The unlikeliest wicket-takers

Alastair Cook may be halfway to an unwanted record– the longest streak without a Test victory by an England captain since Mike Gatting’s record run of 18 winless matches in 1987-88 – but he now has at least one feather in his Test cap.

In claiming the wicket of India’s Ishant Sharma at Trent Bridge overnight he can lay claim to being an all-rounder, especially now that he’s taken more Test scalps than he’s scored centuries during that nine-game trot that dates back to the final Test of last summer’s Ashes series in the UK.

By doing so, Cook adds his name to a list of players not known for their prowess with the ball who can lay claim to some level of bowling acumen. At least according to official scorecards.

Other notables worth a mention in the Cook category include:

Don Bradman – During a rare lull in the otherwise incendiary Bodyline Test at Adelaide Oval in 1933, Bradman gave the huge crowd a reason to cheer rather than vault the pickets. After Harold Larwood’s ‘Leg Theory’ assault on Australia’s batsmen drove the normally docile Adelaide spectators close to an insurrection, unperturbed England batting pair Walter Hammond and Maurice Leyland set about grinding out an unreachable lead in England’s soporific second innings.

The pair batted painstakingly for much of the fourth day of the timeless Test, with Hammond taking almost four hours to carve out 85 until – in desperation – Australian skipper Bill Woodfull threw the ball to Bradman. He ended the day by somehow floating one of his flukey leg breaks past Hammond’s broad bat and on to his stumps to effectively settle the long-running debate as to which of the pair was the better cricketer. It was the Don’s second, and his final Test match wicket in a career that spanned another 15 years.

David Gower – Such was the former England captain’s reputation for laid-back elegance, it’s not difficult to imagine Gower declining to bowl at any stage simply because it challenged his sense of aesthetics. Indeed, in a first-class career spanning almost 20 years and 450 matches he managed less than 50 overs.

But having lost the opening Test of their six-match tour of India in 1981-82, Keith Fletcher’s team found themselves confronted by an opponent hellbent on not losing in conditions not unlike Cook experienced at Trent Bridge last week. Come the last two Tests, Fletcher tried every possible combination including wicketkeeper Bob Taylor as the series ground on. And in the final Test in Kanpur, Gower made his second bowling appearance of the dour campaign and in doing so secured his one and only Test wicket when he had star Indian all-rounder Kapil Dev caught from the series’ final over – albeit with 116 against his name.

Brian Lara – Anyone interested in taking a quick buck off cricket-loving friends could innocently pose the following question giving no suggestion they know the answer – ‘did Ricky Ponting take more one-day international wickets than Brian Lara?’. Those who watched a bit of cricket either side of this century’s turn will recall Ponting being a useful if under-utilised (largely due to shin soreness) medium-pacer while – as far as being a bowler goes – Lara made an outstanding batsman.

Watch those same former pals’ faces as they dive for the stats app and discover that not only did Lara turn over his arm in five of the 299 ODIs he played, he captured a total of four wickets including best figures of 2-2 against England in Antigua, the ground where he also set his two Test batting records. The fact that he bowled at all in a team that included Curtly Ambrose, the Benjamins (Kenny and Winston), Anderson Cummins, Phil Simmons and Roger Harper is a wonder in itself. That he lured England’s big fast bowler Angus Fraser far enough from his crease to have him stumped suggests they were figures well deserved.

For the record, Ponting took three wickets from his 375 ODIs.

Mark Boucher – The sight of a wicketkeeper throwing off his gloves, pads and dignity to take the ball in a Test match is usually confirmation that the game is bound for an inevitable, uninspiring non-result. That Boucher was asked to trundle some of his gentle medium pacers midway through the last day of South Africa’s final Test in the West Indies in 2005 was partly due to the availability of current gloveman AB de Villiers to take over the ‘keeping duties, and largely due to the glaring realisation the match was destined for a stalemate pretty much from the time it started.

South Africa’s first innings featured four century makers, so the West Indies went even better by producing four of their own including Chris Gayle who plundered an epic 317. By the time the home team’s innings had dragged on past 235 overs and all 10 fielders had been used as bowling options, Graeme Smith suggested Boucher give it a try.

With his eighth delivery he had his one and only Test wicket from his one and only bowling spell in 147 Tests when Dwayne Bravo was caught by Ashwell Prince for 107, ending the West Indies innings at 747. But not the suffering of the crowd who had another two hours of meaningless South African batting to endure before the mercy rule was invoked.

M S Dhoni – In comparison to his fellow ‘keeper Boucher, Dhoni is a veritable bowling allrounder having featured at the other ends of the pitch in six Tests and a couple of ODIs. Probably because, unlike Boucher, he’s been captain for much of that time and therefore able to treat himself to a bowl whenever he feels the game – or he – needs it.

What Dhoni and Boucher do share is the number of times they’ve been successful with ball in hand at international level. Though the circumstances were vastly different.

India’s hopes of making it through to the pointy end of the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa remained technically alive when they took on the West Indies in Johannesburg, even though they were reliant on the result of the Australia-Pakistan match being played concurrently. So when Dhoni chose to bowl his innocuous trundlers in the 16th over ahead of number one spinner Harbhajan Singh, and to install Dinesh Karthik as ‘keeper, it was a sign to those who were otherwise oblivious that India had already been effectively bundled out of the tournament.

Then again, after starting with two rank long hops that Travis Dowlin crunched to the boundary Dhoni found a spot with his fourth ball that defeated the batsman’s defensive prod, tickled the inside edge and rattled the stumps. At that stage the West Indies were 5-57, so perhaps it was simply an act of genius.

Adam Gilchrist – Another wicketkeeper not often renowned for his bowling. Mainly because he never did. Well certainly not in his 96 Tests, 287 one-day internationals and 13 T20 internationals. Not even during his other first-class appearances for New South Wales, Western Australia and Middlesex in the English county competition. The foremost wicketkeeper-batsman of his era was a purist who dedicated himself to either wicketkeeping or batting.

Right up until the very end, that is. Having quit the international scene and restricted his remarkable talents to the Indian Premier League, Gilchrist made his final representative appearance as captain of the Kings XI Punjab franchise in their ultimate match of the 2013 IPL against eventual champions Mumbai Indians at a fittingly picturesque Dharamsala ground set against the Himalayas.

With Mumbai nine wickets down and requiring 50 runs off the final over, Gilchrist decided it was suitably safe to unveil the bowling skills he had kept under wraps for two decades. A hefty swing from rival tailender Harbhajan Singh in which one hand came from the bat presented a catch to long-on and Gilchrist danced away from cricket with the best bowling strike rate the game has seen. One delivery. One wicket. No runs conceded.