacGill (3)
5-65 Bangladesh Cairns 2003.
5-79 Bangladesh Cairns 2003.
5-56 Bangladesh Cairns 2003.Mitchell Starc (3)
5-44 Sri Lanka Galle 2016.
6-50 Sri Lanka Galle 2016.
5-63 Sri Lanka Colombo 2016.
Now it is O’Keefe’s turn to shine.
Pune was a phenomenal performance, but there must be more, starting tomorrow.
If O’Keefe can force his way onto this list, Australia will be a long way towards winning a series in India for the first time since 2004-05.
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