List of international cricket five-wicket hauls by Fred Trueman

Fred Trueman was an English cricketer, an "aggressive"[1] fast bowler widely known as "Fiery Fred".[1] He is generally acknowledged to have been one of the greatest bowlers in cricket history.[1][2] He represented England in 67 Test matches, and was the first bowler to take 300 wickets in a Test career, taking twelve years and 65 Tests to reach the landmark.[3]

A statue of England bowler Fred Trueman in bowling pose
Statue of Trueman, who took seventeen five-wicket hauls in Test cricket.

Trueman's wicket tally included seventeen five-wicket hauls (also known as "five-fors" or "fifers")[4][5] which refer to a bowler taking five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded as a notable achievement,[4] as of March 2014 only 41 bowlers have taken more than 15 five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers.[6][7] Trueman's seventeen five-wicket hauls places him joint-third in a list of most five-wicket hauls by England Test players, behind Ian Botham and Sydney Barnes.[8] It includes three instances of him taking five or more wickets in each innings of the same Test match, and only one of the Tests in which he took a five-for ended in defeat for England.

His first five-for came in July 1952 against India in only his third Test match.[9] It was also his career-best performance, eight wickets while conceding 31 runs, which remains the ninth most successful bowling figures by an England player.[10] Five of his five-wicket hauls were taken against Australia, and six came against the West Indies. Four of the latter came during the 1963 West Indies tour of England, across which he took a career-best 34 wickets.[11] He is joint-third in a tally of most five-fors taken against the West Indies in Test matches.[12] He did not get the opportunity to play in One Day International cricket as it was not introduced until the 1970–1971 cricket season, several years after his retirement.[13]

Key

  • Date – Date the match was held, starting date of the match for Test matches.
  • Overs – Number of overs bowled in that innings
  • RunsRuns conceded
  • Wkts – Number of wickets taken
  • Batsmen – The batsmen whose wickets were taken in the five wicket haul.
  • EconBowling economy rate (average runs per over).
  • Inn – The innings of the match in which the five wicket haul was taken.
  • Result – The result for the England team in that match
  • ♠ – 10 wickets or more taken in the match.
Note: Regular Man of the match awards did not enter Test cricket until the 1980s, after Trueman had retired.[14]

Tests

No.DateGroundAgainstInn.OversRunsWktsEcon.BatsmenResult
117 July 1952Old Trafford, Manchester  India28.43183.57Won[15]
214 August 1952The Oval, London  India2164853.00Draw[16]
321 June 1956Lord's Cricket Ground, London  Australia3289053.21Lost[17]
44 July 1957Trent Bridge, Nottingham  West Indies2306352.10Draw[18]
55 June 1958Edgbaston, Birmingham  New Zealand2213151.47Won[19]
628 January 1960Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain  West Indies2213551.66Won[20]
77 July 1960Trent Bridge, Nottingham  South Africa214.32751.86Won[21]
86 July 1961Headingley, Leeds  Australia1225852.63Won[22]
96 July 1961Headingley, Leeds  Australia315.53061.89Won[22]
1021 June 1962Lord's Cricket Ground, London  Pakistan117.43161.75Won[23]
1129 December 1962Melbourne, Melbourne  Australia3206252.32Won[24]
1215 March 1963Lancaster Park, Christchurch  New Zealand130.27572.47Won[25]
1320 June 1963Lord's Cricket Ground, London  West Indies14410062.27Draw[26]
1420 June 1963Lord's Cricket Ground, London  West Indies3265252.00Draw[26]
154 July 1963Edgbaston, Birmingham  West Indies2267552.88Won[27]
164 July 1963Edgbaston, Birmingham  West Indies414.34473.03Won[27]
1718 June 1964Lord's Cricket Ground, London  Australia1254851.92Draw[28]

References

Notes
Sources